What brand of pinhole camera do you have?

[vanspaendonck]

Gutted Polaroid 454 Miniportrait.
These can be found at eBay for as little as $ 10 (bought one yesterday for EUR 5.50 plus 8.60 S&H). They have a 4x5 graflock back, 5" pinhole to film distance, a finder that roughly covers Polaroid 2.25 x 3.25 packfilm in a 405 holder and have a tripod mount.
How to:
(1) Remove the internal baffles that separate the 4 portrait images (the horizontal one must be sawed out),
(2) Remove silvered and semi silvered mirrors and projected frame with lens from viewfinder, block the hole with black card,
(3) Remove shutter and lenses assembly and replace it with a 16x16 cm aluminum plate with 2 cm hole, stick on foil with pinhole, ready!

 

[ElrodCod]

All of mine are hand crafted wood cameras that I built myself.

 

[Alex Bishop-Thorpe]

Brownie Flash II with the lens removed, replaced with a bit of a soda can cut into a circle with a pin hole through it.

 

[kraker]

My first pinhole camera, the Zero2000 DeLuxe, has just been shipped. So, in a few days from now, that should be my brand and type of pinhole camera

 

[rogueish]

General Mills

Then a stack of photography books toppled. Now it's just flat.

 

[Greg_E]

From what I've read, the newer oatmeal containers are not as good as the "vintage" containers, need lots of black paint and tape to keep the light out.

 

[narsuitus]

Here are the pinhole cameras that I use:

● Advantix film canister that takes a short curved 35mm film strip (2)
● 35mm film canister that takes a short curved 35mm film strip (2)
● Altoid Gum tin that takes a flat 24mm x 67mm 35mm film strip (2)
● Converted Argus C3 that takes 35mm roll film (1)
● Baking Soda can that takes a short length of curved 120 film
● Cardboard box that takes flat 4x5 inch sheet film (2)
● Foam Core box that takes flat 4x5 inch sheet film (2)
● Wooden Box that takes flat 4x5 inch sheet film (1)
● Steel-Cut Oatmeal can that takes curved 4x5 inch sheet film (2)
● Pringles Potato Chip can that takes curved 4x5 inch sheet film (2)
● Mailing tube that takes curved 4x5 inch sheet film (2)
● PVC pipe that takes curved 4x5 inch sheet film (4)
● Foam Core box that takes flat 8x10 inch sheet film (1)

In general, I use the small and medium format pinhole cameras for color film and the 4x5 and 8x10 large format pinholes for black & white film.

I use the converted Argus C3 more than the pinhole cameras that use the short strips of film because:
1. It is too difficult for me to process the short strips of film.
2. I felt that cutting a perfectly good roll of film into short strips was wasteful because it defeated the whole purpose of roll film, that is, being able to place multiple images on a single roll.

I tend to use the 4x5 inch sheet film pinhole cameras more than all others because:
1. The 4x5 film gives me the image quality that I want. The 35mm film does not.
2. Cutting a perfectly good roll of 120 film into short strips seems wasteful to me.
3. I have the equipment to process 6 sheets of 4x5 film at a time. I can only process one sheet of 8x10 at a time.

 

[Dave Wooten]

From what I've read, the newer oatmeal containers are not as good as the "vintage" containers, need lots of black paint and tape to keep the light out.

But they are more politically correct and also biodegradable...

 

[jmailand]

I have a can that contained caramel popcorn, I think it said the popcorn was "Orville Redenbacher's" so I guess that would be the brand.

James,

 

[Rich Ullsmith]

Vietnam era 50 caliber ammo box . . .light-tight, water-tight, air tight, and indestructible! One can hold two 4X5's. I built six of 'em, so I can bracket!

 

[jstraw]

How does it work with two sheets?

 

[Black Dog]

Mine was made from an old Nescafe tin on a David Gepp workshop at Duckspool in 1999 and it's served me well since then, with 4x5 and 5x7 inch film and paper. I'll be dusting it off again soon for some fresh action!

 

[mtbbrian]

I have a PinHolga, from www.holgamods.com

 

[Allen]

I have a ZaryaPin, the camera was a suppose to be a parts camera but when I got it, it worked fine all it had was a dinged corner and no lens so I put a homemade pinhole in a broken enlarger lens I had added an extension tube to get close to the right spacing for the pinhole. I just tested it and the film looks good, I haven’t made an enlargement yet.

 

[filmbug]

ZeroImage 2000 (120)
ZeroImage 25B (4x5)

 

[Freneticist]

Been too long since I posted here. Had to re-register. Dang!

Have three pinholers.
First is a Dejur D1 35mm with lens removed, shutter intact.
Two is a home-made 5x7 wooden with 300mm f.l.
Third is an old (1910) photogravure 8x10 process camera with a max 28 inch f.l. It has a "revolving" pinhole setup, with options of f181 @10 inch, to f684 @ 28 inch

 

[Bob K.]

zero 2000
8banners mb

 

[Freneticist]

Found the pics of my "pinholer"
8X10 photogravure process camera

Note rotating pinhole wheel on front (home-made) and "shutter" Homegrown 8x10 spring back. Solid walnut construction.

 

[FizzyJazz]

Zero Image 35mm.

 

[Greg_E]

The finished camera.

 

[sherpa]

I have a ZeroImage Zero 612B Panoramic Multi-Format Pinhole Film Camera

 

[jstraw]

Does anyone have any recomendations for setting up a 4x5 field camera for pinhole use? I'd like to have either some sort aperture changability, perhaps a turret, an opening large enough to allow for composition on the ground glass and a shutter that can be operated with a cable release?

Am I dreaming?

 

[DWThomas]

If you like to do machine work, the sky is the limit! It should be possible to make a sort of turret out of moderately thick material and have retainer rings thread in to clamp circular pinhole plates. That's a bit beyond the hacksaw and file level of metalwork though.

The traditional homemade pinhole in thin brass shim stock is too flimsy to do much with unless it's mounted in something. Mayhaps a series of them could be epoxied to a heavier plate. Or two strips of material with nice clearance holes could be used to clamp a set of pinhole plates, creating an assembly that could be iinstalled as a slide -- or maybe even a turret. That potentially gets into the realm of teeny-tiny countersink head screws and fragile taps. (Hmm -- now you've got thinking of yet another project ...)

I went very simple on my 4x5, a bit more complex, including cable release, on the "SQhole" I used yesterday.

The viewfinder stuff can be a problem -- didn't give that too much thought until I started using the camera. My 4x5 has a wire frame contraption that provides a reasonable approximation. The Bronica rig -- oops! I may consider just putting a modest sized hole in another body cap to use for a viewfinder in the future. The body caps don't latch, they can be interchanged almost too easily. Yesterday I interleaved shots with the 80 mm lens and used it to set up the framing.

There might be enough details on my pinhole page to give you an idea for a cable released shutter. I found a 6-32 press-in nut (used for sheet metal assemblies) seems to work OK for threading the release into. If the lug is thick enough, it could just be drilled and tapped.

The SQhole, rev 2
Detail of Rev 1 (too small) shutter plate (You'd think with all that drawing I'd have figured out it was going to vignette - doh!)
The 4x5 The pinhole plate is clamped between the two pieces of plywood that made up the lensboard.

I shot 3 rolls of 120 yesterday, but my attempt to load the first on the reel this AM went so badly, I put it in the covered tank and came up to take a break. If my first attempt to load a reel went as badly, I'd have probably put the camera back on Eprey! I've already done 17 rolls since coming back to this fine art last August -- not sure what screwed up. I've been playing with a scrap roll OK, guess I'll go try it again.

 

[jstraw]

Thanks DW, I don't machine so I'm looking for something off the shelf. Maybe when the new 8 Banners shutter becomes available that'll be the one for me to go with, mounted on a Zone VI lens board.

Dead Link Removed

I presume the positions on the turret accomodate their Pinhole Plate Set, though their website isn't very informative.

Dead Link Removed

As for a viewfinder, I'd prefer to compose on the ground glass. I'm hoping that either with no plate in one of the turret openings or with another lens board with just a hole drilled in it, I can get enough of a blurred image on the ground glass to suffice for compositional purpuses at whatever focal length the camera is racked to for a given aperture.

Can this be done and if so, what would be the best sized hole for that purpose?

 

[DWThomas]

I'm hoping that either with no plate in one of the turret openings or with another lens board with just a hole drilled in it, I can get enough of a blurred image on the ground glass to suffice for compositional purpuses at whatever focal length the camera is racked to for a given aperture.

Can this be done and if so, what would be the best sized hole for that purpose?

I am wondering if it may work any better with the larger formats. Out of curiosity, I drilled a 1/16 inch hole in a scrap plate of aluminum and tried holding it in place on the SQ-A. (I had two shots left -- too bad it doesn't have a focal plane shutter, I could show you the result!)

My initial aperture is 0.36 mm; 1/16 would be about 1.59 mm. That's a diameter ratio of about 4.4, a little over four stops. With the camera in shade pointed out into a bright sunny scene and an improvised dark cloth, the image was pretty dim, although much more visible than the f253 pinhole. Already though, the image was rather blurry; I could make out large blocks, but not much detail -- a sort of "all bokeh" image.

I seem to recall someome else made reference to using a "focus pinhole," maybe they'll chime in.

DaveT