Buying Diana Cameras | Toy Cameras for Casual Snapshot Photography

The Diana medium format camera is a blast-from-the-past classic that has recently been resurrected by Lomography into a must-have toy camera as the Lomography Diana +. It is made of plastic and was orignially produced in the 1960s in Hong Kong by the Great Wall Plastic Factory as a dirt cheap low cost camera. The camera is prone to light leaks, and with the poor quality of the plastic lens, produces images that are of low contrast, odd color rendition and blurred. Recently, these features of the images produced have become desirable for artistics and personalized shots used in casual photography.

Camera Features

All Plastic Lens

In contrast the the megapixels of modern digital cameras with the high precision lens, the diana's charm lies in the legendary plastic lens. This allows the camera to produce the dreamy hues and colors that gives the images their unqiue charm.

Two Shutter Speeds

You can switch between "N" for normal daytime snapshots or “B” for indoor and nighttime exposures.

Multiple and Partial Exposures

You can make multiple exposures or half-exposed frames to create brilliant overlays of images that is limited by only your own creativity.

Pinhole Camera

You can take an old school super wide angle images. Simply remove the lens and set the aperture to a super-small pinhole and something wow comes out.

Two Sizes of Images

There is a choice between the 12 full-frame shots (5.2x5.2cm), or 16 smaller square images (4.2x4.2cm)! Use the panorama setting along with the smaller image format to place sequential frames right next to each other to create panoramic views.

Add-on Accessories

Extend the functions of the Diana with add-ons available like flash, fisheye or telephoto lenses for added fun!

This accessory adds loads of fun to the camera by allowing you to slice the images up into multiple exposures. With the Diana Splitzer, you can divide your images into halves or quarters. You can dictate what appears where exactly on your photo and create composite shots that are impossible with normal cameras.

Now you can start to experiment with something totally different and new. Tell a story? Compose a crazy and insane shot? With the Splitzer, you can slice and dice up your picture, to your satisfaction! Continue a shot you've taken a day ago, a week, or a month ago! You'd truly never know what you're going to get, but definitely you'd get a great time fiddling around.

Other than the Diana, there are other cameras on the market like the Fisheye and the Holga. In addition, recent additions to the Diana is the Diana mini, which is essentially a smaller version of the original and extremely popular with girls. Moreover, the latest additions from Lomography include colorful skins splashed onto the camera body. No longer are your choices restricted to the standard blue and black.

In addition to the main camera, there is also an explosion of camera holders that range from the faux leather feel to the colorful cases. These are often attached to equally attractive and impressive camera straps for the added wow factor.

Read the other related articles on these other great shots and compare how they fare against each other!