Hello, photography enthusiasts and gadget lovers!! Thank you for visiting my site. Today, we're diving into a unique blend of nostalgia and modernity with the Superheadz Last Camera. I love photography. I love cameras. I love building plastic models. This DIY camera is a great combination. There are quite few DIY toy cameras out there.  Some are designed well.  Some are not designed very well.   Superheadz has done a pretty good job of designing this point and shoot camera called LAST CAMERA.  I would say this is my top 3 DIY camera kit.

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Who is Superheadz?

Superheadz was an online shopping wing of a Tokyo-based company Powershovel. Mr. Omori started Powershovel and Superheadz inspired by Lomo. Powershovel/Superheadz brought simplicity and approachability to photography for many amateur photographers with their unique cameras. They specialize in creating innovative, affordable, and unique cameras that make film photography accessible and enjoyable for everyone.

Features of Superheadz:

• Innovative Designs: Always pushing the boundaries of what's possible. Other than Last Camera, they have manufactured　solar powered Sun & Cloud camera, Digital Harinezumi, 135mm TLR Blackbird, 110mm fisheye Demekin.
• Affordable: Budget-friendly options for all. These cameras, especially analog ones, were reasonably priced to have fun.
• For toy camera lovers: These toy cameras created a community of toy camera/analog photo enthusiasts in Japan.

What is the Superheadz Last Camera?

Released in 2012(?), the Superheadz Last Camera was touted as the LAST (toy) CAMERA you would ever need. It is an analog camera that's all about simplicity and the joy of film photography. It's a DIY (Do-It-Yourself) camera kit that lets you assemble the camera yourself and customize the way you want to. It is a point and shoot camera.

Unique features

• DIY kit. Being able to build and customize on your own generates "love" or "affection" for this camera.
• Interchangeable lens: Yes, you read it right. This camera comes with two lenses (22mm and 45 mm) that I can switch.  22mm provides wide angle with little more pronounced vignetting. 45mm is a standard lens.
• Intentional light leaking slider: In the back of the camera, there is a slider with a hole allowing the light to come in to the undeveloped film. This allows photographers to experiment and create more "toy camera" feel with light leak.

The Joy of DIY Cameras

Building the Superheadz Last Camera is an experience in itself. The DIY kit offers:

• Personal Touch: Customize it your way. For the front two panels, you can paint, put sticker on, and make it more personal.
• Learning Experience: Understand the basics of camera assembly. Building the shutter function was hard for sure. but it also gives some ideas on how cameras work.
• Sense of Accomplishment: The joy of creating something from scratch. A big part of building something is the sense of accomplishment. I love this feeling. It was little frustrating building this, and completing this camera gave me a great sense of accomplishment.

Pros and Cons to Consider

Pros:

1. User-Friendly: Perfect for those new to film photography. Just point and shoot.
2. Simplicity: No complicated settings to worry about.
3. Affordable: A budget-friendly entry into the world of analog. It is little more difficult to find for sure as the manufacturing has ended. But it still remains fairly affordable.
4. DIY Fun: The joy of building your own camera.
5. Compact: Easy to carry around for everyday shots.

Cons:

1. Manual: The manual that comes to build this absolutely sucked. It was really difficult building this, especially the shutter functions.
2. Difficulty of setting the camera up: One thing I had some issues is the shutter mechanism.  The instruction is pretty simple and straight forward. But you have to definitely test, loosen or tighten screws, and make sure shutter really releases, especially with a film in the camera.  I wasted a couple of rolls and came out with maybe two pictures as shutter did not release well and let too much light in or not at all.  I guess that's something to be expected with DIY toy cameras.
3. Film Costs: Ongoing expense for film and development.
4. Availability: May not be easily found in all regions.

Give it a try if you can find one!

I love the simple form.  I love the simplicity of point and shoot. I love the fact there are two lenses. I find the feature to intentionally let some light in the film to take washed out lomo-like photos interesting.

Over all, it is a fun camera from the building it, testing it, and playing with the light leak.  It definitely is a good chance to learn some of the mechanics of cameras.

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