After the Storm

After the Storm [Diana camera]
early October, 2006  |   Black and white image with digital toning
(click in the image for a larger version)

The same toy sailboat that was seen a few posts ago. This was taken with a Diana camera, a plastic cheapie wonder that dates from the early 1960s. The Diana was made by the Great Wall Plastic Company in Kowloon, Hong Kong and it is the original plastic camera that many art photographers began to use in the early 1970s for its uneven focus, vignetted exposure and unpredictable tendency to produce strange light leaks.

The Diana and it's many clones (cameras that looked just like Diana, or very similar, but with different names) are no longer made but can be found on eBay (though sometimes they are very overpriced) or, if you're lucky, in antique or junk shops. The plastic Holga camera, which first appeared in the early 1980s, is still being manufactured and is the current day incarnation of the Diana. In comparison, however, the Holga seems quite a bit sturdier than the often flimsy-feeling Diana and the lens, especially on the newer ones, is noticeably sharper (if such a thing can be said of a plastic lens). Though the Holga and the Diana are both cheap, plastic cameras that use medium format film, to the true Diana afficionado nothing creates images that look quite like those from a Diana.

-------------------------
Upcoming Workshop:

Digital Black & White
Jan 29 – Feb 2, 2007
The Lepp Institue for Digital Imaging, Los Osos, California
Click here for a class description and more info

Comments

[kelly]

bellissime le foto ... =)