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From the PepsiCam

Toby's Bar

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Toby's Bar

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  • Apr 25, 2026
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Barber

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very cool little project.

i'm impressed by how sharp the last picture is too actually.
 
Thank you, I saved what I thought was best for last. I was quite pleased with the way it came out. I have five more rolls of expired Velvia 50 in the freezer, and I believe they'll all be going through the PepsiCam.
 
What about the star? I'm curious what that cam looks like!
 
Wow. It's pure genius. I thought only brass shim stock will work, not Pepsi cans.
 
Thank you, my next project will be a 4x5 pinhole camera with about a 75 degree FOV. My enlarger is an old Beseler CB7, and I have 4x5 negative carriers, along with a Jobo tank with 4x5" reels so clearly I must get myself a camera to put that to use. College kid on the GI Bill budget dictates a pinhole fill the role until I fall into the right deal on a field camera.
 
I made a 4x5 pinhole camera this spring for WPPD. I already owned some 4x5 filmholders and shim stock, so my bigger expenses were a (lifetime supply of) brass blackening liquid and two T-nuts for horizontal and vertical tripod mounting. (The store was out of zinc plated nuts so I bought stainless!) A basement and garage/workshop full of miscellaneous miscellany supplied scraps of birch plywood and other material. I think it was some careful attention (and unusually good luck) with making the actual pinhole, but I believe this year's effort gave the best results I have ever gotten with a pinhole camera.

Anyway, it's fun stuff.
 
I made a 4x5 pinhole camera this spring for WPPD. I already owned some 4x5 filmholders and shim stock, so my bigger expenses were a (lifetime supply of) brass blackening liquid and two T-nuts for horizontal and vertical tripod mounting. (The store was out of zinc plated nuts so I bought stainless!) A basement and garage/workshop full of miscellaneous miscellany supplied scraps of birch plywood and other material. I think it was some careful attention (and unusually good luck) with making the actual pinhole, but I believe this year's effort gave the best results I have ever gotten with a pinhole camera.

Anyway, it's fun stuff.

Hah! So that's you! I actually bookmarked your site from a search for DIY 4x5 Pinhole. I do not have any film holders, so that's going to have to be purchased. I was considering making film holders myself, but I'd like to be able to use the same holders with another camera later so I think I'm going to just buy some holders and build the camera around that. For the tripod mount on the PepsiCam I actually took a hacksaw to a 120 film spool (since they're reproducing in the corner at an alarming rate) and cut the end off. I tapped the hole in the bottom of the cut off spool end, and then shoved it through another piece of foam core. More duct tape, and there you have it!
 
Is it just me, or is it kinda sad that these homemade pinhole cameras produce far better photos than the overpriced trashcams on eBay?
 
I'd be quite happy too. A pinhole has been on my to-do list for a few weeks, and if I can get that sort of results, I'll be tickled. A friend of mine has done a few, and has some images that could easily have come from a "proper" lensed camera.
 
Nice stuff.

Were the exposures guestimates, or did you cheat and use a meter :wink:

BTW, the doors off 3.5" floppies (remember those) make great pinhole stock.
 
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