The Lomography Konstruktor is a $35 DIY SLR camera. Constructing the camera is similar to piecing together a toy model. The total construction time is 1-2 hours depending on your skill level.
Everything you need to build the Konstruktor DIY SLR is included in the kit. Film, however, is not.
All of the pieces are attached to a plastic "runner." Be careful with the screws though -- they're really tiny and super easy to drop and lose. Try to work on a clean surface, especially one that isn't black; it'll make it easier to find a piece if you accidentally drop something.
The most complicated part is the mirror box, which is pre-assembled. It's probably for the best that it's pre-assembled, since there's less chance for breaking the most important piece.
Admittedly, the viewfinder hood is not the best design, and the magnifying glass used to check the focus of your picture is also on the small side. For the most part, I ended up just not using the magnifying glass.
Any regular 35mm film will load right in. The tough part is finding a place to get the film developed afterwards. I was able to find a place with a one-day turnaround in NYC, but don't be surprised if you have to wait a week.
The basic $35 Konstruktor set comes with a 50mm f/10 lens with 1/80-second shutter speed. Lomography also sells a "super kit" for $60, which includes two additional lenses for macro and close-up photography, as well as a chimney hood with a larger magnifying glass.
On the front is an exposure setting switch. Flip it to "N" for a regular exposure and "B" for a long exposure. The switch is rather loose and loves to default to "B" mode for some reason, so make sure it's set correctly before taking any pictures.
The shutter cocking switch is located on the left side of the Konstruktor, right next to the lens. This opens the mirror box when you're ready to shoot.
Building a camera is not easy. I know this because I spent nearly two hours during a recent weekend trying to put together the Lomography Konstruktor, a DIY 35mm film SLR (single-lens reflex) camera.
Lomography is widely known for its toy cameras. The Diana and Fisheye Baby are two popular toy cameras that come to mind. And while buying a film camera instead of a digital one today is akin to buying a bulky CRT television instead of a flatscreen high-definition TV, that hasn't stopped Lomography from releasing cameras that try to bring back the nostalgia of the bygone analog days. With a low $35 price, is the Konstruktor more toy than camera?
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On a Saturday afternoon, I unboxed the Konstruktor DIY Camera Kit and got to work putting it together. Like a toy model (think Gundam), all of the parts of the Konstruktor are attached to a plastic frame called a "runner." Each piece is labeled and building the camera is as straightforward as snapping off a specific piece and attaching it to another.

Image: Mashable, Raymond Wong

Putting together the Konstruktor requires no glue and the set comes with all the necessary screws, springs and other tiny bits needed to make the camera work. A screwdriver is included in the box, but it's useless since the Phillips head is too big and doesn't fit the screws. I ended up just using some eyeglass screwdrivers I picked up at a dollar store.
The kit also includes stickers that can be used to customize the camera, if you're into that kind of thing. Some of the stickers — for instance, the front and rear ones — have a faux-leather feel to them, which adds a little bit of grip to the otherwise plastic body. In the end, I stuck with a "less is more" aesthetic and went with a simple black-and-red theme.
Putting together the Konstruktor takes around 1-2 hours, depending on your skill level. For me, the camera took around 1-hour and 45-minutes from start to finish. It would have taken about a half-hour less time if not for the tiny screws that refused to screw in properly and my realization that I had forgotten to put in the tripod nut.
The Konstruktor is a pretty basic camera that is all mechanical and doesn't need a battery. It has a fixed 50mm f/10 prime lens and a 1/80-second shutter speed, which means pictures will have general sharpness across the board. The smaller aperture (higher f-stop number) also means the Konstruktor struggles unless you're in scenarios with lots of light. Furthermore, you won't be getting any "bokeh" (a.k.a. background blur) with this camera.
While building the Konstruktor is lots of fun, shooting with the camera is not the greatest experience. Framing pictures with the Konstruktor is similar to using an old Rolleiflex camera; the viewfinder is located at the top instead of on the rear. This is a cute throwback to the cameras of yore, but it's literally a pain in the neck for composing pictures, especially when you're trying to make sure they are straight. (My neck still feels cramped from hunching over the top so much.)
Truth be told, the Konstruktor is more toy than serious camera. For best results, I would recommend using the Konstruktor only outdoors, in sunny conditions.
As you can see, the camera's f/10 aperture lens produces pics with decent sharpness. Sadly, a lot of my photos didn't come out straight because the top-down viewfinder was frustrating to frame with.
The faulty film counter and film-advance knob resulted in a lot of unexpected and unwanted double exposures. Here you can see some serious overlapping between shots.
Framing shots that angle upwards is harder than it looks. Composing this statue at an angle took minutes, instead of seconds.
Low-light shooting is mostly out of the question, especially handheld shots. To get long exposures, grab a tripod and pray for the best. When it comes to the Konstruktor, you never really know what kind of pics you'll get.
The viewfinder is also quite dim if you're not in direct sunlight. The included hood does a fine job of blocking out external light, but I still had trouble looking through the viewfinder. Additionally, the small flip-up magnifying glass, which helps with seeing if a subject is in focus or not, always got in the way. Even using a chimney hood (sold separately for $14.90 )with a larger magnifying glass didn't offer much of an improvement.
All of the above-mentioned nitpicks would be forgivable, if not for two tragic design flaws.
The first issue involves a faulty film counter wheel and film-advance knob located on the top right of the camera. The film counter wheel is supposed to move together with the film-advance knob so you know which frame you're on. But since the two parts aren't permanently attached together in any way, you'll almost certainly have no idea how many shots you have left on a roll of film, unless you keep count yourself. This design oversight is also problematic for other reasons: It's easy to create unwanted double exposures and waste lots of shots because of overwinding.

Image: Mashable, Raymond Wong

Frustrated by the flaw, I did what any DIY person would do: I went to Google. A quick search returned results with similar complaints: A Flickr user complained to Lomography in December regarding the wonky film counter, and while the company stated it was aware of the issue, it doesn't appear that the new units are any different in construction.
The second annoyance I encountered was the loose switch on the front of the camera that controls the type of exposure. For most everyday shooting, the switch should be pointed at the "N" for a regular exposure, but more often than not, I noticed that the switch had a tendency to slip to "B" instead, which takes a long exposure. Needless to say, I ended up with quite a few pictures that were wrongly exposed simply because I didn't realize the switch had accidentally defaulted to "B" instead of staying on "N" mode.
If you've ever put together a plastic model, you know that that the pieces rarely fit together perfectly. As with any DIY project, you may run into some hiccups when assembling the Konstruktor.
For me, some of the screws refused to go in the first time and as a result of excessive force, a few screws ended up with stripped heads. (It's a good thing there are a few extra screws in the box.)
The plastic pieces also leave behind unwanted excess (called "sprue"), so it would be wise to invest in some sandpaper (not included) to sand off the sharp edges.
You've probably heard this ancient Chinese proverb at one time or another: The journey is the reward. The process of building the Konstruktor is the most exciting part, even if the instruction diagrams sometimes aren't very clear, and some of the tiny screws refuse to pop in. Once the entire thing is finished, the feeling of accomplishment — of building something — is extremely satisfying, though.
But shooting with the Konstruktor is a big disappointment. During my tests, I felt like I was wrestling with the camera just to get it to work. Moreover, the Konstuktor is a frustrating camera to take pictures with unless you've got a super-steady grip or use a tripod. In the end, I was left with a batch of blurry and crooked photos, ridiculous double exposures and more wasted shots than I would have liked. In this regard, the Konstruktor is absolutely more of a toy than a camera you'd want to deliberately bring out for any serious shooting.
At the end of the day, the Konstruktor is a cool one-time DIY project, worthy for a rainy weekend, but not much else. You'll probably shoot with it once and then leave it on a bookshelf as a decorative piece after you realize how fiddly the shooting controls are. At the very least, if the $35 camera breaks, nobody will cry over it.
Delightful construction process • Lovely customization stickers • Battery not required
Faulty plastic knobs and exposure switch • Useless screwdriver included • Dim viewfinder
While shooting pictures with the Konstruktor is frustrating due to major design flaws, the camera's main appeal is its DIY construction.
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