RB67 pinhole camera?

paul ron · Jan 26, 2016

MattKing said:
My local best source for film related stuff recently had something in its used and consignment sales section that I couldn't figure out the market for.

But with this thread, I know where that market is.

Have you ever seen a Mamiya RB67 sports finder before?

thats cool!

Wayne · Jan 26, 2016

It IS cool! And it doesn't look like it weighs any more than about 2.5 or 3 pounds.

paul ron said:
thats cool!

paul ron · Jan 26, 2016

dentistry... rubber dam punch

look what ive got? i use this to make simulated rivits on my model ships. the point is removable so i can sharpen it. the anvil rotates so I'll have a blank to press my tip into which should leave a clean conical hole.

giving it a go right now....

NedL · Jan 26, 2016

paul ron said:
im on it!

ive got a microscope... i may also have a measuring slide in there as well but it'll be in microns.

First of all, very cool and have fun! I've written this before so I hope I don't sound like a broken record, but there is also another way to approach pinhole photography. It seems to me that people often jump right to trying to make optimal pinholes and make the photographs as sharp as possible. I occasionally measure a pinhole in my enlarger, or make several and pick the "best" one by measuring in the enlarger. But...

Another approach is to just make some pinholes and try them and see what you like. If you make a pinhole ( "dimple and sand" is a great way to do it ) and hold it next to a mm ruler, maybe with a magnifying glass, you can estimate the pinhole diameter to within about .1 mm. You can see if it is "in the ballpark". After you've made a few, you'll know it without even measuring, just by holding it up and looking at it. They do have different characteristics, and I think part of the fun is finding out what the pictures look like. In some of my cameras I've swapped them out 4 or 5 times before I was happy. Others I was happy right away. I've got a few that are my favorites, and I haven't measured them but I'm sure they are not "optimal" and I suspect they might not be 100% perfectly round either, but they make the photos I like the best. So another way forward is to play and have fun and try different pinholes with the idea that they are easy to make and replace, so no harm in trying... At some very basic level, it's just outright cool that you can stick a piece of photopaper in a drink can, poke a hole with a needle, and make a picture.

paul ron · Jan 26, 2016

ned i got ya. im having a blast n so friggin addicted at this point.

i see how easy it is to go on the quest for the perfect hole. i think ive got one right now. i used the punch in the photo above. sharpened the tip, punched on a blank spot on the anvil. ITS A PERFECT ROUND HOLE!!!

i mounted it to my cap. from what i can see, its a sharp image. ill see better outside in the morning. im going to shoot a roll n see exactly what ive got.

NedL · Jan 26, 2016

Awesome, have fun with it!

here's a hint: you've got nearly infinite depth of field... so try a few frames with some part of the scene very close to the camera, practically touching it.... in this way pinhole photography mimics how we see the world.. we don't perceive the world like a wide open lens with foreground and background blurred, we perceive near and far all at once like a pinhole photo....

DWThomas · Jan 26, 2016

In line with NedL's comments about obsessing on sharpness, I repost a link to an interesting submission somone supplied to WPPD 2014.

Taken with the "Salteen 13" !!! Not everyone comes at this stuff from the same direction!

NedL · Jan 26, 2016

paul ron · Jan 26, 2016

I'm chasing the dragon... hooked big time n haven't taken a single picture yet.

I'm going to run some film tomorrow to find my exposures. once ive seen the negatives... im off to see the wizard.

looking through your galleries im laughing at myself because i see tin can cameras n lunchbox cameras, oatmeal box cameras... just too funny. the rest of this site are having pissing contests over their high end equipment n trying to one better eachother with technicalities n formulas.

you guys are just looking through recycle bins for your next chalange.

i love it!

markbarendt · Jan 27, 2016

Paul you might become the new Miroslav Tichy if you keep this up.

paul ron · Jan 29, 2016

OK verdict is in. My lens isnt focusing in the etrs but I have images.
Maybe using my RB67 will allow me to focus?

I metered for shadows zone 3 and my exposure was suposed to be F8 @ 1/60 using neopan 100.
it was cloudy but sun peeking in n out.
I did my test frames from 1/2s 1s 2s 3s 6s 12s 24s...etc.

My visually best frames are 2s 3s 6s seem to have very little difference between them.
12s is still useable.

Here is a scan of 2s, 3s, 6s

next test will be using an RB67, hopefully one day next week.

markbarendt · Jan 29, 2016

paul ron said:
OK verdict is in. My lens isnt focusing in the etrs but I have images.

Not true.

Pinhole lenses "can't be focussed" except at infinity. (More correctly pinhole cameras are always focused at infinity.)

Adjusting the distance from the film changes focal length, which changes angle of view also.

The only focus control you have is aperture.

DWThomas · Jan 29, 2016

Mark is correct. The situation is if your pinhole is optimized for the 6x7 format and lens to film plane ("focal length"), it will be too large for 6x4.5 with its shorter pinhole-to-film spacing and smaller negative; the results will appear soft.

I have never gotten around to tormenting myself with the math, but larger formats generally come out sharper. My 4x5 is sharper than my 6x6 (cm), and the 8x10 is sharper than the 4x5. I have not so far had the ambition and guts to go to 11x14 and larger, but some APUGgers have.

paul ron · Jan 30, 2016

Aperture from my calculations and by the picture results should fall between 128 and 256.

As for the size of the hole I made...
The focal length of an ETRS is 75mm.
I know this hole is less than a #80 drill bit (0.343mm) because I cant get it through.

I just made a new lens using a pin n dimple. This time the hole is even smaller.

tests to follow this week.

markbarendt · Jan 30, 2016

paul ron said:
Aperture from my calculations and by the picture results should fall between 128 and 256.

As for the size of the hole I made...
The focal length of an ETRS is 75mm.
I know this hole is less than a #80 drill bit (0.343mm) because I cant get it through.

I just made a new lens using a pin n dimple. This time the hole is even smaller.

tests to follow this week.

75/0.343=218.65889212827988

Jim Jones · Jan 31, 2016

Pinhole photography favors wide angle pinholes. The mirror in SLR cameras sometimes gets in the way of this. Old folding roll film cameras that aren't good for anything else can be adapted to short focal length pinholes. Press cameras like the Speed Graphic need only a pinhole to replace the lens for a quick and versatile pinhole camera. In homemade pinhole cameras, the film need not be flat. Curving the film leads to interesting distortion as in this example.

paul ron · Jan 31, 2016

thats pretty cool.

i also see your image is fairly sharp too.

europanorama · Feb 2, 2016

Shinkpinhole

I would consult shinkpinhole before starting any other pinhole-production.
Yes there are other suppliers of pinholes like lenoxlaser and the third one i forgot.
But its the site of pinhole-guru renner.

ced · Feb 12, 2016

Honestly it really isn't worth the trouble buying pinholes.
The real joy about the subject is doing it yourself and going down a very interesting road of discovery.
There are so many quirky things that happen to images via pinholes some find arty some find annoying some pure serendip.
You need to explore your own prefs.
Run with it, it is addictive as you have already noticed, more so when the effort is your own.

Jim a fabulous image you posted there!

paul ron · Feb 12, 2016

With some free time, I'm going to try the dozen or more lanes I made. Also finally getting my rb bodycap back this weekend to experiment with.

StephenT · Feb 12, 2016

I use the Sports Finder when using a pinhole with the RB. Works pretty well once you figure it out.

TheToadMen · Feb 13, 2016

DWThomas said:
In line with NedL's comments about obsessing on sharpness, I repost a link to an interesting submission somone supplied to WPPD 2014.

Taken with the "Salteen 13" !!! Not everyone comes at this stuff from the same direction!

Very, very nice. I love it!!

paul ron · Mar 17, 2016

i made my rb67 pinhole. gotta say i see no difference from my etrs pinhole. as i crank the bellows in n out, i can see some zooming but its slight.

i do enjoy the rb but way too much for a pinhole camera. so its back to the 645 etrs.

my next camera is going to be small.

i love this stuff!

edit... pix to follow as soon as i scan them

thanks for the cap

Maris · Mar 17, 2016

I'm not sure how to interpret a recent pinhole experiment with my Mamiya RB67. I used a pinhole about 0.3mm diameter about 5 inches in front of the film and got the predictable result. Putting the same pinhole over the front of my 127mm lens gave a very similar result. It seems that when the relative aperture is maybe f300 or smaller the presence or absence of a glass lens makes no difference. It's all diffraction limited anyway.

Could it be that all cameras become pinhole cameras merely by putting a lenscap with a suitable hole over the lens?

John Koehrer · Mar 17, 2016

Why not put a pinhole in a lens cap & mount it on the front of the film holder? Now THAT should give you something to think about. About 1/2" fl

RB67 pinhole camera?

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