Film revisited
Are you a sucker for Instagram ads? I am. I saw a reel from some guy I’ve never heard of and he’s boasting about his favorite camera - the Diana F+ by Lomography. Fully plastic, very retro looking, shoots 120 film, and gives you very nostalgic looking images. Since one of my mirrorless cameras is the Fuji X-T5 in silver, I get stopped all the time by people thinking I’m shooting with an old fashioned film camera. I love that camera. Everything is retro these days. So I’ve got to find out about the Diana F+. My first stop is YouTube and I find Ted Forbes showing off one of his 3 Diana’s. He gives the history of the camera and says you can buy them for nothing. Other videos showed the images that come out of them. Turns out each one can be a bit different and have their own flaws which just enhance the finished image. Light leaks, vignetting, soft focus, it’s all good. I checked out the Lomography website and wow, there’s a ton of different styles.
I order a brand new one from B&H and pay way more than Ted Forbes told me I should. It’s got the cutest flash attachment with it and 2 frames to determine your image size, whether it’s a 12 image or 16 image roll. I bought a box of Portra 400 and a couple rolls of Ilford HP5 400 BW. Taking it out for my first adventure, I opted for 12 frames on the color film first. I went to Huntington Beach for the US Open of Surfing. Nothing says nostalgia like Surf City USA.
You feel every bit of the plastic when you shoot with it. It’s a 75mm lens. You get one shutter speed - 1/60. You have 3 aperture choices and they’re recommendations is based on levels of shady to sunny. You do have feature and that is to remove the lens for a pinhole effect. I’m waiting for my first roll of pinhole shots to be developed at the time of this writing. As for focus, you can choose distances for 1 - 2 people, 3-4 people, or 4 or more. So I shoot 3 rolls on my first adventure out. I’m excited driving to the processing store and ask for the whole shebang - developing, digital scan, and prints too. I ordered them on matte paper with a 1/4” border. It took a whole week to get them back. Can you imagine? In the world of digital where we shoot 20 frames in a second and see them instantly…..what was I thinking? I’m thinking it’s a slow summer and I needed a toy to play with.
Anyway, my first round turned out great. A little dark but that can be adjusted in post. Of course, this also spurred me on to getting out the old 35mm Minolta and loading up a roll. All of a sudden I’m wondering how I’m going to possibly fill a roll of 36. This medium certainly teaches you to slow down and be more discerning in what you take pictures of. Anyway, it’s fun.