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Thread: Pinhole Cameras

  1. #1
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    Pinhole Cameras

    Has anyone here experimented with making and shooting with a pinhole camera? Seems like it would be a lot of fun! If you have let's see your camera designs and sample images.

  2. #2
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    A college bud and I made a pinhole camera back in the late 1970s. It worked. No design or images to share cuz that was long ago.

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  4. #4
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    Are you talking camera obscura style or Erin Andrews porn style pinholes?

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by mcski View Post
    Are you talking camera obscura style or Erin Andrews porn style pinholes?
    The former, but if you want to discuss the latter it's your choice.

  6. #6
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    Back in the day it was done with photo paper in an oatmeal container (a large cylinder) and it worked. A better version is a medium format camera made of wood with a brass plate with a pinhole in it. Cool looking camera that makes a nice image. Due to the crazy tiny aperture you will need a long exposure time. I do not recall the name of the camera but IIRC it was reasonably priced. One could probably put a pinhole in a bodycap too.

  7. #7
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    You can make a pinhole body cap and put it on a DSLR. I never tried it.

    I did the photo paper in an oatmeal container thing back when I had a dark room. I remember using really thin fiber based paper and trying to make contact prints from it.

  8. #8
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    there are some pretty cheap ($10) pinhole caps on eBay these days. Depending on the pinhole diameter and the flange focal distance of your camera you may want to add a macro extension tube. Those are cheap on eBay now too.

  9. #9
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    Friend did a pinhole camera panorama of the night sky in Winthrop. He set it up on a stump in our field, and then moved it every 5? minutes to track the stars. Came out pretty cool. I'll get a pic when I'm there soon.
    Well maybe I'm the faggot America
    I'm not a part of a redneck agenda

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by dunfree View Post
    there are some pretty cheap ($10) pinhole caps on eBay these days.
    Well that seems super lame. It seems like the whole appeal of a pinhole camera is it's a camera you make yourself.

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by Big Steve View Post
    A college bud and I made a pinhole camera back in the late 1970s. It worked. No design or images to share cuz that was long ago.
    We made them in high school during photography option of art class one year.

    Pretty cool.

    Remember seeing a TV documentary a long time ago where a selection of world's great photographers from variety of fields were sent to capture just one pin hole camera image of a subject that wasn't their specialty... amazing results, fascinating.
    Quote Originally Posted by Downbound Train View Post
    And there will come a day when our ancestors look back...........

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by The AD View Post
    Well that seems super lame. It seems like the whole appeal of a pinhole camera is it's a camera you make yourself.
    A good quality pinhole aperture maters and is hard to make by yourself. I've made them from scratch too - plywood box that'll fit a 4x5 back is pretty easy. But it's expensive to develop compared to digital.

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