Holga Blog

Let’s get the apology out the way first. Sorry this review is Six months after the release of this tiny camera. When Lomography sent us the Diana Mini to review we didn’t want to just produce another standard review from one Holgablog writer, we wanted to build on one of the key strengths of the Mini: the portability, and decided to couple that with one of the strengths of Holgablog : the breadth of writers we have from across the globe.

We hatched a plan to send the Mini across the planet to our writers in  far flung corners of the world. Each writer would have the camera for a few weeks, take a couple of rolls of film (Lomography kindly sent us some redscale and slide film for the camera), jot down their thoughts and post it to the next writer.  There were a few stumbling blocks, and the project took longer than anticipated, but the camera finally arrived with our final reviewer last week.

Before each writer posts their thoughts and such shots, here’s a quick recap of where the camera went.Scotland->England->Latvia->Scotland->Minnesota(USA)->Virginia(USA)
View Diana Mini in a larger map

We have other writers in as far as Australia, but figured we would play it safe for our first major review collaboration. So without further ado, here is our joint review…

Scribe (England)

On opening the package, I can’t help but notice how cute the Mini is. Did you ever put crisp packets under the grill to make them little? It’s a bit like that, but with a camera. The Mini feels more solid than its bigger brother (or my Diana+ at least). After working out various flaps and switches, I load up the first Holgablog film and head out.

Out and about, I can imagine people with large hands having difficulties. However, the same could be said of the LC-A or Golden Half – c’est la vie. Again, a “clunkier” feel in action than my Diana+. Worth not being too forceful, but also satisfying to carry round and slip in/out of a pocket. Wishing my Golden Half could do multiple exposures…

My results here have been posted, scanned, e-mailed, and tweaked, so YMMV… But for such an ickle package, I’m pleased with the results. I did run a 120 roll through my Diana+ at the same time for comparison, but the different combination of lens size, neg size, and film make it a rather pointless test.

Overall? You can’t help but love it, like a small pet. Wish I had a flash to try with it. Tough choice between this and the Golden Half…

Some bubble wrap and parcel tape, and the Mini is on its way again…

Derek (Newport News, Va aka The Colonies)

When the camera showed up in my mail box I was expecting an Olympus 35RC I had just bought online.  I opened up the package and saw the little LSI box and figured my seller had packed the Oly in a lomo box.  As soon as I saw that iconic bluetop I knew right away that it was actually the Diana Mini I was going to review.   I am a nerd for cameras, the quirkier the better it seems.  My first impression of the Mini was that it was quit possibly the cutest 35mm camera I’ve ever seen.

Inside was a handwritten note from Veronica, and a print from Arne.  Everyone included a business card (note to self, get business cards made).  It’s a little strange in a cool way when you’re online life merges with you’re real life.  Having a more tangible connection with the people I only know by their flickr photostream and the things they have written for the blog was really nice.

The first thing you notice about the Diana Mini is the size.  It’s hard to get a sense of scale unless you hold it in your hand, the camera is really tiny.  I can be a little ham-handed with things and I’ve got pretty large hands so I was dreading trying to operate this tiny little camera.  Since it looked like a Diana but only smaller I figured it would be fairly cheaply made.  The back removes in the same way as the big sister version.  Loading film is pretty straight forward and very easy.  The quality of the camera is actually really surprising, this isn’t just a scaled down Diana; it’s been very smartly engineered and it’s well put together.  The fact that this camera has survived 4 photographers and an international postal journey around the world says a lot about how well it’s made.

Okay, so I’ve got my roll of Fomapan 400 B+W film and I’m off.  Stupid me, I forgot it was a half frame camera!  I thought for sure that there was something broken when the film advance wheel would only turn a little bit.  After remembering that this was a half frame camera things went pretty smooth.  Focusing is done just as it is done with the big sister version, you turn the ring in the barrel that’s marked in meters and with the the little icons.  I call this guess-o-matic focusing.  You can switch formats from half frame to square frame, but you have to do this before you wind on for your shot.  I’ve heard that if you take your film to a lab this can really confuse it’s machine and operater.  Lucky for me I don’t!  There are some other unique features for the camera.  This camera can use a cable release which is really cool and it also has a bulb mode that allows you to extend your exposure for as long as you hold down the shutter release lever (or cable if you’re using one).

There’s a lot to be said for the convienience of 35mm film but with a few exceptions most 35mm cameras lack the lo-fi charm of the 120 cameras.  The Diana Mini has plenty of lo-fi charm and delivers results that make it obvious that this isn’t just some point and shoot camera in a cute package, this is a bonafide ”toy” camera with a lot of creative potential.  Seeing as how you get atleast 72 frames with a 36 exposure roll in half frame mode that can really help stretch out your film budget which will help a lot of people out.

If I have one complaint about the mini it’s that I hate where they put the bulb mode botton, it’s really easy to bump it and go from normal to bulb mode without realizing what you’ve done.  I ruined about half a roll of film because of this.   An easy solution is to use a small piece of tape and keep it in the position you want it to be in or to get in the habit of checking it before you take your shot.  It’s easy enough to self correct and it’s by no means a deal breaker but it’s annoying and worth pointing out.

All in all I think this is a great camera and I plan on buying one for myself.  I would love to see a straight forward full frame 35mm version in the future, maybe with the pano feature like the Vivitar Panaromic since LSI seems to like gadgets.

Stay tuned for Veronica and Arne’s upcoming articles on the Diana Mini to follow!