New to Lomo

[daveco]

Hello,
I am a high school student wishing for a Lomo camera (Diana) for Christmas.

It shoots 120mm natively, but I am going to get (hopefully) a 35mm back for it, so I can not spend all my money on the expensive 120mm film. This is so I can practice on 35mm film first.

However, I have some questions, and would be very grateful if anyone could help me.

1. Where is a good place to buy CHEAP 120mm film, and what range of selection do they have available? (Slide, color, B&W, redspace, and different ISOs)
2. I googled online and found an exposure chart for the Diana F+, which has two shutter settings; bulb and 1/60 of a second. What confuses me is that the chart has exposure times ranging from 1/2 second to 1/30 of a second. How am I meant to expose for that short of a time? Do I just press the shutter more than once on 1/60 to make other ones, say press it four items for 1/15?
3. I have read about developers being able to compensate for poorly exposed shots but pushing/pulling them, can I expect developers around here to do that? Or have I got the concept wrong?
4. Has anyone tried the actual branded "Lomography" films, and how to they compare to their cheaper equivalents?
5. Any other tips for an analog beginner?

Any answers/ partial answers would be much appreciated.

PS.
This is my first post on this forum, and it seems like a great community, especially as it is based locally, in Singapore. I am quite proficient at photoshop and digital photography, but I find the whole concept of analog photography quite daunting.

Thanks.

 

[boliaocomein]

There is this shop called Peek! who has a wide variety of films and cameras, plus their sales assistants are really helpful with all your questions as well. You should go check out their website www.peek-ture.com or go down to their shop at 36 Armenain Street. The best part is that i think that they have student discounts till December!

 

[saveDqueen]

1. Where is a good place to buy CHEAP 120mm film, and what range of selection do they have available? (Slide, color, B&W, redspace, and different ISOs)
2. I googled online and found an exposure chart for the Diana F+, which has two shutter settings; bulb and 1/60 of a second. What confuses me is that the chart has exposure times ranging from 1/2 second to 1/30 of a second. How am I meant to expose for that short of a time? Do I just press the shutter more than once on 1/60 to make other ones, say press it four items for 1/15?
3. I have read about developers being able to compensate for poorly exposed shots but pushing/pulling them, can I expect developers around here to do that? Or have I got the concept wrong?
4. Has anyone tried the actual branded "Lomography" films, and how to they compare to their cheaper equivalents?
5. Any other tips for an analog beginner?

Hi there daveco,

Welcome to the analog world! Speaking from a everyday-tomdickharry's point of view, Diana F+ may or may not be a good start for beginners on film. I've seen people who've had a few setbacks and gave up totally on film after their first few rolls, painfully selling everything away. But there are those who were wow'ed and amazed by the quality and photos they got, so i'm telling you these to prepare you on this bizzare journey that you are taking on. You may wana find out more after you have churned out your first roll, or else you might be overwhelmed by the info you may get without experiencing it yourself.

(btw i am just a lazy hobbyist and i wouldn't involve myself in complicated stuffs, so take my answers with a pinch of salt yea~)

1. A few options, Triple D at Burlington Square located near Sim Lim or BnS on CS or Lomotion forums.
2. There are two shutter settings on Diana 1/60 for sunny weather and B mode. B = Bulb mode, if you have a DSLR with a B mode (which every normal Dslr would have), you would understand how to control the B mode.
3. Do not bother about it unless you are prepared to have your own darkroom and developing equipments, seriously for a hobbyist like me. Read up about it in our own Traditional Darkroom subsection!
4. Ahhhh thats really up to your own personal opinions, to me its just a marketing gimmick.
5. Find out more about: Sunny 16 rule, Different samples of film on Flickr, Diana modification, difference between Slide's cross processing and negative's normal processing and lastly check out the local Lomo forum (Lomotion)

All of the info given above requires a simple tool to complete it and thats Google.

Hope it helps!

Cheers~

 

[daveco]

Hey, thanks for all of the helpful advice. Its great to have such a helpful community!

Just for point two, I believe you misunderstand me. I meant that If I wanted to expose for 1/30 of a second with the only two shutter settings being available to me being bulb and 1/60 of a second, then I cannot use bulb as it is physically impossible to expose that fast by hand, do I use 1/60 of twice to make 1/30? (1/60 + 1/60 = 1/30) That is the only way that I can think of doing it, and since the exposure chart that I found is made specifically for the Diana, I certainly think it is possible.

Again, thanks so much for your help everyone!

 

[ndroo]

Go down to ThirtySix at Sunshine Plaza. Give them a call and go see Cindy there. She's one of the bosses there and a super great Lomographer (cyanwater in Lomo website). She'll be able to help you ... not only choose ... but also give you tons of tips and tricks. Learned lots from her.