While most film cameras have virtually disappeared from the amateur photography market, the Diana camera, a cult favorite from the 60s and 70s, has, to the delight of photographers, returned. The original made a splash almost by accident: the camera’s cheap construction – the plastic lens allowed light to leak in the camera body that created odd color palettes, slightly blurred photos, and low contrast and resolution – lent themselves to more artistic photographs. This allowed users to play with formats, pinhole shots and angles before Photoshop existed. Discontinued in the late 70s, the Diana gradually became a mantle-piece rather than a functional device.

Now, however, Lomography has reconstructed the Diana camera, bringing back the cheap plastic lens and its singular artistic abilities with a reconstruction that borders on obsessive. All the light-weight camera’s (perfect) imperfections remain intact on the new model, which offers variable shutter speeds, a removable lens for super-wide angle pinhole shots, 12-shot, 16-shot and several panoramic formats (creating both square and rectangular prints), and a commitment to photos with a color-drenched, dream-like quality. The 2010 Diana comes backed with a 2-year international warranty and retails for $60.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 28th, 2010 at 9:14 am and is filed under Culture, Home, Travel.