Commercial pinholes for a 4x5 view camera

mablo · Dec 29, 2011

While lusting for a new Harman Titan it occurred to me that I could use my 4x5 Cambo for shooting pinhole images. Looking around for good quality laser drilled pinholes that I could mount on a Copal-0 size front panel I found Lenoxlaser and Skink. The latter is a nifty holder where you can switch pinholes of different size, zone sieves etc. I'm thinking of using 100mm focal length. The pinhole designer software indicates the optimal pinhole size would be 0,45mm, f/222 and the exposure factor for f/22 would be nicely around 100.

Does someone have experience on using Lenox or Skink pinholes on a view camera?

Andrew Moxom · Dec 29, 2011

I've used the skink pinhole pancake in a home made 4x5 and they work well. The insert feature is pretty slick, and allows you to experiment to get the nominal focal length matched to the hole size.

John Austin · Dec 29, 2011

I have read one report that the skink pinholes are not black lined, giving flare problems

Can anyone give me real information on this to replace my hearsay stuff

Trouble is, if they are good my wife will want me to build her a new 10x8" pinhole camera, commandeer my DDS and get me to carry the stuff through the bush - But there is worse, she will make better images which will sell more than mine

Romary · Dec 29, 2011

I know a very good French manufacturer: Stenocamera

http://www.stenocamera.com/

Jim Jones · Dec 29, 2011

Pinhole Designer defaults to the Lord Rayleigh user constant. What Lord Rayleigh derived from theoretical calculations 120 years ago differs somewhat from what many pinhole photographers have derived from experience since then. For better central sharpness I prefer a user constant of 1.4, while others choose a slightly different figure. We can try to make a science or an art of pinhole photography. Trying too hard to perfect both in pinhole photography is counterproductive.

The poor man's answer to the Skink system is matboard mounted pinholes secured in screw-in filter rings with the glass removed.

Klainmeister · Dec 29, 2011

Isn't part of pinhole cameras having imperfections? Why else shoot pinhole otherwise, if a soft lens can produce similar results. Build your own and enjoy the process. It's less reliable and predictable, but that's half the fun!

Andrew Moxom · Dec 29, 2011

And if having shiny pinhole holes is an issue, place it over candle flame briefly. The smoke will blacken it.

ced · Dec 31, 2011

I think making your own with ultra thin brass shim sheets is far more interesting and will give you more satisfaction and contribute to the grey matter that we need to keep excercised.
My 2 cents worth.

DWThomas · Dec 31, 2011

For the 2011 Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day I made a new camera designed to use a 4x5 filmholder and made a pinhole with 1 mil brass shim stock. It worked even better than an earlier effort with a special lensboard for my old B&J 4x5 that used thicker stock. The dimple and wet sand method can yield a near knife edge if done very carefully. You can also make some iterations of gently twisting a needle point and sanding to improve the roundness and edge quality of the hole. I used a a magic liquid ("Blacken-It") used by model railroaders to blacken it which should have included any edge.

More than you wanted to know about the camera here.
And the 2011 WPPD results here.
The paper negative stuff needs some refinement, but the film negatives were pretty nice.

One of these days I need to work out a stand to use my B&J with an adapted Graflarger back to enlarge the stuff.

Commercial pinholes for a 4x5 view camera

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency