I have started making double exposures the old school way with a film camera. Load the film, shoot the entire roll, rewind the film to the beginning and shoot the roll again. I really enjoy the element of chance that comes into play. Not every image is a success, but every roll produces a least a couple of gems.
This month is a simple build. I constructed the camera from a metal watch box. Placed the pinhole in the lid and used a simple tape shutter. I folded a 7 inch square of photo paper to fit inside the cube.
I was surprised how the image was captured inside the cube, I was expecting more distortion up the sides. Cutting the paper to fit in the cube was a little time consuming. Overall I was overall happy with the results and this could be an interesting start to a larger project.
Came across this in the Dollar Store and thought it would make an interesting camera. I am going to put a pinhole in each of the sides and a circular core in the center to hold a 3.5 x 6 inch strip of photo paper.
I am glad that I built the 8 sided camera but it is not something I will use regularly. The camera is really fiddly to load and I don’t find the resulting images all that exciting.
I often re-read Erin Renner’s book Pinhole Photography or go through past issues of the Pinhole Journal. I find that this provides inspiration and makes me consider the camera as object. For a project this year, I will build a different pinhole camera each month. I will document the build and show example images from the camera.
Stay tuned.
I was interested in trying the cuprotype process and finally got around to it. I used the information I found on darkroomdoc. I printed a couple of pinhole images that I had shot on Arista lith film. I am quite pleased with the results and will be working with this process more.
I had been looking for a wider option than my Zero Image 2000 camera, and looked at a couple of commercial options, but in the end, decided to make my own. I had a Nettar body that I had used for another project so I converted it to a 18mm pinhole camera. I initially had quite a few problems with light leaks so I used a lot of black caulking in the interior – not pretty, but effective. I am very pleased with the results from the first roll.
The Kodak Tourist is a folding 6×9 camera that takes 620 film. This example is an original Tourist that was made between 1948 and 1951 and was replaced by the Tourist II which was produced until 1958.
I bought this back in 2005 but for some reason, never got around to using it. I respooled some llford FP4 120 onto a 620 reel using these instructions.
It has an Anaston F4.5 150mm lens with zone focusing.
I was very happy with the results.
I was interested in exploring the world by sending pinhole cameras through the mail, and having them record their small journeys.
I built pinhole cameras and loaded them with photo paper. I took them to various post offices in the area, opened the shutter and then mailed them to myself. They would generally arrive back within 2 to 10 days.
After the camera returned home, I developed the photo paper to reveal a record of the camera’s journey. I then rewrapped the camera with brown paper, and then sent it out on another journey. The camera pictured below, was reused 9 times.
I conceived of this project before the pandemic, but as things progressed, the idea of sending something out to explore the world, became more relevant.
Over the years I have made or purchased countless pinhole cameras. What they all have in common is that they recorded the image either onto film or photographic paper. I had always hoped that a pinhole lens on a digital camera would be a viable option, but unfortunately, I have never been satisfied with the results. Here are four different options that I have tried for my Olympus Micro 4/3 camera.
All of the photographs were taken under the same conditions with only the levels adjusted in Photoshop.
Pinhole Body Cap
Quite simple. A body cap with a hole drilled in it and a pinhole put in place.
Pinhole Rising
I bought this commercially made pinhole body cap from a local camera store. It is a body cap with a metal insert that has the pinhole drilled in it.
Wanderlust Pinwide.
I got this one by supporting the original Kickstarter campaign. Made of plastic. It extends well into the camera body and is very close to the sensor.
Thingyfy Pinhole Pro S
Well made of metal and like the Pinwide, extends well into the camera body.
Final Thoughts
The Pinhole body cap produced images that are sharper than the Rising Pinhole.
The Wanderlust Pinwide has the widest field of view with some vignetting at the corners. In my opinion it is the sharpest of all 4 lenses.
Both the Pinwide and the Thingyfy show the yellow “blotch” in the upper right side of the image. The Pinwide exhibits this more than the Thingyfy. This “blotch” is caused by the angle at which the light hits the sensor. If the image is converted to black and white it is a non-issue.
All 4 of the lenses produce reasonable results in the Micro 4/3 format, but don’t produce the same image quality that can be had shooting film.