MetaChat - Diana pics!

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01 February 2007

Diana pics! I bought an old Diana camera off eBay, took a test roll of pics, and a few actually came out!→[More:]The light leaks happened when I took the film out and realized it was rolled up VERY loosely... oops. I'll do that in the dark, next time.

Now that I know the camera works, I'm hoping for a sunny weekend so I can REALLY put it to use.

post by: BoringPostcards at: 09:48 | 13 comments

You took those? I'd die for those soup letters.

posted by auntbunny 01 February | 10:00

These are from a place near my house that sells old signs and stuff, auntbunny... roaming around in their yard is always good for a pic or two.

posted by BoringPostcards 01 February | 10:04

Oooo you have a nice, soft camera. Gorgeous grain and vignette, BP! I freaking love it. I spy some light warping, too. Good stuff. I will be faving those as soon as I sign into flickr later... ;)

You can take a bit of cardboard from your film box and jam it over and above the take-up spool to make the film a little tighter, like a holga, right? You can do that with a Diana? It makes a huge difference as far as light leaks go, although I personally love them.

posted by iconomy 01 February | 10:08

Hooray!

posted by matildaben 01 February | 10:15

I'm not sure the cardboard trick will be as easy to make work in the Diana, ico... the spool is held by this little spring-arm thing instead of resting flat against a surface. I'm going to give it a try, though. (I put fuzzy velcro dots inside my Holga to wedge the spools in place.)

I like the light leaks, too, but the film was SO loose that a few shots near the end of the roll were totally destroyed, so I want to tone 'em down just a little!

And hey, mats and ico both in the same thread- my two photo-muses! :)

posted by BoringPostcards 01 February | 10:29

Gorgeous, saturated color, very evocative. Can't wait to see what you do with this stuff!

posted by Miko 01 February | 10:32

VERY cool pics, BP. I love the blue.

posted by gaspode 01 February | 10:40

Great pics... I have an old handheld movie camera one of my brothers gave me for Christmas some ten years ago that I've never tried. I'm not sure if it works or even how to use it (e.g., where to get/load/develop the film), but maybe I'll dig it out of its box. I'd kind of forgotten about it.

posted by Pips 01 February | 11:21

Thanks, y'all. :)

Pips, I went through a brief Super 8 film phase in the 90s... there are still places that sell and develop movie film, but it's a little pricey. Being in NYC you'd probably get a better deal, since I had to mail mine out somewhere, but I'm sure you could find places right there in town.

posted by BoringPostcards 01 February | 11:30

The light leaks lend the pics a distinctive charm.

posted by mischief 01 February | 11:42

Thanks BoPo... appreciate the info. and encouragement. I have this idea for a short film about elderly people who take organ/keyboard lessons (the places that sell the organs offer the lessons on the cheap)... my mom did for awhile. It's something of a skeevy business. Some took out mortgages on their houses to buy $40,000 organs they never did learn to play. (Not my mom, thankfully. She was a pianist to begin with, too.) For some reason, I thought it might look good in the Super 8.

posted by Pips 01 February | 11:43

Lovely photos, BP.

posted by deborah 01 February | 13:09

Dianas are fantastic. I've got a roll in mine right now that I need to finish off. As for the loose winding, the cardboard might work, but if you can get some kind of packing foam - I found a really dense foam that was used to support a 4000W light bulb (for a projector) during shipping. It works fantastically.

We'll see whether my gaff-taping job was good enough to prevent light leaks once I develop this roll.

posted by god hates math 01 February | 13:57

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