Pinhole??

[Anthony Martinez]

So I've been thinking about other film goodies I could do, and was thinking about making a plate to hold a pinhole in my C3. I could either build a shutter or use the lock/unlock mechanism as a shutter.

Thoughts?

[danchez]

man, all kinds of resources out there, just google pinhole camera. I just made a pinhole lenscap for my D700!!

[wclavey]

Using the unlock mechanism would probably work fine... most of your pinhole exposures are going to be so long that it will be file to open and close it that way. If you are serious about it, I have some pinhole resources I could point you to, including a pinhole sizing application that tells you what pinhole size is best for you film format and "focal distance" dictated by your camera body.

[Valerie]

Camera??? Honey, if you are gonna do pinhole, do it right! Shoe box or oatmeal container!

[Anthony Martinez]

Originally Posted by danchez

man, all kinds of resources out there, just google pinhole camera. I just made a pinhole lenscap for my D700!!

Oh I found a ton of them. Just figured I'd ask the kind folks here too!

Originally Posted by wclavey

Using the unlock mechanism would probably work fine... most of your pinhole exposures are going to be so long that it will be file to open and close it that way. If you are serious about it, I have some pinhole resources I could point you to, including a pinhole sizing application that tells you what pinhole size is best for you film format and "focal distance" dictated by your camera body.

Cool, I may have to drop you and line and stop by sometime. The semester's end is drawing near. Means I might actually get to enjoy myself for a little while.

Originally Posted by Valerie

Camera??? Honey, if you are gonna do pinhole, do it right! Shoe box or oatmeal container!

I've also considered building one to do a few panoramic images on 120 roll film. I have more than enough spare reels now! It's like all the extras are just begging me to get more medium format cameras so they have a place to live.

[danchez]

Originally Posted by Valerie

Camera??? Honey, if you are gonna do pinhole, do it right! Shoe box or oatmeal container!

I thought the matchbox pinhole camera was pretty shweet!!!

[J Eddington]

Originally Posted by danchez

I thought the matchbox pinhole camera was pretty shweet!!!

Altoids tin is cool too!
[CK] mintyCam
But I really like the spam can!
[CK] SPAMera

[Valerie]

Well, since its autumn, here's a seasonal pinhole:

This Photo Was Taken By A Pumpkin! : The Picture Show : NPR

[Valerie]

How To Turn A Pumpkin Into A Camera : The Picture Show : NPR

Should have been this link.......

[texxter]

My pinhole camera made of an oatmeal box.

[Anthony Martinez]

That's pretty cool! I'm pretty sure I'm going to end up building one out of something out in the garage. What I haven't decided yet is which format.

[wclavey]

Anthony, my son has made a number of pinhole cameras from a variety of odd containers, all made light-tight with yards of electrical tape! He even made some pinholes where the container itself was the image by coating the inside of various Altoid tins and cardboard boxes with liquid emulsion and developed the image right in the tin.

But in the end, while he enjoyed doing it, his wish was for a more permanent pinhole device that did not require as much time in the dark room loading the device as it did outside to make the exposure, so I made him a 6x9 pinhole camera from an old JEM Jr box camera (just a light-tight box that accepts 120 film). I took off the meniscus lens but left the shutter there - - the 'T' setting works great for pinhole - - and put one of the precision laser-cut pinholes in place of the meniscus. It is super easy to carry around and sit places, and a piece of duct tape will hold the shutter open for hours, if necessary.

This website has been a wonderful resource for calculating "optimized" dimensions for pinholes - - both the Camera Design Wizard and the Pinhole Size Calculator are great tools. And it is a good read for how pinhole works and what to expect, as well as some other handy utilities, like using your light meter to figure out exposure times, based on the film, camera and pinhole dimensions you just worked out with the other calculators.

If you stop by sometime, I can show it to you... I can even lend it to you if you want to try it out... he is in England for 2 years and won't be needing it...

[venchka]

I just bought a bodycap+pinhole for the Big Pentax. Too bad you can't replace the taking lens on the Mamiya TLR with a pinhole. Actually, you could if you could find a lens set with a trashed taking lens. That would maintain the aiming/composing feature of the viewing lens while offering the "benfits" of a pinhole taking lens. Sounds like a project for wclavey.

[Anthony Martinez]

Originally Posted by wclavey

Anthony, my son has made a number of pinhole cameras from a variety of odd containers, all made light-tight with yards of electrical tape! He even made some pinholes where the container itself was the image by coating the inside of various Altoid tins and cardboard boxes with liquid emulsion and developed the image right in the tin.

But in the end, while he enjoyed doing it, his wish was for a more permanent pinhole device that did not require as much time in the dark room loading the device as it did outside to make the exposure, so I made him a 6x9 pinhole camera from an old JEM Jr box camera (just a light-tight box that accepts 120 film). I took off the meniscus lens but left the shutter there - - the 'T' setting works great for pinhole - - and put one of the precision laser-cut pinholes in place of the meniscus. It is super easy to carry around and sit places, and a piece of duct tape will hold the shutter open for hours, if necessary.

This website has been a wonderful resource for calculating "optimized" dimensions for pinholes - - both the Camera Design Wizard and the Pinhole Size Calculator are great tools. And it is a good read for how pinhole works and what to expect, as well as some other handy utilities, like using your light meter to figure out exposure times, based on the film, camera and pinhole dimensions you just worked out with the other calculators.

If you stop by sometime, I can show it to you... I can even lend it to you if you want to try it out... he is in England for 2 years and won't be needing it...

Excellent. Sometime this weekend perhaps?

Originally Posted by venchka

I just bought a bodycap+pinhole for the Big Pentax. Too bad you can't replace the taking lens on the Mamiya TLR with a pinhole. Actually, you could if you could find a lens set with a trashed taking lens. That would maintain the aiming/composing feature of the viewing lens while offering the "benfits" of a pinhole taking lens. Sounds like a project for wclavey.

That last bit is along the lines of what I was thinking. I'm pretty sure I could manage to put something together to use the C3 as a pinhole camera as well. I've started sketching out some plans for other pinholes for either 135 or 120.

[venchka]

4x5 works well. 8x10 works GREAT!