First Impressions: Diana Instant Square

Diana Instax Square Albany Ny
Diana Instax Square albany ny

Good: Bullet proof instax film works well with the Diana’s quirks.

Bad: Controls are not intuitive and it is easy to make expensive mistakes.

I was supposed to test my new Lomography Diana Instant Square by spending an elegant weekend in New Haven, CT but at the last moment, my trip was moved to the triumph of Albany, NY.

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Lomography Berlin Kino B&W 400 And A NYC Adventure

I decided on a whim that I would avoid total burnout by spending a weekend in New York City attending the ballet and trying some Lomography Berlin Kino 400 film. Fun, right?

I took Amtrak into the city and after a short break eating sushi at The Pennsy I headed over to the north end of the High Line to check out Hudson Yards and The Vessel. I hate them both, but, they do make good subject matter.

lomography berlin kino hudson yards nyc
Selfies and Hudson Yards

I walked south towards the Whitney and enjoyed the calming spring weather and gentrification. It was mostly cloudy but still enjoyable. I hear the High Line is amazing at night too.

skyscraper along the high line lomography berlin kino
Gentrify me!
highline
Renovated Highline Lomography Berlin Kino 400

After the High Line, I enjoyed an improperly made Starbucks beverage and took the A down to Fulton to catch a ferry up the East River to Roosevelt Island. I discovered the ferries on my last trip to NYC and they offer a really fun and easy way to see the city without paying a ton.

NYC ferry lomography berlin kino
Foggy and blurry – Lomography Berlin Kino

In low light I find the Lomography Berlin Kino to be a little too flat and grainy for my taste but didn’t mind it for my ferry photos.

Roosevelt island nyc
The sun came out a little on Roosevelt Island.

On Roosevelt Island, I missed the Red Bus so I decided to walk and see how the Berlin Kino would render the concrete triumph of the island’s brutalist downtown.

After catching the ferry back to FIDI I took the A train again uptown to my hotel and its neighbor the New Yorker.

new yorker hotel lomography berlin kino
No Gordon, only Zuul.
new yorker hotel
Crushing you with Lomography Berlin Kino

I got to the ballet early and discovered that while I was super excited to be at the ballet, everyone else was at the Opera.

Lomography Berlin Kino 400 at Lincoln Center
The opera is cool. I guess.

After the ballet, I headed towards Times Square.

times square at night lomography berlin kino

Times Square is one of those places one must visit if only to be reminded of how magnificent it feels to leave it and never turn. I hate Times Square but I had to see how well Lomography Berlin Kino would capture a night scene.

I’m no Shawn Mendes.

Lomography Berlin Kino 400 Tips

  • I love the look of the film but for city views, I prefer a film with more contrast.
  • For the Times Square photos, I didn’t push or do anything special.
  • I used a Lomo LC-A for all of the photos.
  • OldSchoolPhotoLab.com developed the photos.