On Monday I kept my day open to FINALLY build my Gakkenflex TLR camera with GC. I had read that it took other people about an hour and a half so we were hoping it would be no different for us.

Challenge 1 was the shutter – I think the work I did building my pinhole camera helped me with the building of this shutter.

Once the shutter was done it was just a matter of figuring out the rest of the assembly. Part of the challenge was that all the instructions were in Japanese and I’m sure there were some tips in there somewhere but overall I found it not too bad to build.

Part of the challenge for installing the mirror was that you either needed to leave the screws a little bit loose or what I did was install one side and then slide the mirror piece in and then attached the second side.

The camera once the mirror was installed from the front.

Here is my completed Gakkenflex – with my breakfast sandwich in the background…

Now, my Blackbird, Fly has been my fav 35mm camera as of late but the Gakkenflex has many positive qualities as well. For one thing I find it considerably smaller that the BBF and I like that you can see in the viewfinder when things are in focus. It’s also pretty sweet to use a camera you built yourself.

For me there are a few cons, for example, I wish it had a bulb mode. I’m sure there will be some mods out there but my skills aren’t there yet. And there is no hot shoe so you can’t use an external flash. It also didn’t come with a strap so I borrowed one from one of my Holgas for now.

For these few cons I would still recommend this camera. I’ve seen several photos already that other people have shot and have been impressed. Also, at $50 this is a very affordable TLR and the 35mm film means it will be easy to process and will be quite affordable to do so.

It would also been very easy to make this a flip lens camera which is pretty fun and I’m sure more mods will present themselves as more people experiment with these cameras.

I shot a test roll today so I will post some photos as soon as I get them back.

If you are interested in one of these fun little gems you can buy one at the Light Leaks shop.