I’ve been wanting to try this for some time but after an unsuccessful attempt at using the original Diana camera’s lens, I gave up. Last night I decided to give it another go, this time using the Diana+ lens and since the Diana+ allows you to just remove the lens without the entire shutter mechanism, I tried ‘mounting’ it onto my DSLR. I wanted the ‘lens’ to be easily removable, so I found a Nikon-Canon adapter and tried making this ‘fun lens’.
I ended up having to add a step-up ring between the Diana+ lens and the Nikon-Canon adapter because apparently at that distance, the focusing seems to work well. Some did ask me why use the Nikon-Canon adapter. The reason is simple because I need a whatever-mount to Canon adapter so that I can easily mount/unmount the lens like any other Canon lens I have. So if you wanna try making one, just find a ‘whatever-mount to your-camera-mount’ adapter, and that will work fine.
Without the extra step-up ring in between, the lens was able to focus at a pretty close distance, probably about 0.5 meter from the subject. That worked great for me but it was unable to focus at infinity. Duh! Therefore, the step-up ring was necessary as I wanted to use this ‘lens’ for shooting buildings and landscapes as well.
I’ve only taped the three components (lens, step-up ring & adapter) together, and did some quick test shots on the way to work today. Since it works well, I’ll try finish the setup this weekend with proper glue/tape and take some photos of how it’s done (if you’re interested) and of course more photos with it.
Pretty satisfied with the results as I get that dreamy, fuzzy & crappy look, just like what you expect from a Diana/Diana+ camera … of course minus the unexpected results of film … but then … I could save some $ for milk powder sometimes.
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