Diana Edelweiss, exposure test.

 

If you have ever shot a Diana camera you will know that it is a lesson in relaxation, an exercise in not worrying about the settings, just get out there and shoot.

 

This sometimes gives me goosebumps as I don't want to waste film, not only is it expensive but it's not so easy to get hold of, especially here in this corner of South East Asia.

 

So I thought I would get out there and test shoot my Diana Edelweiss medium format toy camera with some Fomapan 100 ISO film and bracket using the aperture switch on the bottom of the lens.

 

If you are not familiar, the Diana has four settings on the bottom, represented by symbols. There is sunshine which is about f22, then there is partly cloudy at f16 and cloudy at f11. There is pinhole too which is around f150 but I have never used that.

 

So the weather was very bright sunshine, tropical sunshine, and although I started at nearly 9am, the EV was already 17@100 ISO. The grid of images is below, on the right we start at f11, then f16 and finally f22.

 

Vietnamese monument@08:44

Bright sun EV 17@100; 15@400

1. cloudy  f11

2.partially cloudy. f16

3.sunny. f22

 

The first location is the Cambodian Vietnamese friendship monument in Phnom Penh, and the second is Tuol Tom Poung pagoda, also in Phnom Penh.

 

This next grid was shot later but the weather had become slightly overcast at EV 15, so still bright, but not so much.

 

Tuol Tom Poung pagoda@12:39

Overcast tropical sun EV15@100;13.3@400

4.cloudy

5.partially cloudy

6.sunny

 

The confounding part of this is that the results are not consistent. For me when the sun was brightest the best shot was set at partially cloudy, when the weather was overcast I thought the best shot was when set at sunny.

 

Just like toy cameras themselves, it makes no sense.

 

So I guess there is something else going on here, the shutter speed is variable maybe, whatever it is it would seem that the best thing to do is just to stop thinking and get out there and shoot.

 

Lucien Grey