Lomography Konstruktor - BUILD your own SLR!

Mine is due at the beginning of July which is when the next batch is due.

My idea is to investigate whether a lens/shutter assembly from an otherwise 'unremarkable folder' (to quote Roger Hicks in a similar 'make a camera to suit' context) can be fitted onto an adapter spaced the right distance away from the film plane (easy to determine) and then use 'scale focus' against manual exposure meter settings. I would envisage omitting or bypassing the kit shutter. This would address the lens and exposure concerns regarding that supplied in the kit.

If feasible I expect someone else will beat me to it as I have limited time at present.

An entire range of highly modified custom cameras might well result from the partial use of the kit, especially with the rise in custom laser cutting and 3D prototype services.

Regards

Andrew More
 
AJShepherd said:
It's cheap enough to have a pop at, and the way some of the parts come on their sprues reminds me of my dim and distant youth making Airfix kits.

If the name had a few umlauts, it'd sound like something from IKEA!

Might wait for some reviews before I put down any hard earned, though.
Click to expand...

I still have a couple of Airfix kits somewhere around here. Camera kit does look nice, I would like to hear from someone who builds one and uses it.

David
 
Mine arrived. They shipped the wrong film from what I ordered though. (Ordered 120 to try on my other cameras, got 35mm).

Will probably tackle the build over the weekend.
 
A few observations so far from just looking at the manual and kit:

1. The manual (and box) claim it takes 1-2 hours to build, I think it's a little generous on the estimate. The instructions are clear and in many languages.

2. Lens is removable. This makes me think that they will offer other lenses in the future, despite the fact that the shutter is fixed at 1/80.

3. The grade of plastic is good, not great.

4. It's small. Height is similar to the Olympus XA, it's a little wider. Even without the lens, it looks about twice as thick. Certainly the smallest SLR I own.

5. The light chamber portion is prebuilt, but the instruction manual includes the steps they took to build it. Nice touch.

6. No light seal material is included, but there are ridges which may function the same. Should be a piece of cake to retrofit seals if required.

7. The way the gears are on the plastic tree is a little concerning, since you can possibly remove a gear tooth if you do not take care. I intend to use a sharp hobby knife.
 
Hi folks,

I registered quite a while ago and posted a few times but have been pretty quiet since then. And apparently I'm making my re-debut by reviving a 2-month-old thread! 🙂

I bought a Konstruktor kit because I wanted to start tinkering with camera mechanics in a low-stakes kind of a way. I put it together over the course of a couple of days, partly because I was missing a small spring (that ******* B10 spring that had to be hooked to a peg from underneath the shutter button mechanism).

The first roll I put through it was my last roll of Lomo Redscale because it was the only 100 speed film I had at the moment. The parts are sort of sticky at first, which means a few things:

1) film advance is a bit hit or miss at times, which resulted in some overlapping frames and others with large spaces in between;
2) shutter button sometimes has to be 'reset' by pushing up the knob on the front that switches you from "N" to "B" shutter speed;
3) rewinding takes a long time!

Focusing is tricky but not as much as you'd think.

I'm in the middle of my second roll and the above issues are already lessening. The parts are all moving a bit more smoothly.

Here are a couple of shots from my first roll, including an inadvertent "panorama" that resulted from that sticky film advance and overlapping frames.

...

Okay, the pano isn't cooperating, but if anyone really wants to see it, here it is on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/51692918@N05/9613044528/in/photostream/ (I tried embedding it but it wasn't working).
 

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My experience with the Konstruktor is less exciting and fun then I hoped.

My manual was literally missing key build pages right out of the box. All of the parts were there, but I had to go dig around online for instructions. I found the instructions themselves to be confusing, more so then the build it self. Once you've put one together you can do it again in short time.

It's flimsy, creaks and crackles as you use it. It tore and broke most of the film I've run through it. I had to take it apart, gently sand and polish some of the gears and pieces to get them to work together well. I highly recommend that if you get one and build it. Do the build, noting how it works, then take it apart and sand/file down edges on things that interact with each other to make it smoother operating.

The film advance as said above is hit or miss, the film counter itself is part of the problem here. Mine sometimes never catches, sometimes does too early. So I end up with huge gaps or overlapping frames on every roll.

Focus is also a real pain in the arse. I think if I am going to use the camera anymore then I have I am going to build a custom rearview viewfinder system out of some foamcore or plastic so I can see better. MOst of my shots I focused approximately and then hoped for the best.

With that said, when you get working shots that are exposed well, they look really cool.

I don't know how often I will use it to be honest. The broken film and huge waste of film because of gaps has kind of turned me off of it for the most part. It's just one more in the huge pile of cameras I own.


Turkey Mountain by alienmeatsack, on Flickr


Turkey Mountain by alienmeatsack, on Flickr
 
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