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Pinhole Cameras
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 12, 2007 10:11 am    Post subject: Pinhole Cameras Reply with quote

I make this sticky thread because I think that Pinhole Cameras are an important part of the manual photographic experience and they deserve a special room inside the Film Cameras forum.

So I invite the Pinhole Camera users to report about their instruments and results here. I don't have a pinhole camera but I am personally much interested in them, and I am looking forward to see your pinhole camera results here.


PostPosted: Mon Mar 12, 2007 2:51 pm    Post subject: Re: Pinhole Cameras Reply with quote

Orio wrote:
I make this sticky thread because I think that Pinhole Cameras are an important part of the manual photographic experience and they deserve a special room inside the Film Cameras forum.

So I invite the Pinhole Camera users to report about their instruments and results here. I don't have a pinhole camera but I am personally much interested in them, and I am looking forward to see your pinhole camera results here.


What about digital pinhole cameras? A 5D with an optimally dimensioned pinhole will produce quite decent results, comparable to non-optimal 6x6 pinhole photos, and with much less fuss. Here is an example:



Veijo


PostPosted: Mon Mar 12, 2007 3:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks Orio for this thread. I was about to send a mail almost on this line to you and Attila (wait.. will be getting).

@ Veijo: Thanks for results. I slipped into this black hole of MF by browsing your site. So, I always look towards your work, if I want to dig the technicalities in MF art (again its an art, just anti-thesis of Photoshop ). Smile

How do calculate the Circle of Confusion (DoF meter to me.. as defining DoF in real numbers is not something I like.. its creating more confusion to me)? And how to make the hole for Pinhole camera (esp for APS-C sensor)?
Any good pointer on web, your site and some words from your exp...


PostPosted: Mon Mar 12, 2007 4:47 pm    Post subject: Re: Pinhole Cameras Reply with quote

vilva wrote:
....an optimally dimensioned pinhole...


Hello Veijo, I'm a fan of your site too! Because of your beautiful pictures I am planning to visit Helsinki sometime soon to see the Lutheran Cathedral and the harbour, as well as many other places in the Baltic area.

This pinhole picture is fascinating. Could you explain how you adapted the camera, the exposure time and so on? Thanks.


PostPosted: Mon Mar 12, 2007 6:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Wow. What a DOF!
You win as always, Veijo. Wink
I have opened a Pinhole-dedicated sticky thread on the Digital Cameras forum, too.


PostPosted: Mon Mar 12, 2007 6:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ballu wrote:
And how to make the hole for Pinhole camera (esp for APS-C sensor)?


Well, the size of the pinhole doesn't at all depend on the size of the sensor, just on the distance between the pinhole and the sensor. For a distance of about 45 mm the optimum size is roughly 0.25 mm, i.e. f/180. I didn't make my own pinhole but got a ready-made EOS bodycap pinhole from eBay, see my next posting.

An APS-C sensor isn't very suitable for pinhole photography because it is much smaller than an FF sensor, the angle of view is narrower and the resolution much lower, only about 40% of the FF resolution. The above photo taken with a crop camera would look roughly like this:



The lights were rather dim in the room (much dimmer than in the photo), and I exposed 90 s at ISO 1600, but I had to push more than one stop during post-processing in order to get a nice looking photo so I guess 240 s would have been better.

Veijo


PostPosted: Mon Mar 12, 2007 7:00 pm    Post subject: Re: Pinhole Cameras Reply with quote

peterqd wrote:
vilva wrote:
....an optimally dimensioned pinhole...


Hello Veijo, I'm a fan of your site too! Because of your beautiful pictures I am planning to visit Helsinki sometime soon to see the Lutheran Cathedral and the harbour, as well as many other places in the Baltic area.


Thanks Smile That's a good idea idea, Helsinki and Tallinn, maybe St. Petersburg, too.

Quote:
This pinhole picture is fascinating. Could you explain how you adapted the camera, the exposure time and so on? Thanks.


I had a commercial 0.25 mm bodycap pinhole mounted on an EOS 5D, no adaptation necessary, see the photo below. Exposure time 90 s at ISO 1600, but it ought to have been 240 s for better results - now I had to increase the exposure during PP.



Veijo


PostPosted: Mon Mar 12, 2007 7:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Orio wrote:
Wow. What a DOF!


The squares on the chess board are about 25 mm wide, and the chess pieces are from 30 to about 45 mm tall. The nearest piece was about 10 cm from the pinhole (if I remember correctly), and the distance to the bookshelf is about 160cm.

Quote:
You win as always, Veijo. Wink


Well, not always, you've got some nice photos yourself, too Smile

Quote:
I have opened a Pinhole-dedicated sticky thread on the Digital Cameras forum, too.


Fine, thanks,

Veijo


PostPosted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 6:32 am    Post subject: Last Sunday in April is Pinhole day... Reply with quote

http://www.pinholeday.org/

from Site:
"What is Pinhole Day?
Anyone, anywhere in the world, who makes a pinhole photograph on the last Sunday in April, can scan it and upload it to this website where it will become part of the annual Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day celebration's online gallery.

The last Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day was celebrated around the planet on April 30, 2006...."

I dont have any experience in this field.. trying to get some knowledge/information.. but want to see some results from members... Wink


PostPosted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 8:00 am    Post subject: Re: Last Sunday in April is Pinhole day... Reply with quote

Ballu wrote:

I dont have any experience in this field.. trying to get some knowledge/information.. but want to see some results from members... Wink


See http://galactinus.net/vilva/pinhole/

Veijo


PostPosted: Mon Jun 25, 2007 3:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here are a few ready made pinhole cameras. These are from Freestyle.

http://www.freestylephoto.biz/sc_main.php?cat_id=2203


PostPosted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 12:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

This is our new member Laszlo's site! Enjoy !
http://see.yourweb.de/digitalpinhole/


PostPosted: Thu Aug 23, 2007 11:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I currently do not shoot digital but rather black and white film and infra red. One of my more consistent pinhole tricks has to do more with subject than technique. Mounting an extention tube and creating a "longer focal length" to shoot landscapes has been quite happy at times. My best shots have come from using gaffers tape to attach a 720nm filter on front of pinhole cap and shoot Rollie/Maco infrared in 35mm or 6x7. The exposures run 2 to even 10 minutes sometimes shorter depending on the effect desired. The odd tones from the IR actually work fantastic with the soft focus from the pinhole iris. Shooting long expanses of water such as river or tidal areas looks amazingly dreamy especially with clouds working for you. I don't have a scanner at home but will try and post some samples soon. Lately while drooling for a 5D I have come accross a company called LifePixel. They do modifications for digital cams to shoot in IR (remove hotmirror and replace with new filter or clear glass). According to there info the IR mirror installed on most sensors does let IR thrue only minute and slowly. Maybe someone who has a FF or Crop cam would try some extended monochrome exposures with a 720nm filter and see if this could work similarly. The exposure time may be quite long. Hopefully noise will not surface as a problem. I am new to this forum and so far really enjoy the company. Thankyou all!!
Andy


PostPosted: Fri Oct 19, 2007 8:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just to show what kind of image quality can be obtained with a 6x6 pinhole camera, good film (Fuji Neopan 100 Acros) and some post-processing, I increased the image size of my old Tallinn pinhole photos at http://galactinus.net/vilva/pinhole/tallinn_ph.html from 730 pixel wide to 960 pixel wide. The negatives were scanned at 2400 dpi with an Epson 4990 to yield about 28 Mpixel originals, which I down-sampled and sharpened. I also prepared 1200 pixel wide versions of three photos to show the potential even more clearly:

http://galactinus.net/vilva/pinhole/tallinn_ph_files/tallinn04_1200.jpg
http://galactinus.net/vilva/pinhole/tallinn_ph_files/tallinn07_1200.jpg
http://galactinus.net/vilva/pinhole/tallinn_ph_files/tallinn09_1200.jpg

These are rather wide angle shots, the nominal "focal length" is 25 mm, the real one is probably nearer to 28mm, i.e. about half of the frame width and height (56 mm x 56 mm). The FOV corresponds roughly to a photo taken with a 11-12mm lens on a full-frame 35 mm body and cropped to a square. The perspective is correct if the photos are viewed from a distance of half the image width.

Veijo


PostPosted: Fri Oct 19, 2007 11:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

vilva wrote:
Just to show what kind of image quality can be obtained with a 6x6 pinhole camera, good film (Fuji Neopan 100 Acros) and some post-processing,


Veijo, these are simply AMAZING. I don't think I ever saw better pinhole photos anywhere.


PostPosted: Sat Oct 20, 2007 7:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Orio wrote:
vilva wrote:
Just to show what kind of image quality can be obtained with a 6x6 pinhole camera, good film (Fuji Neopan 100 Acros) and some post-processing,


Veijo, these are simply AMAZING. I don't think I ever saw better pinhole photos anywhere.


Thanks Smile

Of course, some purist might not like the post-processing I've done, but I'm not a purist and I also want to show that pinhole photos can have a lot of photographic potential - just like the old lenses do have. If I'd show these pinhole photos at a "normal" web resolution, say 480 pixels wide, most people wouldn't even suspect that they are pinhole photos and would probably accept them as rather high quality ultra wide angle lens shots - this is the danger of the small demo photos on the web.

Just to drive home the message, here are two of the 1200 pixel wide images down-sampled to 480 pixels:





There is nothing tell-tale about these photos as the vignetting and the geometric distortion are unavoidable and would be there with any lens having the same FOV - a lens would probably have even more vignetting, much more. The shiny surfaces in the church photo are very deceiving as they create a false impression of sharpness - subconsciously you don't even expect to find very much detail in them, which gives them an aura of fidelity. This is a very useful trick of the trade Smile

Veijo


PostPosted: Sat Oct 20, 2007 10:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Both these shots are exceptional, but the second one goes directly into my absolute favorite photos that I ever saw. Total depth of field and zero architectural distortion. My dream "lens".

Did you use your "native" pinhole camera for these photos, or did you adapt a normal camera with a pinhole aperture?


PostPosted: Sat Oct 20, 2007 7:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Orio wrote:
Both these shots are exceptional, but the second one goes directly into my absolute favorite photos that I ever saw. Total depth of field and zero architectural distortion. My dream "lens".


Yes, a dream lens - the only problem is that for maximum image quality the FOV must be as wide as possible, which means that you ought to look at the photos from rather near in order to have a somewhat natural perspective.

Quote:
Did you use your "native" pinhole camera for these photos, or did you adapt a normal camera with a pinhole aperture?


These photos I took with the Zero 2000. The IQ of the modified Zeiss Ikon Nettar is much lower due to the longer "focal" length which requires a larger pinhole and thus lowers the obtainable resolution. Otherwise the camera has very little effect on the IQ as long as the pinhole is properly dimensioned, clean and punched into a thin enough plate not to cause undue vignetting.

Veijo


PostPosted: Sun Oct 21, 2007 10:50 am    Post subject: Interesting pinhole film camera Reply with quote

This one has been setup from an old Agfa Clack:

http://kosara.net/photo/lochlomo.html

I thought it could be of interest... At least the article is.

Best regards,
Jes.


PostPosted: Fri Dec 07, 2007 10:16 pm    Post subject: Got my own pinhole! Reply with quote

My daugther has brought me one from the US. It's a nice cardboard camera that I've to build up by myself from precut cardboard pieces.
The pinhole is punched in a tiny metal disc.




Best regards,
Jes.


PostPosted: Thu May 15, 2008 3:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pinholery is fun, and I'm always impressed by the zero camera's results. They use a very short 'focal' length, and a smaller than usual pinhole to get the sharp images, I've read.

Lenox Laser sells pinholes - I've bought a SLR body cap from them, and then a pinhole for my Certo Super Sport Dolly conversion. I find Lenox's calculator and recommendation gives a slightly too large pinhole size, I wish I'd ordered a smaller one for the Certo.

Here's an image of the Brooklyn Bridge with the pinhole behind the shutter - thus the vignetting. On my second roll I put the pinhole up front, which eliminated the vignette. I think with a smaller hole there would be more detail available.


And here's the camera itself:


PostPosted: Sun Nov 09, 2008 11:46 am    Post subject: Matchbox pinhole camera Reply with quote

For the pinhole newcomers, there is an extremely simple pinhole camera that one can build in a couple of hours with a mathcbox and a couple of extra elements...
Extremely funny!!

http://www.matchboxpinhole.com/

Jes.


PostPosted: Wed May 06, 2009 5:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

My pinhole camera...

A pinhole turret mounted on a Linhof 2x3 lens board. The turret is equipped with shutter and accommodates 6 pinholes.

I have installed 0.01, 0.014, 0.02 inch pinholes, as well as two zone plates and 1 curved slit on the turret. 0.01, 0.014, and 0.02 inch pinholes are optimal for 50mm, 100mm and 200mm focal length respectively.



Photos taken with zone plate with Linhof Master Technica 2x3 and Hasselblad CFV digital back.



PostPosted: Thu May 06, 2010 12:44 am    Post subject: Reply with quote



35mm BW400CN, pinhole on a Pentax Program Plus. Dug this out of the hard drive...


PostPosted: Fri Jul 08, 2011 6:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Anybody here use paper negatives (instead of film) in their pinhole cameras?