How to Prevent Extreme Light Leaks on Diana Cameras

Light leaks are ok, we love it, we want it, but as they say “too much of everything is no good at all”. Well, I love light leaks, but extreme light leaks can ruin your next Diana piece of art.

The film inside the Diana camera can be a little bit loose without the correct tension over the roll, specially if your film stay too long inside the camera (I had a film inside my Diana over 4 months). When you unload the film the light leaks can be extreme if you don´t protect it from light.

Sometimes you open your Diana and your film isn´t rolled tight and under a strong light or sun it can be ruined by those extreme light leaks. More often than not, it happens and It´s a pain when you are outdoors and need to unload your Diana inside a bag! If the film had the right tension inside the camera, your roll can be taken off the camera with no risks. Again, I love light leaks, but no too much of it.

To prevent it and give a good tension to the film roll, you only need glue or double sided tape, scissors, Diana camera, 120 film roll, foam and 5 minutes:

Cut a rectangular piece of foam (little bit smaller than the film roll);

Open the Diana back and glue the foam where you put the film (I used double sided tape, making it removable).

Load your film, you´ll fell a little pressure while advancing the film, that´s the foam giving some tension to it. This way you can unload your Diana under the sun, no need for changing bags or any other stuff to protect your film from light. No more extreme light leaks. Only tight film rolls.

That´s it. No complexes mods, no screws, no destruction, completely reversible. Is the same thing that new holga cameras had to prevent loose rolls and excess of light leaks.

But if you need the light leaks again, simple remove the foam, and let the loose film stuff come again.

written by dux_x on 2009-04-10 #gear #tutorials #diy #light-leaks #tipster #diana #extreme-light-leaks #protecting-120-film-when-unload #diana-mod #nederland #dutch #holland #lomography-nld