Review: Diana+ and 35mm film adapter kit from eBay.

I have been exploring the possibility of using 35mm film in the Diana+. I'm not ready to post any results yet, but I did want to take a look at those kits that have been appearing on eBay.

I purchased one adapter kit. The item title was some variation of:
Capture 35mm With Your Diana,Diana+Etc Camera SHIP FREE


The kit came in a little box, which turned out to be hand-made out of a frozen swedish meatball dinner (box turned inward). The packaging seemed to be a little cellophane package that was stapled closed. It might have once held cookies. The "Kit" contents:

The adapter - a little bit of formed metal to hold the cassette
2 vinyl masks (probably 35 mm slide masks)
2 bits of tape to hold the mask in place.
Instructions


The masks are useless, since most 35mm users in Holgas or Dianas like to see image in the sprocket holes. If the sprocket holes are not desired, they can be cropped out. I suspect their purpose is to pad the contents of the kit. Without them, the kit would seem very light.

There was also a set of instructions which failed to indicate how far to wind the film after each frame. With 35mm film, you have no way of telling how far to advance the film, so this is an important piece of missing information.

I wrote the seller, who wrote back:


the 35mm film needs to be advanced same distance per frame as the 120 film for proper image capture

The other potential problem with this "kit", was that the metal cassette holder had double stick mounting tape, which meant that it's installation is more or less permanent. It doesn't say in the brief directions, but it might be possible to install this and still use 120 film with it. It might even provide the added benefit of keeping tension on the film roll.

I haven't had a chance to try and install it. I will only put this in my diana, if it looks like 120 film can still be used without having to remove it. I plan on checking this out this weekend, and will report on my findings.

I am also experimenting with alternative methods of using 35mm film, and will post those results as well, when I am done.

You should also check out my video of the adapter, Out of the "box":
/?p=146

Comments

[carpano]

I'd be interested in what comes out with your findings.. especially your alternative methods to this.
Thanks for the post Kai!

[flashmxfreak]

Thank you for this article. I bought the same adapter. I do not know how to use it exactly. Pity is that you cannot remove simply this adapter and use the original Diana frames.
Any idea, how to solve it?

Regards Jan

[fabelis]

I also bought a 35 mm adaptater but for my holga... It seems much more simple as you don't need to tape it...
Anyway as you say it is useless as there are no more black corner or sprocket holes when you use it...
So i'm very interested in your alternatives too !!

Thanks

Fabelis

[ndroo]

Worse thing I've ever bought from eBay. The eBay ad doesn't even show what you are getting, and when it arrived ... to the trash bin it went.

[m0untainmama]

i bought this same set- HORRIBLE! dont put it in your diana+...it is impossible to tear it out. i had to use tweezers for about 45 minutes and warm water and soap to get all the goo and bits the mounting pad left behind. you cant tell how far to advance it except for counting sprocket holes on old film and estimating how many cranks to turn it and it always ends up wasting film because the frames are SO spread out. also, you have to tape black electric tape over the red viewfinder (on the back that allows you to read your 120film backing for photo numbers) because it lets light in and completely ruins all your pictures. HORRIBLE HORRIBLE HORRIBLE!