Topic: The Diana Monologues

[beck]

That just sounds so damn sexy...

I love her, you love her, we all love, Diana. Tell us all the glamorous stories about your beloved camera...the model type, her most embarrassing moments, her failures and desires...or better yet, tell us your failed attempts, slip ups and the like, using her. She won't mind, she may like being used. We'd like to hear how you came about this wonderful camera...the when's, where's, and so on. Do you keep her in a fabulous purse? Or around your sexy neck...I keep her in my bedroom and when it's time to play...oh la la. Let's hear it all folks...the good, the bad and the ugly. Ugly is good..and so is her desires and disasters.

 Say it here or forever hold your piece....

[Ed Wenn]

Not sure I can do 'glam', but I can add a 'blur=good/blur=bad' story.

3 years ago I bought two clones from Jim Green. I was a Holga man and was very cynical about what all these Diana-types were banging on about. I kept the Diana Delux clone for myself and gave the other (an Anny) to a friend. The Delux turned out to be a giant bummer. Everything was blurred and I couldn't get the focus settings to make any difference. I shot a few films, then gave up on it for a year. One day Susan and I were emailing each other and as it often does around Ms B, talk soon turned to 'blur' and I offered to send her 'the clone that wouldn't focus' in the hope that she'd be able to get something good out of it. It goes without saying that she did:



I felt like a fool. I'd had a top camera in my collection, but had let it go because I'd been too shortsighted (appropriately enough  ) to see that its limitations could be turned into strengths. Susan's success with my camera opened my eyes and made me think about the Anny that I'd given to my friend. Was he still using it? Had he ever used it? I called him up and sure enough, he'd not even taken it out of its box. I had a good feeling about the Anny, so I offered to swap it on a loan basis with my long-unused LC-A and sure enough...the Anny was a winner too:



Don't give up on that Diana...even if you think it's really shitty.

 

[Susan B.]

kind of you Ed. I've not thought about those shots for awhile.

[beck]

Well that's a pretty amazing story, Ed...and who the heck knew...and yes, those are some wonderful photographs and why it is that blur is so appealing to most, is something else...and to behold. Susan's work is tops with me...

Like some, or most, I got my Diana from ebay with a winning bid fetched by a friend last year or so...and I believe I paid $50 then...and good thing too with what these girls are going for today. And it came with two rolls of very expired Verichrome Pan and that cute flash hicky....and pictures sure did look like it. The shutter's still a little frisky and have to manually give it a lift after firing a shot. It hasn't gotten too bad and my photographs look fine. I remember shooting a roll with the damn setting in-between partly cloudy and sunny and had these massive vignettes on the right side...I dug it though.


Oh man, talk about being a putz and using this camera for the very first time then...I was in the mall and called myself being smart and thought I shot an entire roll without advancing one single time...I just kept damn forgetting and was so used to using a, cough, digital camera. I know better now and a lot today. If you seen my Diana, you'd probably laugh...or something...it looks like it's on its last leg...poor thing...the lens is loosy goosy and I have to be careful. I've got a strip of velcro around the barrel for easy attachments...and use them around my filters as well and just use the pincher side to hook them up. Haha. Don't ask, just listen. It's my favorite camera and I shoot it with it the most.

Oh, I can say my Diana Deluxe is equally as nice as my Diana F...when I first got it, it sat for a long time before I loaded it up...the images I get from her are like that of the Di, but the focus is a lot sharper and still maintains the same mystery more or less...some times it's a lot sharper than my Holga. I remember having to mark my roles with D, DD and H...I no longer have to do that and can identify what batch of negatives came from what camera.

[beck]

Ah, c'mon....one story? I know you guys can do better than that...

[Theresa]

there's only once I really remember being disappointed about having my diana to shoot with rather than my 35mm with zoom lens.

I was at the zoo and walking to the wolf habitat.  as we rounded the corner, we noticed that a small herd of deer had come down into the park and were grazing- right outside the fences of the wolf habitat.  the wolves were going nuts. packing and circling and stalking.  only to realize over and over that there was a barrier between themselves and their venison on the hoof. 

I was having my own frustration.  I only had my dianaF and my Braun Gloria.  couldn't get close enough to get a good shot of the scene with either.


with gloria- heavily cropped.  arrows added in photoshop.

 I definitely wasn't going to get enough detail with the diana to show anything.  and to top it off, it was in a very shaded area.

but even though I didn't get the shot I wanted, I still got some intriguing images.  so once again, can't complain.


with diana

the whole set slideshow:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/bluecoyotelaughing/sets/72057594061802729/show/

[beck]

That was my frustration too at the beginning using that stinking digital. I would just ZOOOOM right in and there ya go. It took a while to get used to point and shoot and I haven't looked back. Cute story with the wolves and such and I would have been circling too...I love venison.

Say, that last image looks pretty darn nice to me as well...and I wouldn't expect no less from the beloved Diana.

[artpunk]

I don't have a Diana, perhaps one day *sigh* - but have had experiences with 3 of her clones.
~ Story #1 The first was an "Asiana" that I got off ebay - in its box! (advertised like that as if that somehow improved its performance) I couldn't have given a rat's arse about the box so long as the camera worked, which it didn't - three unsalvageable rolls of 120 and probably the same again of electricians tape to try and track down a light leak which I have been advised is probably in the lens barrel...that one's sitting on a shelf gathering dust, I can't even sell it in good faith, because I haven't found the leak.
~ Story #2 - The Colorflash Deluxe - shutter worked once then jammed. Had a lot of help with advice as to how to get it going. That is still a work in progress *heh* because of me being a procrastinator and receiving:
~ Clone (and Story #3) - a generous fellow Australian photographer who was lurking the corridors of tc emailed me to let me know he had a spare Colorflash Deluxe, just like the one I had except it actually worked! He sent it too me and I quickly ran a roll through it...very happy, very happy...although probably sharper than a traditional Diane, this clone gives some nice quirky results, and I've even used it at night with flash (that was also thoughtfully tweaked to fire at the right time by my generous benefactor)
~ I know some of you have probably seen these (presented for illustrative purposes anecdotal to my story)  before so apologies for the Déjà Vu 








I would have to say this particular camera is one of my favs (along with my Fujipet and Empire Junior...and Polaroids and...lol)
 

[beck]

No Diana? For shame, for shame...it's off to the naughty chair you go young man...I just couldn't resist saying that. When I first seen that last shot...and seeing it at flickr, I thought it was from a Holgaroid...it is right? I was drawn right into it that fast..the flash was brilliant.

No Diana?! AHA... 

[artpunk]

Thanks Beck (he says from the "naughty chair"  ) - nope, this is a Colorflash Deluxe shot!

[Tammy]

Well, my first experience with a Diana was the Arrow clone.   Actually, the images were quite grundgy.  I didn't have any real knowledge of the Arrow when I started to use it.  I get pretty interesting results from her, but I never really seem to get it where I want it.  So, I saved my pennies and picked up a Diana.  First click and i managed to sling the shutter right out of there, and so had to open her up my first day.  

But, the results were much better than I expected.  Other than the viewfinder being extremely tempermental.  I get light leaks even when taped , and I don't have any idea where they come from.  My lens is now taped on because the aperture thingy slides around and I keep trying to fix it.  No matter how I contort it, it works for a couple of shots and then is sloppy again. sigh.  It's really fragile, and I have been expecting each roll to be it's last, yet somehow the tape holds her together.  This Diana has no "B" either, so wanting one that did, I sprung for a Banier.  I have not used it yet because it needs to be glued together- at least the shutter works and the lens barrel is in one piece.  



 

[beck]

I remember you having trouble with your Diana some time back...and look where you are now with it...some of your best work has come from her...and continues to do so. And that darn Bronica is a close second...gosh, I love that camera. Gimme.   

Cameron, you watch too much Nanny! Okay, I do...

[Tammy]

Yes, Becky- you were so supportive in my getting that Diana fixed!! 

[beck]

I need the support too...oh, oops...hey, mail next week...and share dammit.