Update: The giveaway is now closed. The winner will be announced soon.
How does Lomography relate to Nikon? It did not until two months ago when Lomo introduced the Diana F+ lens adapter for Nikon DSLR. The original medium format Diana camera was first introduced in Hong Kong back in 1960 and it was produced all the way until 1970 (wiki link). The whole concept was rejuvenated a few years ago and now you can enjoy some of the quirkiness of the original with your Nikon camera. The Diana F+ adapter allows the use of the 20mm fisheye, 38mm super wide, 55mm close-up and the 110mm telephoto lenses on any Nikon F-mount digital DX/FX or 35mm film camera. The NikonRumors giveaway kit contains the F mount adapter and all four of these lenses:
The lenses are small and really light (100% made out of plastic) - here is a size comparison with the Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 DX lens:
Each of the lenses comes in a separate box with a pouch, instructions and a viewfinder that can be used if you have the Diana camera:
The first thing I have to mention is that those lenses are initially designed for medium format and the actual focal length will vary based on the camera you use (unless Nikon comes up with a medium format camera). More info on this topic can be found here and here:
- The DianaF+ 20mm lens is equivalent to 38mm on FX and 60mm on DX
- The DianaF+ 38mm lens is equivalent to 72mm on FX and 115mm on DX
- The DianaF+ 55mm lens is equivalent to 105mm on FX and 170mm on DX
- The DianaF+ 110mm lens is equivalent to 200mm on FX and 320mm on DX
credit: Lomography
There is no need to examine MFT charts here. The Diana F+ plastic lenses can create flare, blur, chromatic aberration, low contrast, weird distortions and some color saturation - basically everything that makes Lomography popular. However, for good or for bad, there is no vignetting when using these lenses on an APS-C size senor and as you can sees from the picture above - don't expect any vignetting on a full frame sensor either. There is no aperture diaphragm, focus is manual (with three marked positions).
Since I was using a Nikon D300s with the Diana lenses, my favorite choices were the 38mm and 110mm lenses. The 20mm fisheye lens shows almost no fisheye distortion when used with the D300s. The 55mm lens comes with a close up add-on which is basically a slide-on lens that you put on top of the 55mm lens for taking close up pictures. The good part is that the close up lens can easily be removed and added when needed, but you will have to hold it with your finger if you point the camera down to make sure it won't fall. The close up lens is calibrated to take pictures from 6 inches (15 cm) and that distance cannot be adjusted.
How to enter the giveaway
This time we will do things differently. Enter your email in the box below. If you select yes, you will receive the free Lomography newsletter. You don't have to choose this option in order to participate in the giveaway. Your email address will not be used for any other purposes. One entry per person. As aways, the Lomography kit will be shipped to the winner world wide. The giveaway will close one week from today. Good luck!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The giveaway is now closed. The winner will be announced soon.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ok, enough talking here are some pictures taken with the different Diana lenses (all pictures are straight out of the camera, no post-processing, click on the link to continue):
Here is another set of samples from one of the NikonRumors Forum moderators (thanks NikoDoby) - some of the photos in this galery were post processed with Nikon ViewNX in order to get closer to the "Lomo look" - see the comments under each picture for more details:
Fine print & full disclosure: The contest is void where prohibited by law. All taxes are the responsibility of the winner. NikonRumors.com is not responsible for anything. Idid not get paid from Lomography or any other party to run this giveaway. I received a free Lomography kit that was used to better illustrate and describe the products.
Related posts:
53 Comments
Thank you admin and Niko!
Thanks admin and thank you Lomography.com. I’d be happy to answer any questions on my experiences with these lenses. Or better yet come join us over in the forum where there is a thread on this topic.
http://nikonrumors.com/forum/topic.php?id=1076
thanks Niko!
Wow! Lenses that create flare, blur, chromatic aberration, low contrast, weird distortions and some color saturation. To each his own.
Not every picture you take has to be tack sharp and flawless. These lenses are a lot of fun but you do need a bit of a creative side to understand and use them.
People who bash lensbabies, holgas, dianas, and whatnot probably shouldn’t even call themselves photographers. Because it seems to me that they don’t understand what photography is about…. A photograph is not a documentation of reality, it is an expression.
I did say “to each his own”. They are not for me. A photographer is someone who takes photographs and there are many different styles. My style is not art – yours might be. Just because someone doesn’t take arty photographs (eg photo-journalist) does not mean that person is not a photographer.
You embarassed my cell phone camera.
lol.
Great NR giveaway as usual!
i entered, woot..nr rocks!
It has begun
nikodoby > it definitely has!
I’d love to have a set of these, if only to play around with or try in IR.
Awesome giveaway, fingers are crossed!
I would love to try these lenses. If for no other reason to try something different.
It’s very refreshing to be able to just “create” a photo instead of testing the limits of your gear. Just take the picture and have fun with your images.
I like it. My new kit:
A $5 Diana lens on the $5500 D3S
haha awesome! It would be really cool to be able to use one of these… after all the trouble we go thru just getting the sharpest lenses ever.
Carefree days are back again!
Cheers to the winner!
Kewl…. Thanks NR
Don’t need these, I have my 24-85mm f/2.8-4 for when I need image quality that sucks ! LOL
That’s actually one of the benefits of having these lenses as they turn all of your third party stuff into Nikkors by comparison
Jo, that’s a low blow. But that is funny.
wooaa thanks NR!
I love the images. Thanks, admin and Niko
Cool giveaway. Still, I have to point out–your focal length conversion is wrong. A 20mm lens is ALWAYS a 20mm lens–it just happens that 20mm on MF is ridiculously wide, while it’s only somewhat wide on FX and not-so-wide on DX. So they’re cautioning that the 20mm fisheye isn’t really going to be all that “fisheye-like” on a digital sensor (since the tradiional DX fisheye is 10.5mm, or 16mm FX). Likewise, the 110mm is going to be a medium-long tele on FX and a rather long tele on DX, while it’s not too much longer than normal on MF. The 110 isn’t going to magically become a supertele just because you put it on DX. To match the field of view that a 110 on DX gives you, though, you would need a 320mm on MF–which is somewhat rare, and one of the reasons why SLRs have dominated long lens work for quite some time.
A common misconception (propagated by overzealous marketing and posts like these) is that the “crop factor” actually increases the length of the lens. It does not, it just leaves out the corners. A certain FL is the same FL everywhere.
I understand what you’re trying to say Chris. The focal length of each lens doesn’t actually change, but those figures are equivalents and not a conversion. They come from the manufacturer and not calculated by Nikonrumors.com.
Still, to make sense of the conversion factors you’d have to convert this figures from 35mm to medium format first.
Make that 50mm a wide angle to crop it back to normal.
Someone might confuse the field of view-comparison image with those made for FX/DX, not realising that the baseline is a MF. As such the numbers are misleading as they seem to take FX as baseline!
??? it’s not a conversion. A 20mm fisheye is a 20mm fisheye. It’s just a different crop. We aren’t trying to mislead anyone.
I agree with NikoDoby. The post specifically says “equivalent.” I don’t see how that is misleading.
Well, no. Its one thing to “convert” DX to “equivalent 35mm” focal lengths (though still misleading). But this article converts to “MF equivalents” which makes no real sense. Sorry, optics doesn’t work like that. Focal length is focal length.
To be clear – if you take a 100mm lens designed for medium format, a 100mm lens designed for 35mm full frame and a 100mm lens designed for DX, and put them on three identical DX cameras, they all have the same focal length and the same field of view.
Guys it’s a freakin plastic lens!!! Calm down with the “misleading conversion” theories already. MY GOODNESS. If I post a picture of a brick wall would you then debate the corner sharpness of each lenses on a MF, FX, and DX camera?
Actually, they have it backwards from an FX user’s prospective. The 20mm on a Diana is equal to a 11mm on a FX camera. The 20mm on a FX is exactly what an FX user would expect from a 20mm.
This “equivalent” thing is simply a way to say what a lens would do on a different format, relative to a format that you are familiar with. If you normally use a FX camera, then the same lens will seem to be 1.5x longer on DX, but 0.55x (about 1/2) as long on the Diana.
But the Diana user would see the 20mm on a FX seem more like a 36mm on a Diana.
So this is all about what you are used to. Most of us in Nikon-land think in terms of a field of view from an FX perspective.
Your are correct, is this focal conversion between all the the different formats ever getting confusing
Pete
Awesome effects! They sorta give the photos a blurry Holga-ish appeal . . . You gotta love plastic optics.
NICE!!!
Interesting product, a chance to see what all the lomo craze is about really.
And, as always, compliments to NR for doing a proper giveaway.
thank you niko and this awesome giveaway
cheers!
I bought them last week!
Can’t wait to try them on my D80!
I’d like to hear your thoughts once you get to try them out magullo. Join our forum and we can share “notes” there
your life can become much easier if you can appreciate the elusive artistic value of certain image quality imperfections (in this case bluriness and fringing), unfortunately for me, i can’t.
You dont need to wait. Cling film with some vaseline or your GFs moisturiser / hand cream smeared over it and wiped off with your hand gives the same effect free?
actually wallpaper glue on sky filter does it
i have also one lens where i replaced front element producing similar pics. It still keep focusing capability and aperture
Using Vaseline is an old trick from the “film era”. I already drive a rusty old windowless van so when the cops stop and ask me why I’m taking pictures near children I’d rather not also try to explain why my lens is smeared with Vaseline!
Thanks Admin/NIko, Great stuff.
I am in!! Thanks NR admin
it would be cool to shoot some video with these!
More than anything I love the saturation and ghosting that plastic gives. I don’t care for the softness, but I guess it helps to give that soft dreamy look I like so much.
hehe… can I post another comment? this is such a cool whacky set, it would be fun to have. But good luck to all others too!
cheers!
These lenses look like a lot of fun. In the right hands they can produce some creative results. nudge, nudge.
Lomography rocks! especially on a NIkon system.
Wow, I would love to have these!
Congratulations to the winner and thanks to everyone who entered