build a digital pin-hole camera

Step 5 Take some photographs!

The pinhole doesnt let in enough light for the viewfinder to work so you need to point the camera in the right direction and hope for the best. Because of the long exposures you should use a tripod.

For my set up, bright sunlit images usually required about a 12 second exposure, but you'll have to run some tests to see what's right for your pinhole and your camera. Thanks to brightest_cyan for reminding me that you should cover the eyepiece on your camera, because light can leak in during long exposures and degrade the image.

I had my camera set for manual operation so I could adjust the shutter speed rather than having the light meter trying to guess.

The first illustration is indoors, with lots of light, and a 90 second exposure. The rest are outdoors in the last moments of bright sun before the rains came. The first two outdoors shots did not have the eyepiece covered, while the last two images did have the eyepiece covered - notice the difference.

Comments

[drejansen]

sorry, I do not understand the reason of pinhole photography.

[92033]

Do a Search on "Pinhole Photography" / Pinhole Cameras" for research on its history. Way back when...before Glass Lenses were invented, 'Pinhole' cameras was the void. It creates soft focus photos with unbelievable depth of field (sharpness from closest to furthest object from the 'lens'. Back in the early '50's I converted my 4x5 Speed Graphic Press Camera to Pinhole use for experimenting. With the focusing bellows and ground glass back you can set-up your image...slip the 'pinhole' over the wide open lens and get fabulous photos. They could be exposed on 4x5 sheet film or 4x5 sheet printing paper...developed and have photos regular cameras can't take.

[shoehornteeth]

Theoretically, infinite depth of field. Or "it looks cool."

[haunted_lady]

 This picture looks like it was taken with a toy camera like a Holga or a Diana.

[richard2nd]

 Or is it that no lens at all is just as good as their lenses?

[haunted_lady]

 Ummm their "lens" is a piece of plastic..hahahaha

[richard2nd]

Thanks Igcalex - Now that I know it all works, I can start paying more attention to the details like image format. I've now mounted the pinhole onto a drilled out body cap which creates a shorter focal length than the bellows, wider field of view and shorter exposure times. I also want to pick up on a previous comment by uguy and try making the pinhole in a piece of foil instead of card stock to see if that will sharpen the image a bit.

[lgcalex]

why do you feel that it is necessary for the bellows? Also try shooting these again in raw

[hammer9876]

Woo hoo! PT Cruiser!