Diana F+ Hong Meow unboxing

After a couple of weeks of deliberation, I've finally convinced @hardij to take up Lomography. On Sunday she placed an order for the Diana F+ clone Hong Meow, and two days later it is finally here.

For those who do not know, the Diana was originally a toy camera that uses 120 rollfilm (medium format) from the 1960s. Despite the toy nature of the camera, the characteristic soft focus and vignetting of the plastic lens made the Diana camera popular among photographers who loved its ability to shoot lo-fi dreamy pictures.

The limited edition Hong Meow is a Diana F+ clone created to celebrate the birthplace of the original Diana, Hong Kong. The box is well made and is adorned with pictures of some person in a panda suit having fun around Hong Kong, obviously shot with a Lomography camera of some sort.

The content of the Diana F+ Hong Meow edition includes the Diana F+ camera clone with unique colour scheme (black and white paint job based on the panda with green strap based on its bamboo diet), electronic flash, coloured gel flash filters, lens cap, two plastic frames for shooting format and hardcover Diana F+ photo book.

As mentioned earlier, the Diana+ uses 120 rollfilm. It can shoot in three size images: 12 large square images, 16 small square images or endless panorama. To do this you will have to insert one of the plastic frames (or none for large square images), slide up the film format switch on the back and load a fresh roll of 120.

The Diana F+ comes with an electronic flash (it takes a single AA battery) for low light photography. It is effective between 1-1.5 metre from the subject with a ISO 400 film. Obviously you can use the included coloured gel flash filters for crazy effects. You can also use other flash like the Colorsplash or Ringflash.

The Diana+ is incredibly customisable. The default plastic lens on this is the 75mm, and you can replace this with various lens like the fisheye, 38mm for super wide angle photography, 55mm for wide and close up or 110mm for telephoto. Or you could go lens-less and shoot pinhole images. The Diana can also be fitted with a 35mm back so it can take the easy to develop film format or Instant back for use with Fujifilm's Instax Mini format.

As I write this I can see that Jenni just can't wait to get some fresh films and start shooting this weekend. It would be great to write more about it then, but as this is an analogue film camera, it may take a while to get through a couple of rolls of film before sending it off for processing.

In any case enjoy the final picture: