Diana camera
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Image:Diana camera.jpg Image:Diana.jpg
The Diana camera is a simple, low-quality plastic-bodied box camera, often referred to as a toy camera. The Diana takes sixteen 4 cm x 4 cm pictures on 120 film, leaving a large part of film surface unused. The Dianas were produced in several variations during the 1960s to 1970s in Kowloon, Hong Kong, by the "Great Wall Plastic Company", and sold under various labels. Most were given away as novelties or prizes at fairs, carnivals, or other public events. In addition to the 'Diana' labeled camera, there are over fifty similar variants of the basic design, some of which may have been produced by other factories and/or manufacturers. Some variants incorporate a 6 cm x 6 cm negative size, while others have provision for different controls or separate bulb flashes.
Diana cameras are predisposed to light leaks, a situation often remedied by sealing the seams with light-proof tape. The design of the Diana incorporates a lens that produces an image circle which only marginally covers the diagonal of a film frame. This marginal coverage field produces images with often pronounced vignetting. The poor quality of the plastic meniscus lens results in generally low contrast and significant image blurring and chromatic aberration. Although these attributes are generally undesirable in a camera, some artists leverage these deficiencies to produce photographs with interesting or artistic effects.
The Holga camera is a modern-day successor to the Diana.
References
- Barnes, Mike. The Diana Legacy. ToyCamera.com. Retrieved on November 1, 2005.
- Hirsch, Robert (1991). "The Diana Camera". In Photographic Possibilities: The Expressive Use of Ideas, Materials, and Processes, pp. 141-143. Boston: Focal Press. ISBN 0240800478. Copy of this chapter is available online at the linked address.
Images taken with Diana camera [1].