I need some (3d printing my camera)

[sonygoup]

So hey guys I found a 3d print for a pinehole camera and thought hey that's something new to try as I already shoot 35mm and it's stupid cheap.

So I went on the interwebs and found this
http://www.instructables.com/id/Easy-35-3D-Printed-Pinhole-Camera/

I got a guy that's gonna print for me but what I was wondering about is what pinehole do I use. I saw quite a few but I just want more or less the best one for daylight photos. I also saw somone add a shutters to one so IDK.i just need some advice on what to do

Also I'm new to the pinehole so any info would be nice.
Thanks

 

[sonygoup]

Can anyone help

 

[removedacct1]

It states right there in the Instructibles article: Pinhole Diameter - 0.20mm

 

[sonygoup]

It states right there in the Instructibles article: Pinhole Diameter - 0.20mm

Yeah I know that but I'm asking if that's the best option for it. Im new to it so I wanna get the best start

 

[removedacct1]

A 0.20mm pinhole is the same, no matter who made it or how it was made, as long as it was made with reasonable care.

 

[John Koehrer]

Aren't there a couple of pinhole calculators out there? Mr pinhole comes to mind and the others seem to have escaped for the moment. If you want to experiment a bit try making your own. soda can and needle comes to mind.

 

[Jim Jones]

The best formula for calculating the optimum pinhole diameter has been debated for well over a hundred years. I prefer Pinhole Designer, a free download pinhole calculator, with a user constant of 1.4 rather than the more popular Rayleigh constant of 1.9. The printable camera's recommendation is between the two results. That is one of the nice qualities of pinhole photography. There are few absolutes. Almost anything goes.

 

[E. von Hoegh]

Yeah I know that but I'm asking if that's the best option for it. Im new to it so I wanna get the best start

Why not do some research?
The internet can be a wonderful tool for research, providing one knows how...

 

[DWThomas]

As with Jim Jones, since I run Windows, I prefer Pinhole Designer. For me that is largely because it appears more informative about what it is doing. Pinhole Designer installs on your local computer and runs on Windows; it also has not been updated in many years, those are its shortcomings.

Mr Pinhole is web based and therefore computer platform independent, which is handy. I found some of the limits it suggests for things like angle of view appear somewhat pessimistic. Unless it has just been my inability to find it, Mr. Pinhole seems to me reluctant to divulge the constants and design equations it is actually using and I don't recall any way to alter any of the magic constants, It certainly works, and either "app" would get you to an adequate starting place.

Loosely speaking, a graph of performance vs pinhole diameter would look more like a fairly broad bell curve than some sort of spiky peak, there is a fairly broad tolerance on pinhole diameter to get reasonable, if not optimum, results.

 

[Ces1um]

Why not do some research?
The internet can be a wonderful tool for research, providing one knows how...

I think that's what he's doing right here. Asking the "experts" directly.

 

[E. von Hoegh]

I think that's what he's doing right here. Asking the "experts" directly.

No, he-she is asking to be led by the hand and shown. This is becoming very prevalent, just read around.

 

[Ces1um]

No, he-she is asking to be led by the hand and shown. This is becoming very prevalent, just read around.

I take a less harsh interpretation here. I'm sure during the five hours between their first and second post they may have looked things up but being new to pinhole, as they stated, they may have found it all a bit overwhelming. Sometimes it's nice to be able to directly ask those who are more knowledgable. If you took offence to them asking a question the easiest thing for you to have done was simply not answer and allow someone else who wanted to engage in a conversation field this one. There's no such thing as a dumb question.

 

[E. von Hoegh]

I take a less harsh interpretation here. I'm sure during the five hours between their first and second post they may have looked things up but being new to pinhole, as they stated, they may have found it all a bit overwhelming. Sometimes it's nice to be able to directly ask those who are more knowledgable. If you took offence to them asking a question the easiest thing for you to have done was simply not answer and allow someone else who wanted to engage in a conversation field this one. There's no such thing as a dumb question.

Pardon me. I ask questions only after I have exhausted all other avenues. I have observed many first-time posters asking similar "lead me by the hand" questions, whatever happened to "looking things up"? Oops, the internet.

 

[Ces1um]

Pardon me. I ask questions only after I have exhausted all other avenues. I have observed many first-time posters asking similar "lead me by the hand" questions, whatever happened to "looking things up"? Oops, the internet.

When you went to school did you take this tactic as well or did you listen to the teacher and ask questions during the lesson? Frankly first time posters should be encouraged to ask questions. I would also point out that this person did indeed use the "interwebs" to research the camera they wish to print out. They also stated they had found "quite a few" pinholes so they obviously spent some time researching. They also researched this forum and joined this past Thursday and posted a pinhole related question in the pinhole subforum, in the analog section of a photography forum whose sole purpose is to help disseminate information about analog related photography. Just because someone has less knowledge about a subject their questions should not be dismissed as trivial.

"No, he-she is asking to be led by the hand and shown"- I have to ask, so what if they are? Nothing forces you to read this post much less respond to it.

 

[removedacct1]

I answered the OPs question - twice - and it seemed to me this person wasn’t really grasping the fact that ANY 0.20 mm pinhole would suffice.

 

[removedacct1]

Since the OP has stated that he’s totally new to the concept of pinhole photography, and that the requirements for the design/manufacture of the pinhole itself seem to baffle him somewhat, I would strongly recommend getting a copy of a book such as this one.

 

[Ces1um]

Since the OP has stated that he’s totally new to the concept of pinhole photography, and that the requirements for the design/manufacture of the pinhole itself seem to baffle him somewhat, I would strongly recommend getting a copy of a book such as this one.

A reasonable suggestion for certain.

 

[E. von Hoegh]

When you went to school did you take this tactic as well or did you listen to the teacher and ask questions during the lesson? Frankly first time posters should be encouraged to ask questions. I would also point out that this person did indeed use the "interwebs" to research the camera they wish to print out. They also stated they had found "quite a few" pinholes so they obviously spent some time researching. They also researched this forum and joined this past Thursday and posted a pinhole related question in the pinhole subforum, in the analog section of a photography forum whose sole purpose is to help disseminate information about analog related photography. Just because someone has less knowledge about a subject their questions should not be dismissed as trivial.

"No, he-she is asking to be led by the hand and shown"- I have to ask, so what if they are? Nothing forces you to read this post much less respond to it.

When I went to school, we were actively often corporeally discouraged to ask questions, Cesium.
Therefore I learned to research, practice, question, and think. The teachers were often wrong, and may the good lord help you should you point that out.

 

[Ces1um]

When I went to school, we were actively often corporeally discouraged to ask questions, Cesium.
Therefore I learned to research, practice, question, and think. The teachers were often wrong, and may the good lord help you should you point that out.

You learned to question despite being discouraged to do so. That's quite admirable really. I question why you discourage this skill in others though, namely the OP? I have no idea when or where you went to school, but your experiences with learning seem to be the polar opposite of mine. That being said, somehow I managed to accomplish the same skills you did. Obviously there are many routes to learning, which is why I take exception to the idea that questions shouldn't be asked.

All that being said, I understand the point of your original post. Why ask here when you can google pretty much anything and find an answer? I think the issue at hand here is the OP has only the most rudimentary understanding of how pinholes work and as such any queries he'd type into a search engine likely would be met with very little usable information. They don't know the right questions to ask because of their limited understanding as evidenced by their difficulty grasping the issue of the 0.2mm size. Another reason why I support their asking here. @paulbarden did have an excellent suggestion though regarding obtaining the book by Fabbri, Fabbri and Wiklund as it would take the OP by the hand through the basic steps of the pinhole process (from building a camera to developing their first print) providing them with a solid foundation upon which to grown and learn.

 

[Truzi]

In case the OP is still watching this thread - since you intend to have the camera 3D printed, why not just make your own pinholes to start? That way you can play with the camera while you research pinholes.

I'd done some reading too, and it can be confusing. Different ways to make them, different sizes for different purposes, etc. Instead I opted to just jump in and have fun.

I made a pinhole camera out of a small cigarillo box. For the pinhole, I cut some metal from a Pepsi can, flattened it, sanded off the paint, painted it black, and poked it with a needle. My late father was diabetic, and we had some unused syringes left, so I used one to make a very small pinhole. Then I hot-glued it over a larger hole on the box, and I cut up an empty Spree (candy) box and taped it on as a filter holder, lol. You'd think I'd make the pinhole removable as well.

Since you are having the camera printed, I presume you can change pinholes - so you can make a number to play with for the cost of a can of pop/beer/etc. You can use different sized sewing needles, pins, etc. Experiment and see what you like best.

 

[sonygoup]

Thanks for all the info guys