Send in the Clones

Many people are familiar with the Diana Camera, that cheap 1960-70s plastic camera that was made to be a promotional gift/prize. However, as we now know, the camera became an icon of photographic artistry, as seen by David Featherstone's The Diana Show (1980, The Friends of Photography, ISBN 0-933286-17-1), and Nancy Rexroth’s book, Iowa (1975, reprinted 2017, University of Texas Press, ISBN 978-1-4773-1041-0).   The vignetting, aberration, and peculiarities that varied from camera to camera made the Diana a cult camera. While the Diana does feature some modest controls, its overall construction is fairly flimsy, and certainly not as well-constructed as the much-later Holga. To remedy some of the aberration from the cheap plastic lens, the film mask was made to be about 4 x 4 cm on 120 film. The bonus was that gave us 16 negatives from a roll. You’d think that such an inexpensive camera would be ignored for what it was, but instead, several companies made clones of the camera.

Hong Kong was the place where all the cheap cameras were made before China opened up to the World, and the Diana and subsequent clones, made in Hong Kong, represented the then lassiez-faire attitude towards copyright and trademarks. It’s possible that the same factory turned out most of the clones, but we’ll probably never know. The Great Wall Plastics Company in Hong Kong produced the Diana at least until about 1980, and it's safe to say that the concurrent clones probably lasted into the 1980s.

While not at all in the same league as the collectible fake Russian Leicas, there are a number of people that do collect the Dianas and the at least 70 named copies provide a lot to explore. Being cheap plastic, the cameras don’t sell for a whole lot. Of course, there are modern Dianas, the Diana +, made by Lomography, that took the original design and improved upon it, and these should not be confused with the Hong-Kong variants. Until the Lomography-made Diana + came out, vintage Dianas were selling for over $50. I remember an estate sale that I was helping with in 2007, and the deceased hoarder had plastic bags of unopened original Dianas that he picked up at flea markets, etc. We thought that was quite the find at the time.  A few years ago, my friend Marcy Merrill sent me a box of Diana clones that she picked up at a camera swap.     Not all of the clones are identical in performance. The Lina and the Pokey have only a shutter button, with molded plastic tabs on the lens barrel that are there only to give the appearance of other controls, taking the craptastic quality to an even lower level.

The original Diana (lower center) and clones. The 21st century Lomography Diana+
is right above the original.

What prompted this essay was my use of a Banier camera, so similar to the Diana, that it’s pretty much an exact copy. I had started a roll of vintage Verichrome Pan on it in 2018, and pulled it out of the drawer the other day and finished shooting the rest of the film. I developed the film in D-96 for 8 minutes, and the negatives came out very well. A few examples are shown below.

Bill Schwab (center), Photostock 2018

Saluda, NC 2020

Saluda, NC 2020

Fairview, NC, 2020

Saluda, NC 2020

If you are out shooting with a Diana or a clone  nobody will ever take you to be a serious photographer. However, as we know, it’s all in how you use the tools, and the Diana can be used to take some quite memorable and engrossing images.  The original Dianas are even better than the Holga if you want to pursue low-fi photography. As in "better", I mean more aberration, light leaks, and more “atmosphere.” The Diana + is certainly a better made and more reliable camera than the original, but it lacks the craptastic plastic uniqueness of the original.

There are still many of these clones on eBay, and because of the Lomography Diana + and Diana-mini (which can make 24mm square negatives on 35mm film), the prices of the clones vary greatly.  New Diana+ cameras sell for more, and the older clones and original Dianas sell from $10 and up.    To get an idea of the names of Diana  clones, check out http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Diana.

In short, there is a reason to use the Diana, and the results may be something that will lead you to explore how the camera affects not only the images you take, but the subsequent interpretation of them.  It's not always clarity of image that we  seek, but clarity of ideas, and the toy cameras can lead one down a path where reality is bent and shaped by a plastic lens.

Michigan State Fair, 2006

Protest, 2006

Black Rocks, 2007

flag, 2018

King Cone, 2006

Greenfield Village, 2008