pin hole camera

[RitterKreuz]

Anyone ever built one of these pinhole cameras?

I made a pinhole camera from scratch in the 6th or 7th grade, the teacher showed us how to do the developing and everything from the start. it was a lot of fun and i was amazed at the quality of the pictures that a cardboard box with a tin foil lens would take!

i only ask because, i recently noticed that now 14 or 15 year old pinhole camera in a display case at my moms house with various other little collectibles she has. the thing is in perfect condition, as if i just finished building it the other day.

I have ordered all the necessary fixer and developer chemicals off the internet and im going to dust that old thing off and snap a few shots with it to see how well it works  :D

hopefully you will see some nice black and white pinhole photos on here in a few days.  8-)

[beaky]

Cool!

For those who don't know why that's cool... pinhole images have a neat dreamlike quality to them. This blog has some good examples:

http://www.nyclondon.com/blog/

[mrjake2002]

Made one not so long ago in photography - great fun!  :)

[Willit Run]

I made one many, many Moons ago!!!

Gee, can we make one thats digital?

[RitterKreuz]

i remember being like 11 or 12 years old (i cant even remember what my age was haha)...

... i was sitting there in art class thinking "How in the hell are these slivers of cardboard and tin foil and elmers glue going to build a camera?!"

i was thinking in the sense that cameras are complex machines with moving parts and this teacher has gone bonkers.

but as we got closer to the end of the project i realized "all you need is the right film, chemicals a dark room and a light source".

it was probably the most fun class room project i have ever had. I got the highest grade in the class for self portrait, and overall image clarity.  :D I hope the old pin hole camera still has what it takes to make good images!

hopefully im taking pics with it by this time wednesday!

[BigTruck]

wow, I had never heard of that before, very cool

[RitterKreuz]

i see a lot of oat meal box cameras... these tend to curve the image on the film though. which i dont really care much for that look.

My camera is not like that, it is made from cardboard coated in black construction paper. the "lens" is tin foil with a needle hole in the center.

the box camera measures 6"x6"x6" with a 2 door opening on the top at the rear of the cube where a single sheet of photograph paper is loaded into a small 1/2 inch slot.

the tin foil lense is covered by a sliding black cardboard "shutter" which the photographer pulls upward to expose the film to the subject. typical exposure in good sunlight takes about 2 or 3 seconds. up to 5 or perhaps 6 seconds on a cloudy dull day. once the appropriate time has elapsed the shutter is pushed back down over the needle hole.

when finished, the camera is taken to the dark room, where the twin doors are opened and the film removed for developing.

the best practice is to sit the camera on a stationary object to take the picture instead of holding it.

the result... if everything is executed properly is a frighteningly clear / eerie "dream like" (as rotty said) black and white image.

It takes time to master the use of a pinhole camera, as exposure times vary with different circumstances. a lot of it can be guess work where the photographer estimates the exposure time and crosses his fingers.

I hope to be able to produce some clear and enjoyable images from around town.

[beaky]

I made one many, many Moons ago!!!

Gee, can we make one thats digital?

I don't see why not... but it kinda defeats the whole "budget" aspect of a pinhole camera...?

[Craig.]

do they come with interchangable telephoto lenses?

[RitterKreuz]

there has been a delay in obtaining the Fixer and developer chemicals.

everything else is ready.

hopefully i will be developing film by the weekend