The Lomo Konstructor, a 'build it yourself' interchangeable-lens camera, goes down as the most unusual camera release of 2013. Andrew Fildes reports.
The people at Lomography would appear to have an inexhaustible bucket of ideas. From somewhere in the depths of that weird and wonderful container comes the Lomo Konstrukor, the world's first 'build it yourself' SLR camera.
The Konstructor is a simple kit camera. Not the first by any means – there have been plastic kit twin lens reflex camera kits around for a while and there were kid’s kits back in the seventies, perhaps earlier – but an SLR? That’s something new.
I love using Lomo cameras to get in touch with photography in its simplest form, things like one shutter speed and the back plugged up with Sugru (and if you don’t know what that is, Google it now!) Forget image quality issues. Sharpness, contrast and resolution – you’ll feel a sense of achievement if you get an image at all. Perhaps this was what photography was like in the early 1800’s – a kind of magic.
In technical terms the Konstuktor is a traditional reflex 35mm film camera – no prism, just a flip up hood and screen, the way they used to be in the 1940s and some even later. You don't need glue to put the camera together (perhaps there's a risk it would block the light leaks!) Break the bits off a grid, trim off the sprue with a sharp knife if you’re fussy (that’s the moulding points and overflow) and snap it together. Well, it's not quite that simple – but it should be possible for anyone with a modicum of dexterity and patience. The assembly procedure takes 1-2 hours, they say. We've embeded a video below showing the process in time lapse. Looks like there’s quite a few tiny, tiny screws in there. That could keep a kid happy for a while – the box says its suitable for people 12 years and up.
The specifications are not extensive: it takes 35mm film; there are two shutter speed choices 1/80s and B mode (the shutter stays open for as long as you hold the shutter release button); fixed focus – 0.5m to infinity; and a 50mm f10 lens.
That’s it. That means 100 ISO film in open shade is about right. Perhaps. It’s not going to be easy to get a good shot but think how clever you’ll feel when you do! The lens is a simple plastic meniscus (single curved element) described as 'detachable'. And there's no double-exposure protection – that would be, er,'unLomo'.
The Konstructor comes laid out in a nice box which includes stickers to ‘customise’ your personal Konstructor. It's post-industrial, post-modern, and post film apocalypse. I want one now. I have the time set aside already. The twelve-year-old inside me demands it. There will be a review. Of the whole process. Soon.
It retails for a very affordable $53.
Andrew Fildes is a regular contributor to Australian Photography + digital and the author of The SLR Compendium.
Introducing The Konstruktor - The World's First Build-It-Yourself 35mm SLR Camera from Lomography on Vimeo.