Saturday, August 15, 2009

A few weeks ago a huge package arrived at my doorstep and all I can say is that my life has changed ever since. Meet Diana F+. This film camera was originally designed in the 1960's in Hong Kong, and the lomographic society has brought her back in her full analogue, retro-geek glory.



I love taking photos, and if you feel the same way you'll love this camera. When I was growing up I always enjoyed taking photos in film. Then the sexy compact digital cameras showed up and my life was never the same. But over the years I lost interest in taking photos because the photos were always dull and flat. Photoshop is an option, but I always felt that there's certain integrity that you lose when you manipulate an image with a computer. Then came Diana. And friends.



I ordered the Diana F+ deluxe kit from http://www.lomographyasia.com which arrived in 3 working days. The kit contains every crazy accessory you can find for the camera. Being a completely manual camera, it allows you to have control over all of your shots. But that's where your control ends. Your lens, exposure, film and lighting succumbs to the magic of the Diana camera. And you'll see how. The Diana operates on 120mm film, but the kit includes a 35mm adapter which allows you to shoot on regular film (which I use). Well enough talk and let's have some walk. Check out some photos I've taken in my first roll of film. I didn't edit the photos so you see the real color reproduction of the shots.














This was my first day out with my camera so not too bad all things considered haha. But why get a Diana if there are other cameras like Holga and Lomo? Only the Diana allows you to use widely available instant films. Subsequently I bought an adapter for the Diana which allows you to use polaroid film like the easily found Fuji Instax film. The results are crazy cool!









I am a hardcore skeptic. But after these few weeks of messing around with my Diana camera I've been sold on film photography. I've taken some of the most memorable shots with the Diana and I'm really glad I've gotten back into film photography. There's a certain jenesaisquoi about film photography that megapixels can't fully replace. Film can't be a substitute for digital, but damn I tell you film cameras have some kinda magic.



Thanks Laura ;-)

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