Infrared with a Diana camera?

Has anyone out there used infrared B&W film with a Diana Camera? If

so what advice if any do you have? My concerns are that the Diana

camera is a camera that has to have its seams taped with black

electric tape when using regular film because they are not light

tight. Also the plastic they are made of is not very high quality

and I suspect infrared radiation can leak through it. I was thinking

I may need to wrap the camera up fairly well with tinfoil. Any

thoughts on this out there?

 

David

Hmmm...

 

I suspect the best thing to do is wrap it (the Diana)in tin foil, then wrap it in plastic wrap, the throw it in garbage where the dogs won't be able to get to it.

 

You are already plsying with a toy camera,if you want to experiment with wierd films, go for it.

 

 

tim in san jose

try is site;

 

http://www.onfal.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=6

 

there are folks from all over the world working with "toy cameras" checking in at this website.

hi tim,

 

thanks for the feed back. i know that deep down you mean well! and if you throw your digital, or whatever it is that you shoot with in the garbage, that's when we'd really be making some progress!

See "Speed Graphic sighting: 9/11 Commission hearings" about David Burnett: He shot a Holga for a major assignment, too. Go to this link:

 

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=007vos

 

And then follow the links...

http://www.dianacameras.com/

 

Damn those things look fun. I was thinking about getting a Holga, now I'll look

for a diana as well.

Seems like you already know the limitations and the fixes. The problem is loading and taping in the darkroom. In reality, Tim's suggestion may actually be a good solution - black plastic. You could essentially prefab a working dark bag for it out of heavy duty black plastic (maybe like the stuff for blacking out windows in darkrooms) that still allowed photographs to be taken. Shoot away.

Pretty harsh, Tim. Remember: "It's the Image, stupid". An oatmeal box and a sheet of tri-X in the hands of a dedicated worker will get better results than RolleiGX-2.8 in the hands of a wanna-be. Did you never play with toy cameras? You should! Thier fun!

Damn right they are fun!

 

My girlfriend screwed a step-up ring directly onto the front of her Holga, and regularly runs 35mm film through it, getting those lovely pano-shots that have image all over the sprocket hole area, too..

 

Her Holga shots are often much more striking in content than her shots with the F3, or any of our Cosina-Voigtlander arsenal..

 

I love toy cameras! They can provide a much-needed escape from cameras with too much interface - though I still love, and often use my old N8008.. The N8008 is a good camera for light rain; the Holga is a good camera for outright storms..

Alexander-

 

That's what I'm talking about! I've done the oatmeal box too, I've cut them down short (1/2") left them long, and everything between! When you step outside the box, it's amazing what you can achieve.

 

 

David

Jorn-

 

I'm not sure the black plastic would work. I found that using my black plastic patterson tank for developing 35mm shot in my pentax mx was a no-no. The manufacturer's recomend using all metal processing tanks.

Might depend on the plastic. I'm fairly sure Jobo claims thier plastic tanks are fine of IR.

What about those clear plastic 'rain shield' bags that slip over your camera and have an elastic hole for the lens to slip through.. You could use the aluminum tape on the inside or outside of the bag.

 

Just a thought, i've never done this.

Ann-

 

I checked out that sight. You were right, it was a big help. Thanks!

 

It doesn't appear that anyone is getting any serious fogging, but then again the Maco that I ordered is the most intensively IR film of any that they were using. I'll let you all know how I make out. I've been practicing loading and taping the camera in the dark for a few weeks now and I'm getting pretty good at it!

 

David :)

Once the camera is all taped up you should be O.K. But if that fails, or ends up being

a pain in the neck, how about taking the Diana's lens out and mounting it into a

camera that you know is light tight without tape?

Maybe just another way to go about it.

I must apologize for my... impertanance.

 

I respect whatever you shoot with, even if it is a toy camera. It's YOUR art, not mine.

 

As far as what I shoot? Not a digital, that's for sure. I only have one camera with a meter in. The closest I have to your toy camera is some piece of 1950's Italian made aluminum f11 junk that shoots 127 film. And with the price of 127 film being what it is, it's not worth it.

 

As for my serious off the wall stuff, I use homemade pinhole cameras for both B&W 120 film and color Polaroid.

 

I guess my point is, you are working with junk, you want to push the envelope, just do it. Let us know how it turns out.

 

 

 

tim in san jose

Erik-

 

I thought about that - taking the lens off - but it's the last Diana I have and I want to keep it intact. I'm not willing to pay the disgusting prices you see for these camera's on ebay. But on a tangent from that thought, back in the 80's I did a bunch of stuff with a Diana lens mounted on an old speed graphic 5x7. It made cool round images. I got the idea from one of my professors who was also doing this.

 

 

Tim-

 

Apology accepted, actually I didn't really take any offense to your comments... I hear it all the time when people see me out shooting with the Diana - especially when they see me strap it to my Tilt-All tripod and tape lens filters onto it. My two "new cameras", the ones with light meters (a nikkormat ft and a pentax mx) I gave to my kids to play around with. I shoot mainly with my agfa isolette(6x6) and franka rolfix (6x9). I sometimes use my 100 year old 8x10 wizardview for pinhole and with the original lens which sometimes does very surprising things.

 

David :-)

I've developed SFX, Konica IR750, Maco 820n and Kodak Infrared (HIE) in a Paterson System 4 tank (early 80's vintage) with no fogging problems.

I've had some success with using Maco 820 in a Holga converted to pinhole. Got around any concerns of light leaks at the seams or through the modern space age material body by wrapping the entire camera in several layers of aluminum foil. It looked incredibly silly but it seemed to do the job.

David..................I was reading one of your posts. I too have an

Agfa Isolette(model II). It was my dads. I'm running some film through

it. I've found someone online who refurbishes these cameras. His web

site exscapes me right now,but when I find his site I'll post it. I

will prolly buy one of his refurbished Isolette with the better lens

and shutter. Do you use the Isolette for ir?

EL RAMACCITO

 

 

I haven't run any IR film through the agfa yet. However I've run several rolls of IR through my Franka Rolfix which is also a folder of similar design and construction, the only difference being that it is the 6x9 format. The only problem I had was that I didn't tape up the film counter red window on the back of the camera, I just left the little slide up metal door closed. It may have been open just a bit, I'm not sure, but on the first roll of film, the frame numbers and all of the other marks that are on the paper backing of the film were burned into the emulsion and came out on the images. On all the rolls I've shot since then I've had the door closed on the counter window and black electricians tape (vinyl) over it as well: the result, no further problems. I just had to figure out how many cranks of the knob to advance to the next frame. (I load it in the darkroom and make sure I have it advanced until I feel the begining of the film before closing the camera up.)

 

I don't know if the guy you found on line for agfa repairs is the same guy I know of (can't remember his name), but if you go on ebay and search sellers, search for certo6. That's his ebay name, you can contact him through his ebay sight and he will get back to you. His prices are pretty reasonable for the quality of job he does.

 

David

Thats the man! I like his website. He has alot of info. Does your

Rolfix have IR mark on lens? And are you capable of using filters?

I'm trying to locate the 30mm push on filter holder for the Isolette.

Tough to find,even on Ebay. I know the Isolette uses 120,but I've run

220 in it. You just keep window open and advance untill you see film.

Slide it closed,tape over it. Advance film untill you hear 3rd click.

Take photo,advance to 3rd click,and so on. Try it out,let me know.

I will now leave here,and start an Isolette thread(medium format).

I have a kodak series VI push on filter holder with a lens hood, and several filters. The red filter I have isn't quite as deep as I would like, I think that something close to opaque would be the best. There is no red IR mark on the lens, but as I do strictly landscape photagraphy with the IR film I leave the lens at infinity, and close the aperature down to f-32. I mount the camera on a tripod, so slow shutter speeds aren't much of a problem.

Also, if you like the old folders, check out the classic cameras forum on this site.