I had seen this kit in a few shops, and on one rare affluent day, I bought it. Then I left it on my desk for a few months before setting down to actually start the assembly process.

I have previously made one other kit camera, the Konstructor, so I had a tiny bit of experience. That build had initial problems from springs to scanner issues, but eventually it worked. I haven’t used that camera since; the building was the fun part for me. I suspected this camera experience would be the same.

The instructions were quite easy to follow; the only issue I had was some missing screws. Luckily, I had a few spares, scavenged from junk cameras.

A couple of hours later, I had a working camera. I had a film card holder, so I added that to the back. This was before I got a 3D printer of my own; someone gave me this holder. Now I can print as many as I like 🙂

I thought the clip for the back was a little loose, so I used a hair tie to keep it a bit tighter.

There is a focusing mechanism, but it is very rudimentary, as is the viewfinder. The camera has one speed and one aperture – f11 and 1/125th.

I loaded a roll of Fomapan 100 and went for a walk on a sunny day. I had heard anecdotal reviews from friends who had built the camera that it had light leaks. I decided not to take any preventative measures for this film so I could get a true experience of the build. I would find out about any light leaks later; the issue first was taking the shots.

The shutter seemed to be working as it should, but I was having trouble advancing the film afterwards. The film was moving; I could feel it, but the instructions said half a turn per advance. The issue was that the indicator was not turning, so I had no idea if I had moved the film the right amount. Having built the camera, I knew there was a cog inside that needed to turn…it was not. I put some pressure on the area where I thought the cog was, and when I turned the next time, voila, it moved the indicator.

I wrote a red dot memo on the ‘memo’. I could now finish the part roll. I tried to take a few shots at closer distances to check the focusing, but mainly I left it at infinity. There is no double exposure lock. Using the camera on its side to get landscape shots was very tricky, so I only used it in portrait mode…oh it is a 35mm camera.

These are the results from that roll.

Well, light leaks galore. It is hard to see the full sharpness, but they don’t look too bad, really. I decided to try the camera again, but before doing so check for light leaks. I have some very small round lights that can fit inside a camera body. I put a few inside, closed the back and turned off the lights. There was a clear light emanating from the hinge on the viewfinder. I took that part off and taped it up from the inside. I added another bulk-rolled Fomapan 100 and took the set-up to Llandudno. I finished the roll in a local wood. Before taking any shots, I also taped anywhere I thought might be vulnerable to more leaks.

Well, even taped within an inch of its life and a major hole in the viewfinder found and fixed, there are still light leaks. I was right; the building of the camera was more fun than the actual results would suggest. I don’t think I will use the camera again, but I will add it to my shelf, as I did build it and am still emotionally attached to it. In that regard, I still have the Konstructor somewhere.

Here is another blog review that also suffered from light leaks in the end. There are lots of videos online too; here is one that goes through the whole building of the camera to the final photographic results.

Is it worth the money? Not in purely camera terms, but for the building part…maybe. I am going to stick to 3D printed cameras for a while, though. But that isn’t straightforward either.