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Pinhole Photography
own pinhole photography I never use viewing frames. I tend to work for
longer periods with the same camera and find I get a pretty good feeling of
the image field.
Some pinhole cameras are beautiful objects in themselves. The Swiss
pinhole photographers Peter Olpe has made cameras from cardboard in the
shape if small castles and buildings (Olpe 1992). The cameras are
themselves objects of art and have been exhibited as such.
I suggest the beginner starts by making an "oatmeal box camera" or a
cardboard camera.
Making a Pinhole Camera
The Pinhole
The most important part of a pinhole camera is the pinhole itself. Precision
made pinholes may be bought. You will find a list of sources for pinhole
sheets here. For most purposes, however, there is no reason why you should
not make the pinhole yourself.
The hole is made in a thin piece of metal, brass shim (available in some car
supply stores) or metal from the lid of small box or glass container (bought
at a supermarket ). Some use aluminium foil from a disposable baking pan.
Ordinary aluminium foil is too thin. My own experience is with brass shim
and thin metal from container lids.
If the metal is taken from a container lid, it should be sanded carefully with
ultra-fine emery paper (e.g. # 600) to remove any paint or varnish and to
make it thinner. The hole is made with a needle. The edge of the hole should
be sharp. The optimal diameter depends on the focal length of the camera, i.
e. the distance from the pinhole to the film or photographic paper. Some
formulas and charts are reproduced below. In general: the smaller the hole,
the sharper the image. If the hole is too small, however, the image gets less
sharp because of diffraction effects (light is bent around the edge of the
pinhole).
Place the piece of metal on top of some hard cardboard. Carefully poke a
hole with a needle taking care that the hole is as round as possible. The
needle may be put through a cork to make it easier to handle. Or you may
put masking tape on the head of the needle. Hold the needle steadily in a 90
degree angle to the surface. Turn the piece of metal and sand the back side
carefully with fine-grained emery paper to remove the burr or debris where
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