The Diana camera first appeared during the early 1960s as a inexpensive box camera sold by the Great Wall Plastic Factory. Most were exported to the United States and the United Kingdom. In the United States, the Diana was imported by the Power Sales Company of Willow Grove, Pennsylvania. (which happens to be 5 miles from where I grew up.)  Most Diana cameras were given away or sold for nominal sums as novelties or prizes at fairs, carnivals, product promotions, raffles, or other events

Fast forward to today and Poketo, designer of limited edition art products, accessories, apparel, and decor, has brought back the Diana, along with some other retro-cameras, both film and digital.

There are three versions of the Diana each of which utilizes 35 MM film.

White: “The Diana Mini is the ultra-compact, petite version of the Diana F+ camera. This little queen of convenience allows you to shoot square format or half-frame pictures using standard 35mm film – that’s 72 rectangular half-frames or 36 square images on one roll! To further enhance creative possibilities, we’ve thrown in Multiple Exposure and Long Exposure features, a tripod mount, and a cable release attachment – a first for the Diana! With the flick of a little switch you can move from the retro square format to the amazing Half-Frame, giving you the ability to Shoot Forever, packing 72 shots onto one 35mm film!”

Mini: “The Diana Mini is the ultra-compact, petite version of the Diana F+ camera. This little queen of convenience allows you to shoot square format or half-frame pictures using standard 35mm film – that’s 72 rectangular half-frames or 36 square images on one roll! To further enhance creative possibilities, we’ve thrown in Multiple Exposure and Long Exposure features, a tripod mount, and a cable release attachment – a first for the Diana! With the flick of a little switch you can move from the retro square format to the amazing Half-Frame, giving you the ability to Shoot Forever, packing 72 shots onto one 35mm film!”

Mini with Flash: “The sweet and petite Diana Mini uses 35mm film to give you lovely square shots and half-frame photos. It’s a lot of fun! Now it’s even more exciting with the included Diana F+ Flash and the “Shoot Forever” book. Start tinting your pictures with a burst of colour – just slip one of the 12 colour gel filters in the Diana F+ Flash, and you’re on your way to bursting coloursplashes here and there! Diana F+ Flash will keep you shooting your dreamy 35mm squares and half-frame in all lighting conditions.”

Not into the Diana?  Poketo has some other pretty neat offerings too.

Blackbird Fly Twin Lens Reflex: The Blackbird Fly is an analog twin-lens reflex film camera–one lens exposes the film, while the other is a viewfinder. Its history stretches back to the 1920s, when cameras were held at waist level to look down the viewfinder. The Blackbird model uses regular 35mm film, making it easy to process.  There are 3 photo formats:  Normal 35mm, Square, or Full Frame. The images take the entire film, printing the sprockets of the film. Comes with a hot shoe for flash, and a bulb function for long exposure shots in low light.

Golden Half Camera:  Allows for two shots on one frame. Snap, snap and you can get a cool diptych photograph. For example, you can take a photo of your dog running and then a photo of him sitting, printable as one frame, divided by a black line. This 35mm half-frame camera allows a standard 3″ x 5″ photo to be split into half (3″ x 2.5″ frames), letting you snap double the amount of photos. Simple mathematics show that a standard 36 exposure roll of film will let you capture 72 magical moments. The Golden Half camera has two shutter speeds and a hot shoe for flash.

Pricing on the cameras ranges from $55 to $140 and you can view all the offerings here.