Photo Thanks to Sam Vinegar - photrama

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Toy Rollfilm Cameras

The Diana toy 120 rollfilm camera is the archetype of the modern-day Kodak Brownie point-and-shoot style rollfilm camera. Users glory in the many optical and mechanical defects of these plastic cameras. Users share secrets on how to minimize flare, framing errors, film advance overlaps, and related problems.

The Diana cameras and related clones became popular as very cheap training tools for new photographers, originally only $2.25 US each in the 1960s. Film was a dime a roll from the same Asian sources. So for very few dollars a student could be taking pictures without being distracted by the need to learn camera or lens controls. That was the theory, anyway ;-).

The Diana camera was used to reduce and eliminate the technical distractions of photography to a minimum. Technical flaws such as light leaks meant that it also emphasized the need for darkroom skills to save many of the fogged photographs produced by some cameras! The larger roll-film format was judged to be much better for new darkroom workers than the smaller 35mm frame too.

The cameras often sell for far more than their original prices today as a result of their associations with early photographic experiences and dare we say getting an image printed despite a lot of adversity? ;-)

There are a number of toy camera pages and groups on the Internet, including a current day 35mm version known as the ''Lomo''. A closely related camera is the 6x4.5cm Holga 120s which can be purchased for under $20 US (see Medium Format on a Budget guide for details on Holgas and Diana and other budget cameras.

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