First time Pinhole, Adox CMS 20 & Fx39 developer.... Yes, I'm a bit crazy....

[DcAnalogue]

Hi to all,

as usual, I tested various things toghether.... This time, I made my first pinhole roll, with an Holga 120 WPC... but used the controversal Adox CMS 20 film souped in Adox Fx39....
There were not references for this developer versus the CMS 20..... but I think I've been lucky.... The film came out not too bad.
Images are just slightly sadjusted for levels after a flat scanning (as usual). No sharpening added.

What do you think about guys?

Check the whole test on my Film Blog!

 

[Theo Sulphate]

Check the whole test on my Film Blog!

Very nice work!

 

[Gerald C Koch]

Nice results. Just a hint for the future. With pin hole photography the limiting factor in a print's resolution is aberration. Using an fine grain emulsion gets you nothing except long exposures. A film of ISO 100 or so will make getting a good exposure easier as it would have more exposure latitude.

 

[dasBlute]

awesome locale, and great format, keep it up, a world of wonder awaits...!

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

Nice results. Just a hint for the future. With pin hole photography the limiting factor in a print's resolution is aberration. Using an fine grain emulsion gets you nothing except long exposures. A film of ISO 100 or so will make getting a good exposure easier as it would have more exposure latitude.

Great point! I'd like to add that film grain can also add to the apparent sharpness (not real sharpness, I know), but the illusion of sharpness.
That's worth taking into account, as the grain can help give the image structure when shooting pinhole.

I think the aberration limitations you speak of have to do with the pinhole itself, how round it is on a microscopic level, and how thick the material is (i.e. how long the 'tunnel' of the pinhole is). My friend Larry made me a pinhole made of a very thin silver plate, with a drilled hole. The silver plate is then made thinner by using a jeweler's hammer to thin the silver, and as the plate gets thinner upon repeated impacts, the hole gets smaller. It makes for a very nice quality pinhole. As the silver naturally oxidizes, it becomes less shiny, which also helps.

 

[DWThomas]

DCAnalogue, you got some fine results! One recommendation for B&W film with pinhole is Fuji Acros as it has less reciprocity failure on long exposures compared with some of the other emulsions.

 

[Gerald C Koch]

DCAnalogue, you got some fine results! One recommendation for B&W film with pinhole is Fuji Acros as it has less reciprocity failure on long exposures compared with some of the other emulsions.

Good point.

 

[DcAnalogue]

Thanks to you all guys for appreciation and for your hints. Someone told me that the random Holga WPC vignetting is due to the border around the pinhole which "should" be reduced with sand paper.
Regarding the film to use... I'm planning to use some Rollei Rpx 100 film or so.. and not using Acros, that, albeit being a great film is becoming too much expensive.
I prefer to use not too fast films because I can manage better the exposure times. I.e. an error of 1/2 sec. on a 2 sec. exposure is worst than the same 1/2 sec. on a 15 sec. exposure......

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

Thanks to you all guys for appreciation and for your hints. Someone told me that the random Holga WPC vignetting is due to the border around the pinhole which "should" be reduced with sand paper.
Regarding the film to use... I'm planning to use some Rollei Rpx 100 film or so.. and not using Acros, that, albeit being a great film is becoming too much expensive.
I prefer to use not too fast films because I can manage better the exposure times. I.e. an error of 1/2 sec. on a 2 sec. exposure is worst than the same 1/2 sec. on a 15 sec. exposure......

Sometimes reciprocity failure can be an advantage. My pinhole camera has an f/138 configuration. With full daylight and sun, using Acros film or FP4+ I'd be shooting at 1/2 second with either film, roughly. I normally don't shoot in full sun, so I end up with metered times of 1 second or 2 seconds. With Acros 2 seconds means 2 seconds. With FP4 it might be 3 seconds, and so on. Because I have a shutter that is completely manual; with my fingers I move a small piece of flat wood to cover the pinhole, the longer exposures are easier to control.

Have fun!

 

[DcAnalogue]

Because I have a shutter that is completely manual; with my fingers I move a small piece of flat wood to cover the pinhole, the longer exposures are easier to control.

Have fun!

Yep! The same is for me.... as Holga has a button to be meved by a cable release. Not so smooth... and I can't be too precise using it...

 

[Patrick Robert James]

I have a fully modified WPC that has had quite a few changes to it. The vignetting was the hardest thing to get rid of. I also found I had issues with flare off of the sides of the film chamber and they couldn't be flocked due to the design. I had to settle for painting them. I did other things to it as well. I have been meaning to post about the camera here and probably will one of these days. I know I promised Sly that a long time ago.

Thomas, one of the things I have been planning to do is replace the pinhole on it. Do you have any more details on how to make one?

Thomas was right when he mentioned grain. Whenever something gets enlarged our eyes need something to grab onto. I would rather have sharp grain in a print than critically sharp grain free images. A print from a neg that isn't sharp can still look fine if the grain is sharp. I think that is the reason why a lot of people don't like the look of digital.

I think you did fine for a first go. It took me a while to get something decent, although I never get anything close to what the recommended exposures are. Mine are in the minutes and that is with HP5. There are some in my gallery here if you are interested.