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Pinhole Photography Experiments – The Equipment

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Pinhole Photography on A bite Of

Here, on this page, I will write about the equipment I am using to make pinhole photos. Some of it is optional and some are ideas of things I’d like to use in the future or just might come in handy.

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Pinhole camera

I am using the one from the kit I got, you can easily build one yourself. The advantage of the kit is that you can use normal 35mm film, and it contains sort of a film transport system.

Also the image proportions should be correct.

There are loads of resources on-line that explain how to build your own pinhole camera. Here’s an example from Kodak: http://www.kodak.com/ek/US/en/Pinhole_Camera.htm More about that later too. Last year (2011), I managed to build one out of Lego.

Light Meter

I have an old light meter that I got from my father. People on the street look worried, as the light-meter looks like a start-trek phaser.

Log-Book

It is important to write down what you do. Especially at the start of using a new camera. I am writing down the following details of each exposure:

No. Object Weather/Lighting conditions Light meter Value Exposure time Remarks
1. Tree Sunny 1/500 1.5s.

Stuff to setup the camera

This sounds a bit weird, but due to long exposure times, you don’t want the camera to move. I use a small handful of Lego blocks to make sure I can put the camera somewhere more or less horizontal, and stable. To Do: Need to attach a tripod mount

Exposure Time

The time you need for an exposure is not exact science. You have to measure to elements of your camera(using the same measure):

The size of the pin hole – In my case: 0.7mm

The distance from the hole to the film – In my case: 55 mm

These numbers allow you to calculate your f-stop. The formula is:

Distance / hole diameter – 55/0.7 = 78

imageNow with this number, the f Stop, you can calculate exposure times. I suggest you either use the calculator tool on http://www.mrpinhole.com, print out a chart/wheel like this one: Dr.-Ing A. Irmer’s Exposure Value Extension disc or if you have a conventional light meter, use this conversion chart. For the first shoot I copied the table I made with the calculator of Mr. Pinhole. This week I’ll print out a Disc chart, to see if that works a bit easier.

There are some handy Apps you can get for your smartphone (if your smartphone has the capability of measuring light). I’ll write about that in a bit more detail later.