Lomography Konstruktor Part III: Using the Konstruktor

After building the Konstruktor, we went out and bought a couple of rolls of film. The instructions included were a little sketchy on some of the stuff that a new film shooter might want to know,such as how to manipulate the controls (loading,taking shots and unloading the film canister) we’ll go through these right now.

Loading Film

We bought lomography branded 3 pack 400ISO film from the local lomo store. Taking it out, you’ll notice a little exposed film strip that’s cut, this is called the leader. The leader will make it easier to load the film into the spool.

1st you’d have to open up the back of the Konstruktor, the back is held on by a fairly strong clip, and then it flips open.

Next pull up on the rewinding knob while the back is open.

Then put in the film canister and engage the rewinding knob into the slots in the canister. Pull the film out sufficiently to engage the little catch on the take up spool on the right, you may have to fiddle with the rewinding knob to make sure the film stays tensioned. The film sprocket holes must also ride in the little gear just to the left of the take up spool.

Thereafter close the back and take2 shots, (this ensures the film is properly wound onto the take up spool). To take shots (pictures) you’d 1st have to flip up the mirror with the little lever on the side. Then compose the image using the viewfinder, press the shutter, and then wind the film into the take up spool.

After taking the 1st 2 shots, I’ll move the film counter over to indicate 36.

The counter itself is not real accurate and it’s easy to move it halfway through the roll of film because it’s kind of loose.However it does gives you an idea of how many shots are left. I just shoot until I can’t advance the film anymore.

Rewinding and unloading film.

When you’ve shot the last frame and cannot advance the film anymore (or you can advance the film, but it only turns partway and then stops), you know you’ve come to the end, before you unload the film, you’d need to rewind the film so it goes from the take up spoll back into the canister. To do that, simply rotate the rewind knob in the direction of the arrow, and watch as you turn the rewind knob, the take up/advance know turns to follow.

Wind until you see the advance knob stop turning (you know it’s almost to the end) and then abit more until the resistance changes. The film is now completely in the canister. Open up the back, pull up on the rewind knob, take out the exposed canister and you’re now ready to load and shoot the next roll.

My New Canon AE-1 Program

Say hello to my Birthday present from G: Canon AE-1 Program :D

First Impressions: It is relatively heavy for a girl like me, but I guess I could get used to it. 

On the top of the camera there are also some controls that I need to learn to use:

• Shutter button: Comes with a screw hole for a remote shutter.
• A / L / S switch: A is engaged, L is lock, and S is for self-timer.
• Shutter dial: 1) Shutter speeds range from 2 seconds to 1/1000 second. 2) Bulb is also available. 3) On this dial you can also set the Program mode
• Film ISO selector: Here you set the camera to suit the film's sensitivity
• Film rewinder: Rewinds the film.
• Battery beeper button: Allows you to check the battery level by listening to the beeping frequency when you press on it.

Can't wait to snap more pictures with it - experimenting with films in different ISOs, camera settings, and then discover beautiful effects along the way! 

Find your own DIY camera

Just found out that there are actually more D-I-Y cameras (other than the Konstruktor which we bought) in the market. Check them out at Mashable!

Lomography Konstruktor Part II: User Controls

The Konstruktor comes with a bunch of controls that might seem a little alien and cumbersome, but fret not, this post aims to clear any doubts you may have.
Sticking to the Lomography tradition (simple plastic camera with few user changeable settings, just go out and shoot instead of trying to figure everything out kinda philosophy) the Konstruktor comes with
A fixed aperture (It says F10) [Aperture = related to the size of the hole which light travels, the smaller the bigger]
A fixed shutter speed (1/80s if I remember right) [Shutter speed = how much time the film is exposed]
So to compensate for changing light conditions, there are a few things that theoretically can be done. The easiest way would be to change the sensitivity of the film being used (higher sensitivity or higher ISO rated film for low light and lower sensitivity, or lower ISO for high light). Of course that sorts of limits your camera use to a particular area for the “correct” exposure, there are other ways to deal with that, such as using some kinda filter to reduce the incoming light etc. (I’ve yet to mess with this though). Our 1st roll of film was shot with Lomography’s ISO 400 rated color negative.
Twisting the lens in the front adjusts the focus, the included lens goes from 0.5m all the way to infinity. The lens feels tight (doesn’t feel sloppy, I hope it stays that way).
The viewfinder is a little bit of a weird deal though, there’s a top cover which flips up (with a bit of force initially I might add) and then 3 plastic pieces which fold into position to block ambient light, with a little magnifying glass that then flips up to aid in proper focusing. You peer into the thing from above, there’s a little matte glass screen below where the image to be taken is projected, you then compose and focus the shot and hit the shutter button.
Initially I had my doubts about this little magnifying glass, after using it for abit though, I find it fairly easy to focus. Add in the fact that the lens is an F10, I’m thinking a fair bit of our shots should be in focus.
After every shot that’s taken, the mirror and shutter spring needs to be reset, this is done by flipping a little lever in the front of the camera. The lever operates with a satisfying click every time. If you wanna take multi exposure shots, simply take the 1st shot, flip the mirror back up, take the next shot and so on, until you’re done and then advance the film.
The Konstruktor comes with 2 different shutter modes, normal (1/80s) and bulb mode, in bulb mode, pressing the shutter button opens the shutter (exposing the film) and releasing the button closes the shutter. 
Up top on the right side, we have the shutter as well as the film advance knob and shots remaining wheel. The shutter button is pretty self-explanatory. The film advance knob moves the film to the next frame (you have to do this manually after each shot, if you’re doing multi exposures, after the exposures), the knob will make a clicky ratcheting sound if you turn it in the wrong direction. You’ll have to move the shots remaining wheel manually every time after new film is loaded, more on that in a later blog post.
Lastly we have a film rewind knob, to rewind the film back into the canister after you’re done shooting the entire roll, so you can safely pull the film out of the camera and send it off to development. You’d have to turn it until all of the film goes back into the canister, which takes a fair amount of spinning. If you opened up the back without rewinding it, pretty sure most of the pictures would be screwed, especially if you’re under strong lighting.
These are all the external controls that are on the Konstruktor, I find the manual a little unclear about certain things, especially to a newcomer to film photography, there’s nothing in the manual that tells you how to advance the film to the next frame after taking a shot. They do cover loading and unloading of film though, which is where most people will have doubts I guess.
Next up, how to use the camera, stay tuned.

Lomography Konstruktor Part I: Putting it together

Decided to pickup one of these from the local Lomography Gallery store after reading a fair bit about it online. For those who don’t know yet what it is, it’s a DIY 35mm film camera.
When you get home and open it all up, it looks exactly like a model set (Tamiya, Yokomo etc) that I grew up building, so I was right at home.

Initially, I couldn’t see a parts list detailing which screws where which and I just used the ones that seemed like it’d be the right screw. It wasn’t until I finished assembling the whole thing did I figure out the back page actually unfolds to reveal a complete parts list with diagrams to sort out which screws were labeled S1,S2 etc. The kit didn’t come with any sorta cutting tool, so I used a pair of sidecutters and a small file to cut the plastic pieces from the injection molding “sprue”.

Instructions are a little fuzzy on details, especially when it comes to telling you to which part comes in first. I wish they had 2 diagrams with the more complicated steps, showing you the exploded diagram and the after, which makes it easier to sort out which gear needs to be assembled 1st etc. I also didn’t get why it tells you to assemble the dial at position 21, since it can be moved later when the film is loaded. You’d want to be real careful with those tiny screws, as too much torque can strip out the plastic underneath, a bit of CA (crazy/super) glue will fix that though. The most difficult step was probably the shutter return spring and it’s associated parts, you had to sorta hold everything in place while trying to nudge a tiny spring into position. In the end I had to resort to using a pair of tweezers to get it to catch (tweezers were not included in the kit, a little screwdriver was). My kit did come with 2 springs, I guess in the likely event you send one flying across the floor and can’t locate it.

Lomography decided to ship the shutter unit preassembled, probably to simplify the process. Essentially you’re building the camera into 5 major subassemblies and then piecing it together at the end, viewfinder, lens, front, back and the shutter (which comes preassembled).

We managed to get everything assembled in about an hour and then another 30-40 mins applying the supplied leather stickers and stuff to customize the Konstruktor.

Next up, more details on how to use it, maybe some photos to share as well. As of now, I can’t vouch for the quality of photos taken by this camera because I have no idea yet! Our 1st roll is just getting developed as I’m posting this.

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@GY

Our Lil Project. Our Common Interest. Lomography

Can't wait to blog about the start of our lil adventure soon. Stay tuned!