Friday, November 14, 2008

Homemade Pinhole

Pinhole photography has always fascinated me. It's just such a simple process, but it's also a bit complex. For years I've wanted to jump into this whole pinhole thing but just never knew exactly how. Then the Diana+ came out with the pinhole option and boom, I was in the game. Teaching myself through trial and error, with a bit of help from bits I've read at various places on the interweb. Success came slowly, and while I've been pleased with some of the pinhole shots I've been making with my Diana+, there just seems to be something lacking. I lack the funds to buy a nice Zero Image pinhole camera, so I thought, what the hell, I'll make my own. And that's what I did. My initial research into this project was a bit intimidating. Reading about measuring focal length and this info and that info. It was all a bit too technical for the limited knowledge that I've gathered. So I just went and started building a little box with a pinhole. I took a small length of hardened cardboard. Cut two four inch long sections. And with a marker, blacked out the inside. I then drilled holes on the top, cut an old pen in two, notched one end of the pen bits, and stuffed them through the holes. These will hold the film in place and advance the film. I followed that with a hole in the front. I took two pieces of gaffer tape and cover the hole from the inside. I then pushed a pin through the tape, thus making my pinhole. I cut some cardboard from an old box flap for the sides. And at this point, I was going to have the top/front section flip open. But after a bit of thought, this didn't make much sense. So, I cut the back piece and made a flap door so that I can load and unload the film. I put some foam in on the sides to help the film canisters stay in place. Using and old film canister as the take up spool, I stuffed in a roll of film, taped up the little box, and it's ready to roll. Now, since I didn't do any measurements, I'm not sure how my little box pinhole will work or what the results will be. No matter what though, I look forward to it. Even if they don't come out, it will at least be a learning a experience. And a fun one at that. I'll post the results when I develop the roll.

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