Wallace Koopmans Artlog

Apparently yesterday was World Toy Camera Day (WTCD) or so the internet said and what the internet says goes.  So I loaded a roll of Ektar 100 in my 1960’s Diana medium format ‘toy’ camera.  I went out with the plan to shoot all 16 frames and then develop it the same day, which I did.  I also pushed the film by two stops and processed the film at 104 degrees instead of the 102 prescribed.  It was partially to compensate for the fact that I had already processed more than the recommended number of 35mm rolls of film in the chemistry and the fact that the Dianna has a fixed shutter somewhere between 1/60 and 1/100 second and I sensed that it was causing under exposure for the conditions. The other reason was that I just felt like it and I could.  My Dianna leaks light like a pasta strainer and even though I taped it up ‘a bit’ it still let the sunshine in.  So here is my contiribution to WTCD.

“I’m so young and you’re so old”-Paul Anka

No not that Diana, the made in Hong Kong plastic nearly everything camera of the early 1960’s.  I spotted this camera in an antique store.  It was absolutely the worst camera I have ever seen, so I bought it.  It really can be distilled down to this, it is a semi light tight box with a single element plastic lens that produces an assortment of distortion and yields images with less contrast than Banff in a blizzard.  So what is the appeal?  Some  people claim it allows the freedom to just create images.  I claim it allows you to blame the camera when you don’t.  Yes a distinctive look can be achieved with this camera but at what cost.  For me I believe using it was a one time deal.  I would rather use a Zeiss Ikon or a Voigtlander Bessa, if I want to shoot 120 on an old camera, I at least might have a chance of predicting the results and I’m sure I’ll still retain artistic freedom.