A Short Easy To Follow Rundown On The Lomo Diana+?

Question

I've been looking into a Diana+ and I thought I had a pretty good idea as to what this little camera entails and it's features and such, but now it seems I'm a bit confused.

Does it have manual or auto exposure?

If it's manual, does it have different F numbers and exposure times, or only the things that say use this for a sunny day, this for a rainy day and so on.

Manual or autofocus?

If it's manual can I tell when it's actually in focus? I read somewhere on the internet, which is always 100% correct you know, that you can't tell when it is focused on what you want it to be focused on and have to just know how much to focus it for the distance you want.

Man now I realize I'm a bit more confused than I was. I sincerely thank you.

Answer 1

The short answer is no to anything automatic.

The Diana camera and others of the same type (Holgas, vintage Dianas, plastic cameras and toy cameras), are minimalist in their approach to photography.

The Diana+ has only 2 shutter speed settings. N (about 1/100 sec) and B, Bulb setting (shutter stays open for as long as the shutter lever is depressed.

There are a few more settings on the aperture, but it is still sparse by modern standards. There are 4 apertures. Sunny, Semi-cloudy, Cloudy and P. The P isn't really an aperture setting ,but a Pinhole aperture used when the Lens is removed.

Focus: It's not a fixed focus camera. It is zone focused, with settings for 4M to Infinity, 2-4M, and 1-2M. Focus by guestimation. The camera is pretty forgiving this way.

The camera itself is easy to use. You load the 120 film. To take a photo, decide how bright you think it is and set the aperture, make sure the shutter is set to N, set your focus. Look through the ridiculous little plastic viewfinder, trip the shutter. Repeat. (12 times for 6x6 negs, or 16 times for 4.2x4.2 negs).

Go get your film processed.

Wait (with much anticipation!) for the prints to come back.

The results will look something like this:

http://www.flickr.com/funplastic

Photography has become a complex technophile nirvana filled with Pixels, CCDs, LCDs, SD and so on.

Photography with a plastic camera like the Diana+ is about simplicity. It's about making good images with less technology.

If you do decide on the Diana+, come and check out my website:

http://www.dianacamera.com/

I have lots of tips, tricks and advice for photographers using the Diana+, Holgas and other plastic cameras. I also have several DIY videos for these cameras.

Answer 2

Manual exposure and only a few options.

The focus is preset to about 2m ... (around 6 feet)

There are basically a cute toy that is fun to shoot if you want to have unusual artifacts like colour aberrations, vignetting, light leaks and scratches on the film as it moves through the camera.

Have you looked here?

http://shop.lomography.com/shop/main.php...