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Pinhole Photography
way into nuclear physics. It was discovered that pinhole cameras could be
used to photograph high-energy X-rays and gamma rays. Pinhole cameras
were deployed in space craft by the end of the 1950s and beginning of the
60s to photograph X-rays and gamma rays from the sun. The first soft X-ray
pinhole of the sun was made on 19 April 1960. The photograph is
reproduced in Renner (1995:18). In the 1970s scatter-hole X-ray pinhole
cameras were made. Today's pinhole cameras on space vehicles use multiple
pinhole optics. The last 20 years the pinhole has also been used widely by
nuclear physicists to photograph high energy in laser plasma (Renner
1995:21).
A few links to the use of pinhole cameras in science:
❍ Ariel V: October 1974 – March 1980
❍ The MOnitoring X-ray Experiment (MOXE)
❍ The Polar Ionospheric X-ray Imaging Experiment (PIXIE)
❍ Indiana University Astronomy Department: Solar eclipse 10 June
1994
❍ Astrophotography with a Pinhole
Other Uses of the Pinhole
Pinholes are also used in surveillance and spy cameras and are used in
combination with a lens for photographing miniature models, e.g. model
trains or architectural models. The pinhole increases the depth of field
radically. Some photographers experiment with pinhole enlargers with one
pinhole or multiple pinholes. And there are pinhole magnifiers and pinhole
glasses.
Cameras
Basically a pinhole camera is a light-tight box with a tiny hole in one end
and film or photographic paper in the other.
A few commercial cameras are available – e.g. the 4 x 5 Rigby camera, the
4 x 5 and 8 x 10 Leonardo Cameras, and the Zero2000 pinhole cameras
(various formats). There are at least two cardboard kits on the market – The
John Adams Pinhole kit in the UK and the kit made by Richard Merz and
Dieter Findeisen in Germany. Most pinhole photographers, however, make
their cameras themselves. The construction is simple. Commercial cameras
in hardwood or metal tend to be expensive – some are very expensive – and
they do not produce better images than a homebrew camera.
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