Lomography today introduced a new camera, the Konstruktor, a 35mm SLR to assemble yourself.
Its design is somewhat reminiscent of the old Praktika SLR cameras. The camera itself is made of plastic and measures 121 × 33 × 65 mm. Once assembled, it can be customized as desired, with various stickers to decorate your Konstruktor.
The idea of a camera to assemble yourself is not new; there have been several in the past, even one from Lomo PLC. Today there are still some on the market. One could mention the Gakkenflex/Recesky TLR, a twin-lens reflex camera. Or a simple 35mm viewfinder camera.
Let's now come to the technical details.
The Konstruktor offers a choice between two shutter speeds, N (1/80 s) and Bulb (the shutter stays open as long as the shutter release is pressed). The supplied lens has a focal length of 50 mm and a fixed aperture of f/10. The lens is interchangeable and more lenses are expected in the future.
The viewfinder is a waist-level finder, like on the Lubitel or another TLR, so you look down into the camera. One should not forget that the image is reversed. Due to the waist-level finder, you hold the camera differently, for example at chest height, and get a new and unusual perspective.
Focusing is manual from 0.5 meters to infinity by turning the lens, a small magnifier facilitates this process. Double and multiple exposures are possible without any problem with the Konstruktor.
The Konstruktor currently costs 35 euros in Lomography's online shop. How robust it is and how the pictures will turn out remains to be seen, but for the price you can't go wrong. The kit is also a nice gift and certainly a good way to introduce analog photography to (young) photographers and tinkerers.
According to Lomography, more lenses and accessories are to come in the future, let's see what else is coming.
Finally, a video showing how the camera is assembled.
