One of my new favorite things is taking pictures with my Zumi, a teeny tiny Japanese digital camera. I found it on Photojojo, a fun photography blog / resource that proclaims to have “the best photo tips, DIY projects, and gear in the whole wide world.” Their sense of humor is my favorite part. Just read their description of this little bundle of (camera) joy:
Missed connection: you and your creativity
It’s time you realize that there are other cameras in the sea — like the Zumi Digital. True, she’s no megapixel marvel. She has no interest in aperture or telephoto zoom. She doesn’t even have a legitimate viewfinder …
But if you were to take the Zumi on a date to the movies, she’d pick a documentary over a romcom. Then she’d bring her own snacks, laugh at your dumb jokes, and make all the first moves.
You see, the Zumi has been carefully crafted to take digital images and videos that have the look and feel of vintage film (lens flare, vignetting and all). Her “perfectly flawed” processing chip combined with a macro setting makes digital 8MM magic — so your everyday life look like an art house flick.
The Zumi is unusual, unpredictable, oh-so inspiring and fits in the palm of your hand. So it’s probably about time you and your DSLR had a “talk”.
You’ve seen my Zumi pictures whether you know it or not. Many of my photo-a-day shots (also on flickr here) can be attributed to my “spy camera” (as many of my friends call it), which comes everywhere with me. With my big/fancy DSLR I can get perfect high-res pictures whenever I feel like lugging around a giant piece of metal (more on that later), so it’s extra fun to have this tiny pocket pal for when I just want snapshots with a little pizazz.
After such great Zumi luck, I decided to follow Photojojo’s advice again, when they advertised a new SLR adapter for the Diana+ lenses by lomography:
You’ve got libraries full of flawless, uber professional, kick-ass magazine worthy photographs.
But despite the hundreds of dollars spent on whotzits and whatzits galore you’ve hit an artistic dead end.
Don’t fret photo friend! Even Thomas Kinkade gets tired of glowy lamp posts and elfish villages. You’re in a rut! And unlike Kinkade, you’ve got no mass produced art revenue to fall back on.
You do, however, have something far more reputable, The Dreamy Diana lens!
It’s a lovely plastic lens that transforms your beloved hunk of metal and glass into a digital toy camera. Yesiree you can now get that lovable Lo-fi “technology” on your digi cam from Lomography’s series of Diana plastic cameras.
Dianas are known for their low saturation, soft surreal blurs, and unpredictable colors.
Simply attach the plastic lens and its adapter directly onto your SLR’s body (Nikon or Canon) and shoot away. With one part Diana camera (old school lo-fi plastic) and one part modern DSLR you’ve got yourself one mighty fine recipe for unconventionally amazing photographs.
Finally! A way re-invent your style while kicking it digital with the hip kids and their plastic cams. (And for future reference, Thomas Kinkade = not hip).
But alas, my pictures look NOTHING like the examples they have on their site (below). I guess I’ve got a lot of experimenting to do.
