Film in a pinhole

[Haus]

Can you use 8x10 film in a pinhole instead of paper? Are the exposures going to change? I assumed you could, but I was told down by a friend, so whats the verdict?

 

[Dave Parker]

I have an know many who have used film with no problem, the basic principals are the same, you are exposing a piece of light sensitive material to an image.

Dave

 

[127]

Of course film will work - better than paper: It's designed for the job. Paper has a "film speed" of about 10, so your exposures will be much shorter with film. It's also panchromatic (usually), which is better.

The main advantages of paper are that it's cheaper, and easier to handle - being able to load and dev under safelight is pretty essential if you're 5 years old, taking pictures with a cardboard box. If you're used to handling film, and have a supply available, then go for it.

Ian

 

[John Koehrer]

Haus,
Yes, exposures will change, Think in terms of "instantaneous" exposure. Assuming ISO 100-400 film.

 

[k_jupiter]

I never shoot with paper. My favorite pinhole is a converted 120 camera. Problem is... some people think the images I get came from a Diana.


*L*


tim in san jose

 

[Donald Qualls]

Haus,
Yes, exposures will change, Think in terms of "instantaneous" exposure. Assuming ISO 100-400 film.

Well, yes and no. With the f/128 pinhole body cap on my Spotmatic, I can hand hold in outdoor daylight conditions -- 1/60 in sunny, down to about 1/4 second ("stormy", heavy clouds or deep shade, or late afternoon with lighter cloud or shade), using Tri-X at EI 1600 for later treatment with Diafine.

With the much slower pinholes common in larger cameras (typically f/300 to f/400) and without pushing film, you're looking at "Sunny 16" exposures on ISO 400 of something like one second (without accounting for reciprocity failure); slower film or less bright conditions will naturally require longer exposures. Generally, you can use a lens cap for your shutter with most pinhole cameras except with the fastest films and largest holes. Now, this is as opposed to many minutes or even an hour or more with the same camera setup and printing paper (which is closer to ISO 3-6 range, relative to film speeds, than ISO 10).

 

[zenrhino]

I have a 4x5 pinhole that I use film in. Ive never used paper since the camera itself is built to take regular film holders.

Although now that you mention it, I do have some 5x7 paper in the fridge... =)

 

[Murray@uptowngallery]

I have only shot 35mm film in converted cameras so far. I use ISO 200 & 400 because 100 doesn't come in the cheap 4-5 pack rolls.

Exposures on days measuring EV 10-12 has been 3/4-12 seconds (don't do the math; I'm remembering approximately). I did a lightbulb-lit still life that took 6 minutes with ISO 200 film.

Camera is probably permanently set up for b/w now as I epoxied a yellow/K2 filter behind the pinhole.

Nothing spectacular here, but
www.uptowngallery.org/Murray/Pinhole/
has my life's work of 3 rolls there (I need to get out more often), identified by film type. These were all done at 1-hour lab as they were all C-41 films.

I've recently started having 1 hour dev + burn to CD instead of prints. The lab's scanner is very likely better than mine, saves me the time and dust of scanning, and there is inherent 'enlargement' in high res scan displayed on 96 dpi monitor.

I can't find the pic of the back of the camera right now... I made a chart of exposures times straight and reciprocity corrected. Maybe I should share the chart before I jabber on about it because a pic's worth a thousand words. In sum, I have EV-reading light meters. I figure out what the camera EV (actually Av, aperture value) is, offset it for filtration used and ISO stops away from nominal 100 used for EV system. Table shows meter reading, minus EV component of the camera/filter/film system, so I have a table of required exposure in both Tv (time value) and then time, then a column for reciprocity-corrected exposure. I am very prone to adding & subtracting the factors in the wrong order on the fly, so the chart on the back allows me to take a meter reading and read exposure directly off the chart; no measuring at f/16 and calculating. The math is done at home ahead of time. If I change film speed, I have a new chart prepared ahead of time. Chart is printed out small enough to tape to back of camera.

I've been threatening to write this up more logically to share because I really like it. However, I am prone to making things much more complex than needed because I want something a certain way.

I'll be back.

 

[Murray@uptowngallery]

Re: Using EV or more accurately, Additive Photographic Exposure System with pinhole. There are a number of well-written but technical websites discussing this, such as the Doug Kerr and John Lind sites. Some of the practical benefits get buried under the techical blah-blah and I think that turns some sensitive artists off to EV.

I guess a picture's worth a thousand words.

http://uptowngallery.org/Murray/Pinhole/35ZipPH/BW400CN/bw400cn.gif

shows a chart I made for a specific camera/filter/film combination. It was taped on the back of the camera.

Ignoring for the moment where in the world I got 0.85 stop for a K2 filter (I took some readings thru a spotmeter and maybe averaged them?),

I enter the pinhole f/#, film speed in ISO and number of filter stops if used, and a light meter reading in EV. My spreadsheet determines an aperture value, then from EV = AV + TV, corrects for ISO other than 100 and any filters used and determines a time value.

By pre-printing this, all I need to do is read my EV lightmeter, look on the chart for the meter reading and adjacent to it the time required. Reciprocity failure can be worked into it also.

 

[Paul Sorensen]

I bought one of these on eBay for my Mamiya 645. I haven't really done much with it, but the exposure metering is really easy, the pinhole cap has the aperture and focal length listed, so I have gotten perfect exposures using my handheld meter. The aperture is something along the lines of f/200. They are available for a bunch of cameras and auto cameras with off the film exposure metering should be even easier to use it with. (Olympus OM-2, etc)

Back to the original question, exposure times were long and I used a tripod, but llong in terms of a half second or so, not minutes. I plan on getting out with it again to see if I can do something worth looking at.

Paul.

 

[k_jupiter]

I bought one of these on eBay for my Mamiya 645.

Paul.

I need to get into a diffrent line of work. 27 bucks for a lens body pinhole? I could turn dozens of these out on the lathe eveyday.

Of course, selling dozens a day is a different story.

tim in san jose

 

[Donald Qualls]

Yep, mine cost me $3 for the cap (which included a rear lens cap as well as the body cap -- I could combine the two and have a very, very small single-shot pinhole camera!) and took much less than an hour to make, including figuring out the best way to drill and countersink the cap; I could do another in ten minutes plus the time to make the actual pinhole.

Mind you, it'd be a lot easier to sell dozens in a day at half that price...

 

[Paul Sorensen]

I need to get into a diffrent line of work. 27 bucks for a lens body pinhole? I could turn dozens of these out on the lathe eveyday.

Of course, selling dozens a day is a different story.

tim in san jose

Of course, if you want expensive, you can go to Freestyle where you can get basically the same thing for $43.

I did have the same reaction, I went with it when I saw the prices being asked for laser drilled metal pinholes. That was going to cost me about as much and I was going to have to put it together myself. I appreciated having an idea of the aperture and the fact that it was a nice precise round hole. Oh, and B&H sells the Mamiya cap (which is what this is, an actual Mamiya 645 cap) for $10.

Paul.