Friday, August 22, 2008

DIANA IS A NOT JUST A PRINCESS



So here's how the story goes: back in the '60s, a small firm in Hong Kong created an inexpensive camera called the Diana. Crafted entirely of plastic, each camera cost only a dollar at the time of its release! Although it was only produced for about 10 years, Diana became a favorite with avant-garde and lo-fi photographers. They loved its soft & dreamy images, super-saturated colors, unpredictable blurring, and random contrast. Diana shots were raw & gritty, with a character all their own. They couldn't be duplicated by any other camera on Earth! But after the camera was discontinued in the '70s, functional examples became difficult to find and increasingly expensive to purchase. Dianas were in high demand! And given the cameras exceptional images and retro good looks, the fine folks at Lomo decided that it was time for a comeback!

Not satisfied with a simple reissue, Lomo decided to add something to the original. That meant adding all-new functionality to the camera and dramatically expanding its creative potential. They called it Diana+ Edelweiss. Its body was re-cast in pure white plastic using a duplication of the original mold. The lens was balanced to obtain those "perfectly imperfect" dreamy, gorgeous, color-drenched, sometimes-blurry, and often mind-blowing images. And this Diana knows a few new tricks, too! Features include 2 shutter speeds: one for day and one for night; the ability to shoot multiple or partial (overlapping) exposures; two image sizes for 12 square shots or 16 square shots on a roll of film; new Pinhole function: remove the lens, set the aperture to a super-small pinhole and shoot a super-wide-angle, severely old-school image through a tiny hole; new endless panorama function: shoot a long, concurrent, and unlimited panoramic image, with almost no space between each individual frame. Imported. Wipe clean. (Text by UrbanOutfitters)

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