The Lomographic Society launched a new camera today that actually looks cool: Diana Mini. Cool enough that I might actually buy it, even though it’s definitely over-priced, and if it’s like the rest of their products, a complete piece of shit.
What makes it cool is that it shoots square format pictures on 35mm film. This is awesome. I love square format, don’t like the 3:2 aspect ratio of normal 35mm, but like the film’s cheap and convenient processing. Unfortunately, square format 35mm cameras are rare and often expensive. This is too expensive for what it is, but less than most of the other options.
Here’s the rundown:
- Film Type: 35mm film
- Lens: 24mm (Square Format: 30mm equivalent, Half Frame format: 35mm equivalent)
- Diagonal View Angles: 70° 62°
- Focusing: 0.6m-inf.
- Frame Format: 24mm × 24mm & 24mm × 17mm (select on body)
- Shutter Speed: 1/60, Bulb (N, B)
- Aperture: f8, f11 (cloudy, sunny)
- Flash Attachment: via Diana Flash Plug (flash not included)
- View Finder: built in
- Film Counter Type: frame accumulate type
- Multi- exposure: yes
- Film stopping: yes
- Cable Release: yes
- Tripod Mount: yes
- Dimension: 70mm × 101mm × 60mm
Multi-format, square and half frame – "Wide-angle" lens (unspecified focal length) – Two apertures (unspecified) – Bulb setting, other shutter speed(s?) unspecified – Cable release socket – Tripod mount
(I just love how they’re too cool to actually tell you what you’re buying. I guess Real Lomographers don’t need to concern themselves with the mundane details of, you know… exposure. It’s Lomographic, so you should just buy it.) (corrected in a comment below by davers)
The cheapest package (no, you still can’t just buy a fucking camera from these goons, you have to buy a lifestyle-enhancing, off-the-shelf Lomographic Personality Package) is US $60.
The LS web store a complete rip off – every item is over priced and the postal charges are criminal. Tried to buy a lens ring so I could fit filters to my Holga but the postal charge cost more than the item. I’ll glue the filters on and stick to ebay for films and cameras!
You may be able to screw a filter right into the little ridge of plastic that rings the lens housing, no glue required!
Good to see you back.
Square lovers can always go on the cheap and mask existing 35mm cameras and viewfinders. Or just crop. I’ve sworn to never give Lomo my money.
http://microsites.lomography.com/dianamini/howto
Technical Specification
FIlm Type: 35mm film
Lens: 24mm (Square Format: 30mm equivalent, Half Frame format: 35mm equivalent)
Diagonal View Angles: 70° 62°
Focusing: 0.6m-inf.
Frame Format: 24mm x 24mm & 24mm x 17mm (select on body)
Shutter Speed: 1/60, Bulb (N, B)
Aperture: f8, f11 (cloudy, sunny)
Flash Attachment: via Diana Flash Plug (flash not included)
View Finder: built in
Film Counter Type: frame accumulate type
Multi- exposure: yes
Film stopping: yes
Cable Release: yes
Tripod Mount: yes
Dimension: 70mm x 101mm x 60mm
maybe if you actually looked at the fuckin’ website before you started raggin’ on ’em so hard, you would come off as such an immediate tooldouche when someone like me stumbles upon your site from google. [though, i must agree, that they do charge through the ass for their products..]
I did look at the fuckin’ web site several times to make sure I wasn’t missing it. Either I missed it anyway, or they changed it since I wrote this. It is possible I missed it, since this fuckin’ information is cleverly displayed at the bottom of the fuckin’ HOW-TO’S [sic] section of the fuckin’ web site, so either way, they fuckin’ fucked that shit right the fuck up.
And I forgot to call them out on the immediate tooldouchery of using a proprietary fuckin’ flash mount. This is second only to using proprietary fuckin’ film. I mean come on, film and flashes are pretty much the only equipment standards we have in photography.
My original sentiment stands: fuck them.
You have got issues Nicolai. Do you know the fable of the fox and the sour grapes?
They invented a new camera. They can charge whatever they want for it. You don’t like it, you don’t have to buy it. They don’t owe you or anybody else anything. You think they should lower their prices because you can’t afford their stuff? The fact is that they are extremely astute business men and it pisses people like you off. It’s one thing to say that they’re goods are overpriced. It’s another thing to launch on a tirade at the mention of their name or every single time they come out with a new product. Do you feel the same way about Superheadz? They’re selling Blackbird Fly for over $120. They’re selling the Golden Half for $60. They’re reselling the VistaQuest VQ1005 for $65!
Every time you whine, grumble, pitch a fit, and start cussing about LSI, you come across looking like a jealous, inarticulate, immature, crybaby. You really need to get over it. LSI bashing is so last Tuesday.
You think they should lower their prices because you can’t afford their stuff?
No, I think they should lower their prices because in my opinion they’re too high for the quality of the products they deliver, and because they don’t offer any value-adds, like great service, to offset the price-performance gap. (Their service is embarrassingly abysmal in my experience.)
Every time you build an argument on unfounded assumptions, you look like, well, someone who builds their arguments on unfounded assumptions. You also come across as someone who refuses to actually read what they’re responding to, as you utterly failed to address the fact that “I might actually buy” appears in both the title and body of this post.
I’m not familiar with the Superheadz web store, but I’ll check it out. ($119.99 seems to be the standard street price for the Blackbird, Fly.)
I’ll stop bashing them when I feel the company and their products and service stop sucking, and I’ll stop posting about cheaper or better-built alternatives to their products when they lower their prices to what I consider to be reasonable. As long as they’re charging $70 for a $28 Holga, that’s not going to happen.
They market the whole “72 pictures from a 32mm roll” thing like it’s a money saver. And since I’m cheap, that sounds cool – until you realize that they priced the damn camera upwards of sixty freaking bucks. It was originally sold in China for one dollar! What gives?
If you’re interested in an alternative half-frame, toy camera, try the Golden Half, from Superheadz; it’s supposed to be of superior build quality than the Diana Mini.
It’s like around $50 from places like fourcornersdark’s online store. Probably still too much for some people.
Could be worse; try pricing a mint Olympus Pen D half-frame from the 1960s; that’ll put it in proper perspective.
~Joe