Diana F+ really worth it?

Kevin Caulfield · Jan 21, 2008

In a way I wouldn't mind playing with a toy camera. I had a plastic camera at about the age of four or five and loved it. The Lomography Shop has a reproduction of the Diana F+, but is it really worth 95 USD plus 45 USD postage? Any satisfied users out there?

k_jupiter · Jan 21, 2008

Kevin Caulfield said:
In a way I wouldn't mind playing with a toy camera. I had a plastic camera at about the age of four or five and loved it. The Lomography Shop has a reproduction of the Diana F+, but is it really worth 95 USD plus 45 USD postage? Any satisfied users out there?

I am sure it is. I paid less than that for a new FM2 body in 1986.

I also bought a Voightlander folder with a color skopar lens on it for 12 bucks last year. It takes great pictures.

BUT... all the cameras I have that take crappy pictures all run over a hundred dollars so I think you are in the ballpark.

What price mediocre photos? Yes, priceless.

tim in san jose

Jersey Vic · Jan 21, 2008

I run into this dilemna every time I see a great Diana photo. Hell, it's alot cheaper than any lens I ever bought.
I guess that buying a Diana proper might be less risky because you could always resell.

And what's up with $45 postage?

k_jupiter · Jan 21, 2008

Jersey Vic said:
I run into this dilemna every time I see a great Diana photo. Hell, it's alot cheaper than any lens I ever bought.
I guess that buying a Diana proper might be less risky because you could always resell.

And what's up with $45 postage?

'e lives in Australia.

tim in san jose

David H. Bebbington · Jan 21, 2008

Kevin Caulfield said:
In a way I wouldn't mind playing with a toy camera. I had a plastic camera at about the age of four or five and loved it. The Lomography Shop has a reproduction of the Diana F+, but is it really worth 95 USD plus 45 USD postage? Any satisfied users out there?

Whenever I feel the need for a camera of this kind, I use a Kodak Brownie Cresta III, which I think would deliver the same image quality as a Diana but is better made. A Cresta III I am sure can be yours for $10.

Regards,

David

Kevin Caulfield · Jan 21, 2008

k_jupiter said:
'e lives in Australia.

tim in san jose

Yes, I do. But $45 USD postage is still extremely expensive.

rkmiec · Jan 21, 2008

keven try here http://www.freestylephoto.biz/sc_prod.php?pid=1000002762 they have the diana from lomo for 49.99. dont know about shipping to australia but put it in your basket and find out.good luck

rusty71 · Jan 22, 2008

rkmiec said:
keven try here http://www.freestylephoto.biz/sc_prod.php?pid=1000002762 they have the diana from lomo for 49.99. dont know about shipping to australia but put it in your basket and find out.good luck

Good Lord, NO! The Dianas are fun, but that price is whacked. Get a brand new Holga from http://www.freestylephoto.biz/.
Or look around for an old, interesting camera in your neck of the woods. Chances are it will take just as strange a picture as the overpriced Diana.
If I'd known what those things were going to sell for, I'd have gotten my Ex's as part of the divorce settlement....

okto · Jan 22, 2008

The whole point of getting a Diana is to take lo-fi images, not Diana images, yes? Any old meniscus lens camera will do that for you, at 1% or less of the cost of some overpriced kitch from Lomo.

The whole boutique crappy camera movement is hilarious to me. A Holga for $30? Ludicrous.
Solomon was right about fools and money.

Mike Kennedy · Jan 22, 2008

I agree okto.The whole lomography hype is just that,hype.It's the flavour of the month.Buy something branded by that group and you spend way too much loot.
Go to your local thrift shop,hit the yard sales,heck I picked up 2 leather cases for my Nikon's at a church rummage sale for $1.00.

Erik Hartmann · Jan 22, 2008

Just take a look here:
(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

and if you want a real Diana... then try Ebay

niels-erik

pauliej · Jan 22, 2008

Yes, try ebay (or similar) if you have to have a Diana. Or, you can probably get a Holga, if that's ok too, from the Hong Kong seller at a fairly cheap/inexpensive price with shipping. If you just want a "cheep" camera maybe the flea market & church sales are where to go. If you want a funky camera where ALL the images will have some faults or others, then a Diana or Holga, et al will be what you want. Check the Squarefrog and Flickr sites for more info and to see what others are doing with these cameras.

I hope this helps you.

paulie

Scott-S · Jan 22, 2008

I think its worth it. People spend untold amounts of money of photography equipment. What's 100$ You get a nice new package. Plus I think those in the toy camera analog world like us should support places like Lomography. They have to earn money to survive. You would be suprised how much a business costs to run. I am fine with my Holga but I will probably buy the diana too. You can get it with the book for $45 from freestyle in Los Angeles, no flash though!

Akki14 · Jan 22, 2008

Holgas from ebay have been fine in my experience. Bit slow, but okay (I got one for my birthday last year but it took an extra week or so to arrive). None of my holgas have been bought through lomography.
Sadly I don't use the holgas much anymore, I use ilford sportis(singular Ilford Sporti) that give slight vignetting but are a bit sharper and have a real aperture arm which gives me more flexibility.
From what I've seen of diana+ images and talked to someone who owns both, I don't think I want a diana anymore; I think most of the "cool" looking images taken with diana's are done with bulb mode and out of focus, eg, just crap photographer along with crap camera. Holga is nice enough for me if i want an effect more weird than the ilford sporti camera.

Silverhead · Jan 22, 2008

I have several Holgas and just picked up the new Diana from Freestyle a couple of weeks ago. I have begun testing it and am extremely pleased with the images it has been cranking out so far. It has a look that is similar to the Holga's, but without the light leaks, and it is a slightly cropped image so it has some sharply defined borders. I like the Diana's aperture switch a lot, it really expands the possibilities one has with this camera, without getting overly complicated. Big bummer: no hot shoe for a flash, which is one reason why this is not a replacement for my Holgas, but rather a companion to them. And to be honest, the book that Lomo includes with the camera leaves much to be desired. While it has some very nice images in it, its text is mostly a lot of self-serving Lomo rubbish, chronicling some very fictional accounts of how Dianas touch people around the world...I can hear the violins now. That aside, I'd say it's very much worth the price here in the States. I don't know how much it would cost to ship to Australia.

BTW, speaking of Holgas, Freestyle just added a few new ones to their web site...looks like two pinholes and two 35mm variants. Interesting...

mabman · Jan 22, 2008

anaanda said:
I think its worth it. People spend untold amounts of money of photography equipment. What's 100$ You get a nice new package. Plus I think those in the toy camera analog world like us should support places like Lomography. They have to earn money to survive. You would be suprised how much a business costs to run. I am fine with my Holga but I will probably buy the diana too. You can get it with the book for $45 from freestyle in Los Angeles, no flash though!

I'm fine with supporting businesses that supply me with enjoyment, but I have a strong aversion to the way the "Lomographic Society" (lomography.com) presents itself.

First, the pretentious name - they're not a "Society", they're a for-profit business. Second, their business plan seems to be their own cheap-camera version of "tulip mania" - cheap/toy cameras are fine-to-great in and of themselves (and in the right hands, of course), but the overinflated pricing on these cameras simply because they apparently give magical powers to the photographer annoys me.

If there was a legitimate "value-add" going on it wouldn't bother me (or not nearly as much), but all I see is a giant marketing campaign - in particular dubbing people "lomographers" (why aren't they just "photographers" who prefer a particular brand or category of camera - I don't see anyone being or choosing the label of "Nikographer" or "Canographer" or even "SLRographer").

I do have a Woca and a Holga from Freestyle, which I've recently pulled out again, and I'm tempted to buy the Diana+ for the lack of light leaks, mostly - but right now it's questionably useful for me without a flash - but I certainly won't be buying one from lomography.com, so I guess I'll wait for Freestyle to stock the Diana F+ as well.

Anyway, that's my rant for the day

gandolfi · Jan 22, 2008

Akki14 said:
Holgas from ebay have been fine in my experience. ...From what I've seen of diana+ images and talked to someone who owns both, I don't think I want a diana anymore; I think most of the "cool" looking images taken with diana's are done with bulb mode and out of focus, eg, just crap photographer along with crap camera. Holga is nice enough for me if i want an effect more weird than the ilford sporti camera.

read this thread, and I am quite amazed how little people seem to know about the Diana, and it's special qualities!

the quote above is just slightly offending. If Akki is more content with the Holga, then it is fine.

my wiew: NO! NO other "crappy meniscus lenses" will do the same and cheaper. (I know of one lens that looks like Diana in Large format, but for one, it is more than 10 times more expensive that the most expensive Diana camera I jhave ever seen, and secondly: that's not the point. Diana camera is a camera - medium format - light and challenging to use.

the quote "just crap photographer along with crap camera" is another misunderstanding.

the idea that if you only have a Diana camera then you will get fantastic images...
one needs to practice! a LOT! it is easy enough to play wrongly on a Steinweg Grand Piano...

it takes time to learn how to use this camera - and know when not to use it.

if you do this, then you might get fantastic images. Pure Diana, and in a quality, that nor other camera (known to me) are able to make!

that includes HOLGA and the new Diana F+!!

the new one is definately not a Diana camera - rather a HOLGa in a Diana disguise.

the images taken with the new Diana are far from the images taken with the Diana "clasic".

on the Lomo page, where I ordered the new Diana F+ was full of descriprions on the dark corners . the vignetting og this camera.

looking at the book that came with the Diana, this shows a lot.

however: this is not the characteristics of a Diana image. Any camera (or rather lens) can produce dark corners - and going in a darkroom will just make this easier.

the quality of a Diana is different.
it is in the distortion of the off-center image - especially if your main subject appears far away from the background.
it is like a "frozen zoom" image.

it is the camera that makes a newly wed, and photographed (with Diana) woman state, when looking at the results: wow - this is just like I felt!

not looked.

felt.

in my humble (or not so humble) opinion, the Diana camera is a superior tool to capture feelings - common history - moods.

so go for the old Dianas! pay the (not overpriced) price - practice - practice - practice, and you will not regret it!

by the way: I am never going for "nice enough". I'd like to go further.

thats why I am still practicing.:rolleyes:

okto · Jan 22, 2008

anaanda said:
You would be suprised how much a business costs to run.

Holgas used to be $8 five years ago. The cost of plastic didn't go up 375% in that time; the hipster value of the Holga name did.
It isn't the cost of doing business, it's the profit of doing business with the uninformed and the pretentious.

Kevin Caulfield · Jan 22, 2008

Thanks for all the replies so far. I think what caught my attention when I saw the Lomography email about the Diana was that I suddenly realised that was (I'm pretty sure) the exact type of camera I had as a kid. I do agree that the recent surge in interest has caused some crazy pricing, but I also agree that Diana photos have a unique charm.

rkmiec · Jan 22, 2008

kevin i feel bad that some are giving the plastic cameras a bad rap.point is if they seem to expensive to you than that is a decision you make.yes they are more expensive today but that is what happens with supply and demand,so i will extend an offer to you.i have a banner camera which i believe is a diana clone but lacks the ability to focus.it is fixed focus.i think it works but i have never used it.i will send it to you on the condition that you send it back within a reasonable amount of time or if you really like it,i will sell it to you for 5 dollars plus my actual shipping cost.i think 2 months would be what i consider a reasonable amount of time.send me a pm with your address if interested,i dont think the shipping will be very much as the camera is very light.let me know....hope it helps.

Kevin Caulfield · Jan 23, 2008

Hi rkmiec, thanks very much for your kind offer. Let's leave it for now, but yes, it does help, so I'll let you know if I want to go ahead. Thanks again.

zenrhino · Jan 23, 2008

okto said:
Holgas used to be $8 five years ago. The cost of plastic didn't go up 375% in that time; the hipster value of the Holga name did.
It isn't the cost of doing business, it's the profit of doing business with the uninformed and the pretentious.

Amen.

At this point I'm just happy all the white belt and soulpatch wearing hipsters have stopped yammering on about their LC-A's.

sausage100uk · Jan 23, 2008

my sister just got a diana + (through work, she's a teacher) for £7, brand new, boxed with the little book (which is great). are they really that expensive?

elekm · Jan 24, 2008

I think it looks sort of cool in this quirky, oddball way. Lomo has found a niche for itself, and I like that they're committed to film photography.

The Freestyle package also includes a book. So for $49.99, you get the camera and the book. That's a reasonable deal.

Maybe I'll do a new Diana vs. classic Diana shootout.

Kevin Caulfield · Jan 24, 2008

I ended up buying a vintage Diana on eBay for USD81 (plus 15.90 shipping). That's a day after losing one on eBay in my own city, which ended up selling for 268 AUD. That's a whopping 236 USD!!! Thanks again for all the replies.

Diana F+ really worth it?

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