Objective To explore the best screening model for diabetic retinopathy （DR） among diabetics in the community by bidirectional consistency analysis. Comparative analysis was carried out on the following parameters： diagnosis made by different diagnostician （on-site diagnosis maker versus clinical diagnosis maker）， as well as different diagnostic methods （nonmydriatic digital fundus photography（DFP） versus fundus fluorescein angiography（FFA）. Methods Cross-sectional study. Transverse trial consists of classification of DR with fundus photography by two ophthalmologists， one making an on-site diagnosis immediately after DFP and the other making an clinical diagnosis based only off the photograph at another given time. The level of consistency between them was evaluated statistically. While longitudinal trial was also performed to assess the consistency of classification of DR， but by different diagnostic mode（DFP versus FFA） with the one diagnostician. Kappa statistics was used to evaluate the consistency of the presence or absence of DR. And the consistency of the classification of DR was quantified using the Kendall correlation analysis for the disaggregated data. Results In the transverse trial， 932 photographs from 500 diabetics were included. The Kappavalue of the presence or absence of DR was 0.473， and the Kendall value of classification of DR was 0.530， with a moderate degree of consistency. Among the 932 eyes， 671 eyes were diagnosed with no clinically significant DR （72.0%）， while 261 eyes with DR （28.0%）. The longitudinal trial included 239 eyes form 122 diabetics. Analysis resulted in a Kappa value was 0.694 and Kendall value was 0.721， with a high degree of consistency. Among the 239 eyes， 92 eyes were diagnosed as be absent of DR （38.5%） and 147 eyes diagnosed as having DR （61.5%）. Conclusion The mode of classification of DR by DFP by two ophthalmologists， one making an on-site diagnosis while the other making a clinical diagnosis only using the fundus photograph， is effective and efficient， and is potentially an improved method of screening for DR in the community.