pinhole and bronica etrsi?

[Schunn99]

hey all,

I want to do some pinhole photography with bronica etrsi without modifying it? I was thinking of taking the lens off, put on a body cap that I cut a square out of, attach a piece of thin tin, or thin aluminum over the square hole and put a hole in the aluminum then put gaffer's or electrical tape over the hole. When I expose I would pull the darkslide then I would hold the shutter open at bulb or time and then open the tape, close it, put darkslide in then close shutter, advance the film. my question is would this work?

thanks,
Scott Hunnicutt

 

[RoBBo]

What shutter would you be opening/closing with the lens off the camera?
ETRsi is a leaf like the SQ-Ai right?

 

[DWThomas]

Like RoBBo, I thought the ETR series was like the SQ series, with leaf shutters in the lenses. I did a body cap pinhole for my SQ-A for the last Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day -- it worked. That said, I later experienced a problem with that body -- it may be just a coincidence, but I do have some concern that maybe extensive dry firing without a lens installed could have provoked something. (I guess I'll find out next WPPD!)

DaveT

 

[Schunn99]

y'all are right I was thinking weird last night, the shutter is in the lens

 

[rippo]

yes but the mirror is not! it's an SLR, and that mirror blocks the light from the film. so you could conceivably put the camera in multiple-exposure mode, which would allow you to wind the film advance and cock the shutter (well in this case, just the mirror). you'd fire the shutter button to open the mirror and exposure the film. then advance the film to close the mirror again. you'd probably want to cover the pinhole with something before advancing, as you'd get a lot of camera movement while turning the advance.

the cameras are built so you can take the lenses off and on without exposing the film, just like any SLR. so the mirror can act like a shutter. i have an ETR-S and have dry-fired it many times without a lens installed.

it's a pretty good idea actually. i might have to try it, although i hate the idea of sacrificing a body cap.

 

[DWThomas]

I didn't find a need for multi-exposure mode. You are advancing film for pinhole shots just as with the lens. At least with the SQ-Hole, I just thought of the shutter button as a mirror lock-up trigger, pushed it, then made the exposure with the flap shutter. That made the camera assume the shutter had fired and released the interlock to allow film advance.

I'm glad to hear your ETR-S has survived lots of dry firing. I hoped whatever happened to my SQ-A wasn't from that, but it seemed to occur right after I switched back to lens use after some pinhole shots. That was quite some time after WPPD when I went through three rolls of film switching back and forth between pinhole and lens without incident. I posted a query about dry firing here back in June without getting much input, but one that I did get suggested it shouldn't be a problem.

I actually bought an extra body cap from KEH when I ordered something else; I'm remembering it was about $7 or $8.

It was fun. I did shoot a successful test shot on color transparency film -- might do that next year. I'm actually considering Rev 3 using a step-up ring and a 67 mm screw-in sunshade instead of the current washer and spray can lid so I can use filters if the mood strikes. With a 25A filter, I may need to add a lounge chair to the equipment list!

DaveT

 

[rippo]

ah you're right, the multi-exposure mode is unnecessary. i've used it a number of times to check the camera without a film back on it, so i got confused. but the dry-firing, i think it must have just been a coincidence.

hmm, maybe i should spend the $8.