A-Class Visual Design

Lomography Diana Mini

Deciding between a Lomography camera and a Holga camera?

I'm not much experienced in film cameras, and I know these are both 120 manual cameras, which is expensive-ish film (right?) and not as easy as 35mm to develop (right?)

Anyways, haha, I'm trying to decide if I want the Lomography Diana + Edelweiss or the Holga 185-120 Holgawood.

I really love the way the Diana makes pictures looks, do Holga's make them look the same?

(and is the mini Diana as good as the normal one, cause that one is 35mm. Is it hard to develop them because it's... mini? Uugh, so lost, need help!)

I have a comparison of the Diana+ and Holga 120N posted here:

http://www.dianacamera.com/holga_vs_diana

The Diana+ is a more flexible camera, having more controls (3 f-stops + Pinhole aperture vs 1 aperture). The Diana+ also has the ability to change lenses. Currently, Lomography offers 4 additional lens.

The Holga, on the other hand, is a very solidly built camera, and while not being as flexible, is still a very capable camera. It will take photos that equal that of the Diana.

Which should you get? I usually like to recommend the Holga 120N or 120FN for beginners, but lately, I've been leaning towards the 35mm lo-fi cameras for beginners. Why? They are cheaper and simpler cameras. If you get one of these cameras, it keeps the cost of exploring lo-fi photography on the cheaper side. You won't get quite the same look with the 35mm film, but it is so much easier to learn with and it's lower cost of camera and film will help you figure out if this works for you. If it turns out that toy camera photography is your passion, then you can explore getting the larger format 120 cameras.

Take a look at one of these 35mm cameras:

Holga 135 or 135BC
Supplier: http://freestylephoto.biz or http://bhphotovideo.com for about $46.
Similar cheap lens and operation as the Holga 120 cameras.
1 aperture setting (yes, the camera has 2 settings, but they are identical), 2 shutter settings, N (1/100 sec) and B (Bulb setting)
tripod mount, cable release socket
If you want the corner vignetting like on the larger format camera, get the Holga 135BC.

Sample photos:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/holga135bc/

Superheadz Black Slim Devil
Supplier: http://www.fourcornerstore.com/ or http://freestylephoto.biz for about $30.

This is a clone based on the popular vintage Vivitar Ultra Wide and Slim. It has no exposure controls and no flash option, but with it's wider than normal lens (22mm) it is capable of taking some outstanding photos.
Sample photos:
There really isn't a good Flickr group for these cameras yet, so the sample photos are from the Vivitar UWS

http://www.flickr.com/groups/57074580@N00/

The Diana Mini
Supplier: Lomography.com for about $60

Lomography took the Diana camera, and shrunk it down to 35mm format. The Mini, while it lacks the interchangeable lenses of the full sized Lomography Diana+, is still a feature packed camera (at least compared to the Holga and Black Slim Devil). The frame format is unusual. They stuck with the square format of the Diana camera, but it is centered on a standard 35mm frame. The reason for floating the square on the 35mm frame is that be using a standard 35mm format, most 1-hour labs will be able to more easily deal with making scans or prints, since they are set up for regular 35mm film. You can also set the camera to half-frame 35mm, which is 2 vertical 24mm x 17mm images. This translates to 2 images on a standard 35mm frame. It won't produce exactly the same images as it's bigger sister, but the images are still intriguing.

2 aperture settings, 2 shutter settings, N (1/100 sec) and B (Bulb setting)
tripod mount, cable release socket
This camera is unusual in that it offers square format,24x24mm on a standard 35mm frame (24x36mm). It also offers a half frame option, 17x24mm frames (it doubles the number of exposures you get on a roll of film)

Whichever camera you choose, remember that the point of lo-fi photography is to have fun and don't sweat the details!

For Holga tips, check out this website:

http://goholga.com/

Then there's my own website:

http://www.dianacamera.com/

I have lots of tips, tricks and photos taken with plastic cameras.

For how-to videos for Holgas and Diana cameras, check out my youtube channel:

http://www.youtube.com/kaituba

Diana Mini Multiple Exposure

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