Recent I received a gift - the Lomography Konstruktor! I have been shooting for just over a year and half now, but I haven't tried to shoot with film yet. I think this is a great gift for me to get back to the basics and learn about the fundamentals of photography.
I am going to write about my film photography journey as I believe even though we can always rely on the technology with digital camera, there are still things that we all took for granted. The ease and flexibility of digital photography shouldn't be the easy way out from understanding the basics . So for those who share this same passion for pure photography, join me on this journey and I will share my experience with you all.
The Konstruktor is probably a bit more of a gimmick than a fully functional camera, but that doesn't mean we can't use it for some great photography, but before that, we need to build it! The camera comes as a DIY kit just like a toy model which allows you to build the camera yourself and I definitely enjoyed the process of building it.
First is the lens. This is a fairly easy part to build as it's a fixed focal length (50mm) and fixed aperture (f/10) lens, so all you need to do is screw the mount, focus ring and the lens together and there you have it!
Next is the winding mechanism which controls how much we can turn to go to the next film. The gear locks itself after one rotation to advance the film by one frame, quite a clever design.
This is the shutter mechanism, as this camera only have 2 shutter mode: N (1/80sec) and B (bulb mode) so all we need is a switch to choose the shutter mode and a button to trigger the shutter in the mirror box.
That's basically all the components we need for a camera to works, of course there are also the shutter mechanism and the mirror box, but that part is already built for you. With a few screws and clips... TA DA... the camera is coming together!!
Add in the hood viewfinder on the top and decorate it with the stickers provided, and here is my first film camera.
Now all we need to do is load up the film and we are ready to go! Since I am in Australia where it is sunny most of the time, I have chosen to load the ISO 100 colour negative film.
There it is! Probably one of the cheapest full frame camera!
Looking through the viewfinder of this camera is quite different compare to looking through a DSLR. Although the image is not very sharp and the build quality is quite plasticky, that feeling is still very unique and simplistic.
So, now that I have the tool, I can go take some shots! This is going to be a challenge because there are no settings to choose, all I can do is to find that right light and composition. I hope I can come back with some good results to share with you all, but if you are looking into trying film photography, this might not be a bad starting place for you!
I hope you have enjoyed this and if you have a minute or two, please check out my other posts and if you like any specific photo in my portfolio, please feel free to drop by the store and pick up one for your own home or as a gift!
Until Next time!
Jonathan