Making my own pinhole camera?

[nightwolf75]

hmm... i've got a kong guan biscuit tin lying ard at home now... so, me and my idle mind (thanks to the devil inside) was thinking of converting it into a pinhole camera.

has anyone tried their hand at making one before? i read up some articles online abt DIYing it. i know i need to spray paint the inside of the tin matte black. but i got a few questions dat i haven't come across the answers yet.

a) wat do i use to make a proper sized hole for the light to come in? most online articles recommend 1/2 inch hole (?). nails? knitting needles? (really, not kidding... i read this...)

b) focusing... i dun suppose i can, rite?

c) negative - wat shld i use? a piece of 35mm neg? most websites i read recommend photographic paper. but, i dun have the facilities at home to develop it (ie no darkroom...)

TIA!

[leews2001]

u may like to read this

http://www.photo.net/learn/pinhole/pinhole

[catchlights]

if you want to use biscuit tin, than you should use photographic paper, or else just make a hole on 35mm camera body cap and use 35mm camera or DSLR for pinhole photography,

The size of the hole determine by the focal length of the camera, it wouldn't be 1/2" hole, unless you camera is a truck size.

Pinhole photography is also call lensless photography, focusing is not necessary, and if you have a optimized size of pinhole for the camera, it will focus on infinity.

You may find usfull info about pinhole photography here.

[incubus]

dun mean to crash yer thread, but juz came across a site abt truck pinhole photography last week. den just saw your thread.
juz thot ppl might be intrested
click here

[nightwolf75]

Originally Posted by catchlights if you want to use biscuit tin, than you should use photographic paper, or else just make a hole on 35mm camera body cap and use 35mm camera or DSLR for pinhole photography, The size of the hole determine by the focal length of the camera, it wouldn't be 1/2" hole, unless you camera is a truck size. Pinhole photography is also call lensless photography, focusing is not necessary, and if you have a optimized size of pinhole for the camera, it will focus on infinity. You may find usfull info about pinhole photography here.

thanks, leews2001. i've read dat site already.

catchlights - hmm... i dun have the stuff at home to process photographic paper. think i will experiment on a 35mm SLR. i read the blog of this guy doing pinhole using his canon 350D.

at least i got the stuff at home to develop my own 35mm film.

[espn]

Unker, use a BF-1A and just drill a hole through, use foil on the other wide and then create a hole small enough to allow light to pass through.

If you're more adventurous, try to create an aperture varied pinhole

If all else fails, ask notfairlah's clones to sell you a rising sun pinhole body cap at S$100.

[nightwolf75]

Originally Posted by espn Unker, use a BF-1A and just drill a hole through, use foil on the other wide and then create a hole small enough to allow light to pass through. If you're more adventurous, try to create an aperture varied pinhole If all else fails, ask notfairlah's clones to sell you a rising sun pinhole body cap at S$100.

hmm... methinks i still got a spare body cap lying somewhere in my dry cabinet. will go do a bit of reading on how to get dat right sized pinhole for the cap.

[yanyewkay]

if you looking for body cap type, maybe can approach UT?

I got drill bits for PCB through hole components (~1.5 or 2mm) I think. If you need help to drill tiny holes let me know.

[Skye Tan]

i've experimented with helluva pinhole when i started photography more than 6 years ago. I've pinholed quite a fairbit of stuff which includes milo tins, bowling bag, paper boxes, and even an entire room.

there's a formula to the f-length distance in corresponds to the diameter of the pinhole in order to get a infinity DOF. I would recommend you to read up "pinhole photography" by eric renner to have an indepth understanding of pinhole stuff.

But if you are just having fun, then don't worry too much. just make a "pin" hole and start exposing. U would probably need a darkroom to avoid wastage.

And yes, you don't really need specialised equipment, ie, pin drill and God knows what... Just normal needles, coca cola tins metal sheet and fine sand paper would do the trick.

Goodluck.
Skye

[Skye Tan]

Here's an example of what I shot using a mini milo tin. The negative was printed on illford rc paper I think..