DIY vs Commercial source lens

[BenKrohn]

I've been having fun with my DIY camera for a few months now and am wondering what your thoughts on the commercially available apertures out there. More control? Better results? What are your experiences?

 

[removed account4]

hi benkrohl

i wrote something not realizing this was in the PINHOLE forum LOL
ive never made my own pinholes, only bought laser holes made by "pinholebilly"
they are wonderful, and a "known aperture" so you do a meter reading, and multiply
the reading by a magic number depending on the aperture and its relativity to f16

i've made waterhouse stops for bigger lenses, but they would be of no use in a pinhole

have fun !
john

 

[DWThomas]

I've been having fun with my DIY camera for a few months now and am wondering what your thoughts on the commercially available apertures out there. More control? Better results? What are your experiences?

I've not used one, but the obvious answer is they could be less work (substituting money for time, etc.) I have been making my own with pretty good results, but not every one is a winner. I use the 'dimple-and-sand' method and try to work very slowly and carefully. Periodically during the process I examine the work for defects under a 50x handheld microscope I own from other activities many years ago. I usually start two or three while I have the stuff out, then pick the best one to install.

The ideal pinhole is supposed to be a perfectly round hole in an infinitesimally thin plate with a knife edge, the third desirable characteristic. A knife edge would be automatic with an infinitesimally thin plate, but that is obviously not practical in the real world. In a plate with some finite thickness, a laser cut hole can be relatively round and precise, but tends to have a cylindrical hole. The effects of that would be dependent on the actual thickness of the plate. Another method is chemical etching which tends to cut a somewhat conical hole that could come a bit closer to a knife edge.

My first (in this millennium!) pinhole was cut into a piece of soda can side wall which measured about .004 inches thick and I blackened around it with a permanent marker. Its results are "enh!" As I've progressed a bit I've gotten down to using .001" brass shim stock and blackening it with a chemical used by model railroad folks. The results with that technique, both in 4x5 and 8x10 inch cameras have been quite satisfying. Some day I need an activity, I should probably try making new plates for my two earlier cameras and see how they do.

But then there is also the question as to how important is sharpness?! As I see it, that's about the only thing a perfect pinhole optimizes. Some people are much more into the anamorphic effects of curved film planes and that sort of thing for which the pinhole might be secondary. Others assume the image will be soft and blurry and can get by with a pretty crude pinhole.

My Pinholery

 

[BenKrohn]

Thanks for the feed back. My current lens is aluminum foil blackened on one side. The hole was made with a tattoo needle. I damaged it this morning and will probably make another but I'm thinking about getting something a little more precise. Here's what I'm working with. Its mostly Spanish cedar(which is not Spanish or cedar) walnut, maple and mahogany. The front is held on with magnets to allow better access to the lens area.

 

[DWThomas]

Some nice woodworking there! I just dug back a ways where we had a thread that rambled quite a bit but covered a lot of ideas and philosophies of pinhole work. It was specifically about doing a pinhole adaptation for a Mamiya RB67, but most of the considerations are pretty generic. (there was a url link here which no longer exists).

 

[RalphLambrecht]

I've been having fun with my DIY camera for a few months now and am wondering what your thoughts on the commercially available apertures out there. More control? Better results? What are your experiences?

I only used the pinholes made by Paul Koza at Munich University.Thry are excellent and very uniformbut then,unsharpness is one of the beauties of pinhole photography;so, I'm not necessarilly after perfection;Paul's product is getting close to a perfect pinhole though.

 

[removed account4]

laser holes made by "pinholebilly"

sorry it took me a day or 2 to find the links
but here they are

http://www.withoutlenses.com/articles/interview/pinhole-is-pinhole
http://www.pinholeedun.com/Welcome.html


NICE CAMERA BTW !!

 

[ced]

Nice camera! Pity to spoil it with commercial lens!
I think it will be more satisfying making your own but using very thin brass shimming sheets (found in electric train hobby supply stores).
You could use a micrometer to measure needles to a bit undersize then pierce the metal with the needle in a pinvise.
Polish away the curled puncture with very fine emery and slowly enlarge till the right size hole is achieved.
A clean hole is important! You can blacken the finished hole on both sides of the sheet with gun blue or some say selenium toner or just permanent black marker felt pen.
The dimple pierce and polish is also okay but the former is faster.
Enjoy & would love to see some pics.
I recently made 26 pieces for the WWPHD over two evenings with the method above.

 

[BenKrohn]

Nice camera! Pity to spoil it with commercial lens!
I think it will be more satisfying making your own but using very thin brass shimming sheets (found in electric train hobby supply stores).
You could use a micrometer to measure needles to a bit undersize then pierce the metal with the needle in a pinvise.
Polish away the curled puncture with very fine emery and slowly enlarge till the right size hole is achieved.
A clean hole is important! You can blacken the finished hole on both sides of the sheet with gun blue or some say selenium toner or just permanent black marker felt pen.
The dimple pierce and polish is also okay but the former is faster.
Enjoy & would love to see some pics.
I recently made 26 pieces for the WWPHD over two evenings with the method above.

This sounds more fun. I've heard of people scanning their pinhole apertures at a certain known dpi and measuring them that way. This may be the route I take.

 

[Jim Jones]

This sounds more fun. I've heard of people scanning their pinhole apertures at a certain known dpi and measuring them that way. This may be the route I take.

That is an effective way of measuring pinhole diameters. It also checks for some of the possible errors in making the pinhole. Be careful to use the minimum exposure necessary to get a good image of the pinhole when scanning. I prefer scanning the pinhole as a transparent film rather than a document, if possible. When scanning as a negative, overexposure can enlarge the apparent diameter of the pinhole.

 

[BenKrohn]

That is an effective way of measuring pinhole diameters. It also checks for some of the possible errors in making the pinhole. Be careful to use the minimum exposure necessary to get a good image of the pinhole when scanning. I prefer scanning the pinhole as a transparent film rather than a document, if possible. When scanning as a negative, overexposure can enlarge the apparent diameter of the pinhole.

Thanks for the tip. I scan a lot of film on my Epson. I didn't even know I could set exposure levels till I looked just now.

 

[revdoc]

Yes, very nice joinery!

Personally, I just buy inexpensive mounted pinholes from a source on eBay. They're very round, thin enough, and of accurate size.

For me, this comes down to what I would rather be doing. I like making cameras and I like making photos with them, but making pinholes doesn't appeal much. To each his or her own.