Lomography has announced that the Diana Mini camera has been discontinued.
The Mini – a 35mm version of the Holga-alike Diana camera – was first released in 2007 and can shoot square format 24mm x 24mm pictures or 18mm x 24mm half-frame images on a roll of 35mm film.
Lomography said in a press release: “It’s almost time to say goodbye to the beloved Diana Mini. That’s right, stocks of the iconic 35 mm camera are running and once they’re gone, they’re gone forever. Explore its square and half-frame shots, and experience its creative functions, bright lighting and dreamy aura while you can.
“Lewis Carroll once said, ‘In the end, we only regret the chances we didn’t take,’ so take a chance on the Diana Mini and live with no regrets.”
The camera is still listed in the Lomography Shop but will no longer be available after existing stock is gone.
The Mini is based on the original Diana 120 camera, first released in the 1960s by the Great Wall Plastic Factory in Hong Kong and produced throughout the 1970s. The Diana – and its flash-equipped spin-off, the Diana F – were enthusiastically embraced by the Lomography crowd, and Lomography started reproducing the cameras from 2007.
While the Mini is bowing out, Lomography appears to be keeping the Diana Baby 110, an ultra-miniature version of the camera which shoots 110 film.
The Diana Mini’s discontinuation comes amid a raft of recent camera releases from Lomography. In 2022, the Austrian photography brand unveiled the LomoApparat, a 35mm camera with a 21mm wide-angle lens, an integral flash with coloured gels and various lens attachments.
And earlier this month, Lomography also announced the Lomomatic 110, an auto-exposure 100 camera with an autoexposure system similar to that in the original LOMO LC-A.
I'm a New Zealander who has been living in London since the mid-1990s, shooting film seriously since the year 2000. Kosmo Foto was launched in 2012 and has since become a film brand, with the release of my first films Kosmo Foto Mono 35mm (2017) and Kosmo Foto Mono 120 (2019).
I’m doing everything I can to promote film photography in the 21st Century, and help it survive and thrive. If you want to write something for Kosmo Foto, please drop me a line at foto.dowling@gmail.com.
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