How to Avoid Fat Film Rolls on Your Diana Camera

Here’s a super simple tip for avoiding loosely wound rolls on your Diana camera.

At some point in their analogue experience, every Diana user has come across the problem of the “fat roll,” where the film is wound too loosely around the spool, causing light to enter the film after it has been in the camera. While these light leaks are welcome to some experimental lomographers, I always felt it was an upsetting waste of a roll of film, and more often than not, film processors will refuse to develop them. Follow these steps in order to prevent loosely wound film.

When advancing to your next shot, hold your camera in your left hand with your thumb placed above or left of the film counter window.

As you wind the film, gently apply pressure with your thumb. You should feel the film become harder to wind. By doing this, you create more tension on the film, winding it tighter around the take up spool.

BE GENTLE! Don’t apply too much pressure with your thumb, you may scratch the film or distort the Diana back, which may cause unwelcome light leaks. Don’t be too vigorous with the winder, take it slowly and gently, especially since you are applying pressure to the film. You don’t want it to stretch, tear or rip.

Ever since I discovered this tip, I haven’t had a single fat roll of film, which has kept the developers more than happy.

Good luck and say goodbye to those fat rolls!

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written by shmarmy on 2012-07-10 #gear #tutorials #film #tip #tipster #120-film #lomography #diana #quickie-tipster #fat-rolls #film-winding