another DIY pinhole


Love the viewfinder!


I built a pinhole camera with a Horseman 6X7 roll film back I bought on eBay. I also bought a very nice shutter with a socket for a cable release from PinholeBilly on eBay. The camera is 48mm focal length, pinhole is .259. I somehow convinced my dog to stay mostly still for a whole minute:



On the next shot, she moved halfway through, which ended up making a much more interesting photo:

 
At least here in the US, a good alternative to brass shim stock--which can sometimes be hard to find locally--or soda/beer cans--which are very hard and tough on your drills/needles--is the "disposable" pie pans or trays that muffins sometimes come in. These are just about the same thickness as the brass and are not nearly as hard as the soda cans. And almost zero cost. And fairly large so you can get quite a few pinholes from each.
Nice images, all!
Lorenzo, you may find that while the negs seem too contrasty, if you are making contact prints from them instead of scanning, that "extra" contrast will make an OK print.
Rob
 
Thanks folks...
My pinhole looks working fine (I see many details in the negatives) and it's made with the usual soda can/needle... but I get way too long exposures: 7 to 8 min. in shade (open air)
I've tried shorter exposures but the negatives looks badly underexposed...

That advice how to pre-flash the paper is still welcomed...(...bulb? Power? How long? ...Enlarger? Distance? f/stop?...)
 
@ tokengirl:
Many thanks,that viewfinder comes from a dismantled Agfa ...
Jasmine is lovely and you get a beautiful B&W with a really good greyscale...I think using film instead of paper can give better images...
 
Lorenzo,

I use film for my pinhole photography, so I can't answer your question about pre-flashing directly. But, I know there are many threads with advice on that topic in the forums on f295.org, which is dedicated almost exclusively to pinhole/zone plate. Lots of pinhole experts there: http://www.f295.org/Pinholeforum/forum/Blah.pl

Thanks folks...
My pinhole looks working fine (I see many details in the negatives) and it's made with the usual soda can/needle... but I get way too long exposures: 7 to 8 min. in shade (open air)
I've tried shorter exposures but the negatives looks badly underexposed...

That advice how to pre-flash the paper is still welcomed...(...bulb? Power? How long? ...Enlarger? Distance? f/stop?...)
 
Many thanks Kevin!
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BTW here are three scans of the paper negative and positive of a picture taken with my Pinhole Camera

Shade,7 minutes exposure:


Negative



Positive



Positive Level Adj.


Sharpness will be better since I've just realized that the hole is a little more than 0.5 mm and I've managed to built a smaller one (0.35 that would work fine with the box focal lenght)
More update,if you care... :eek:
 
Lorenzo,

Looking good already, though I agree that it's a bit high contrast (lacks some shadow detail) -- a bit of pre-flash will help lighten up the shadows and reduce contrast. Once you get that dialed in, you'll be set to go. IIRC, JoeV on f295.org does a lot of pre-flashing paper and he gets beautiful tonality -- as do others (just can't remember names as I haven't been there, or shot pinhole, for quite some months now).
 
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