Fix the Leaks

If you care enough about a full-frame Holgaroid to destroy the camera in the process, you certainly want to eliminate all light leaks if possible.

Now is the time to check that the glue used to hold the Diana to the Holga assembly is sealed.

Regardless, the Diana lens itself with it's shutter gone leaks alot more than is acceptable.

What's more is that without the shutter the lens opening is around f4 or wider, which is unacceptable for packfilm when you consider the existence of 3000 speed films. Many shots would be too overexposed when you use your finger or the darkslide as a shutter.

Now is the chance to give the inside of the lens a good cleaning.

Take notice of the 4 small bumps around the lens. You will use these for glue points in a moment.

To cut down on the amount of light hitting the film, glue a washer painted black to the back of the lens. This 1/4" (7mm) opening along with the 75mm focal length gives the camera an fstop of f11. Much more manageable for indoor shots, but still alot of light for sunny shots so you may want to try a smaller opening, but vignetting may become a problem.

To take care of the leaks around the lens cut some thin metal, plastic, anything opaque and trim it to fit inside and glue it to the four points around the lens. Be careful not to spill glue into where the lens moves back and forth, otherwise you won't be able to turn the front of the lens for different focusing.

To prevent this have the lens set at infinity. This will bring it almost flush with the gluing points. And at worst, if you do glue it stuck, having it set for infinity permanently is better than something inbetween you'd have to guess.

Put the lens to the body and check it with your ground glass for leaks.

You'll notice that the left side is still not getting any light.

The lens is still not centered to the film back.

Time to fix that.

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