PinHole question

[ColRay]

Do you make your own PinHoles of buy ready made ones??

 

[nsurit]

I buy them and if one feels compelled to make their own, they should certainly do so. Guess I could make my own tooth brush, however I don't. I recently bought a Skink pinhole on ebay. The camera made with it is posted in the forum on camera building here on Apug. Bill Barber

 

[J Rollinger]

Does anyone have any links to a build your own 4x5?

 

[Klainmeister]

Well, I make my own pinholes just because I'm a cheap bastard and after using some very fancy pinhole cameras, my homemade kits do just as worthy.

^ google "build pinhole camera" and you'll get shittons of results.

 

[ColRay]

Thaanks guys.

Re the 5x4 once I had worked out the focal length I made a simple box around a double darks slide.

 

[ColRay]

"I'm a cheap bastard" glad someone else is a tad on the frugal side.

 

[pinholeboy]

I do both. I use a Zero Image 69 which is my workhorse but I also make 4x5 pinholes. 4x5 are easier to make because you dont have to deal with the roll film mechanism. That being said a good compromise to homemade roll film based camera would be to convert older 35mm and medium format cameras to pinholes.

This is the 4x5 pinhole that I build:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bokchoyboy/4556489136/

 

[SMBooth]

I used brought one (EMS) but not adverse to homemade, just lazy.

 

[DWThomas]

So far I have made all of mine. I'm not rigidly opposed to spending money, but I've been reasonably happy with my last couple of efforts. Maybe some day I'll buy a laser jobbie for one of my earlier cameras and see if it "opens a whole new world."

 

[Klainmeister]

ColRay, go to post #6 (there was a url link here which no longer exists)

I built that sucker for under $30 out of black Gorilla tape, foamcore, and a cut piece of beer can for the pinhole. Bout as cheap as they come, especially for 16x20

 

[Jim Jones]

Does anyone have any links to a build your own 4x5?

Try http://robroy.dyndns.info/lawrence/mammoth.html.

 

[ColRay]

Hi Klainmeister I like it!.. have you posted any of the 16x20 results?

 

[Jim Jones]

Does anyone have any links to a build your own 4x5?

Oops, my previous reply had the wrong link. I need to doublecheck everything I do! Here is the right link: Dead Link Removed.

 

[Klainmeister]

Hi Klainmeister I like it!.. have you posted any of the 16x20 results?

Because of the Holidays and some truck maintenance, haven't the money to buy some 16x20 DPP yet.

...although maybe very soon.

 

[PhotoBob]

I have made some of my own pinhole cameras, but by far, prefer the commercially available ones. Maybe some day this will change, but many of the available cameras are very beautiful pieces to work with in their own right.

 

[RalphLambrecht]

i buy laser-shot pinholes frompaul koza @ munich university, very clean and accurate.

Paul.Koza@physik.uni-muenchen.de

 

[aleksmiesak]

If I had the necessary skills and tools to make one I would do it. I think the satisfaction from having a home made one is that much greater. Alas, I do love my Zero Image 45. It has all the things that I would probably be too lazy to make on my own like the interchangeable pinhole sizes and zone plates and I can adjust focal length. That alone was worth it in itself as I don't shoot a lot of very wide shots. Flexibility was what sold me on Zero Image, and that was also its appeal over the mighty Harman's Titan. Although Titan 8x10 system sounds very appealing.

Have fun building and show us your progress!

 

[DWThomas]

Hmm (since this popped up again) -- in my earlier answer I interpreted the question as being about the actual pinhole plates rather than the entire camera. Stepping up the hierarchy to the entire camera, I've been a little less DIY -- sort of. A pinhole lens board for a 4x5 press camera was my first effort, a pinhole body cap for my Bronica SQ-A was the second. The third effort, in 2011, was a complete from scratch 4x5 (= UK 5x4 ) except for using standard filmholders.

Almost everything I've ever done with pinholes is online for what it may be worth. I must confess to a few impure thoughts about something larger, but it probably won't happen this year.

 

[AgX]

i buy laser-shot pinholes frompaul koza @ munich university, very clean and accurate.

Paul.Koza@physik.uni-muenchen.de

On his e-bay site Paul Koza states that he drills his holes instead of laser "shooting".

The two samples he shows, drilled versus laser-shot, with the drilled one looking finer, got the same image size.
But they are actually apart in diameter by factor 2.5 or at its best 1,7, to the actual benefit of the "coarser" laser one...

http://www.ebay.de/itm/Lochblende-Lochkamera-0-15-0-8-mm-pinhole-camera-obscura-Stenope-Hullinse-/181039054869?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_77&hash=item2a26c4c015

 

[mablo]

I'm currently re-processing some of my pinholes from last year. Mid year I switched from a home made pinhole to a 'factory' made (some guy in Germany makes them with laser). I can see a clear difference in image quality.

 

[RalphLambrecht]

nothing has changed,quality lenses are still coming from germany

 

[EKDobbs]

I think the difference is slight until you get into the bigger enlargements like 8x10. I also use paper, which has much lower accutance than film of similar size.

I only made my own brass one because I didn't like how fragile the tinfoil was, and I couldn't find any thinner/better metal than 1/1000th inch brass. The prices on prefab ones is ridiculous, considering the spirit of pinhole is simplicity.

 

[NedL]

nothing has changed,quality lenses are still coming from germany

I make my own. It's fun and it's not much trouble.

 

[Tom Miller]

Here are multiple thoughts.

The Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day website has a resources page with lots of excellent information.
http://www.pinholeday.org/support/

I use both purchased and home-made pinholes - and purchased and home-made cameras as well - depending on the need or use for the camera. For solargraphs, multi-month outdoor exposures, I use home-made cameras with home-made pinholes. I have a few series of identical home-made single-shot cameras, and I want all the cameras to have the same - same exposure times and quality of image. This can best be achieved with identical purchased pinholes. There is generally a Zero 2000 and a Pinhole Blender in my car at all times.

The best purchased pinholes are electron microscope slides. EMS slides were mentioned earlier in this thread. They have to be purchased in bulk; but it works out to be less than 30 cents (.3 USD) per pinhole.

The best material for hand-made pinholes is probably disposable aluminum steam tray lids (from Party City and similar stores). They are thin, thin sheets and for a dollar or so per sheet you can make dozens of pinholes.

A shameless plug: the next Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day is April 28, 2013. It is coming up fast, and home-made or purchased... join in!

 

[RalphLambrecht]

i don't like cheap, but there is nothing wrong with frugal;big difference.