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Pin Hole Camera

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Discovering Pinhole Cameras and Photography

Pinhole cameras are a lot of fun. They let you take pictures with an extreme depth of field (essentially everything is in focus) and the pictures they produce have a dreamy old time look to them. Pinhole cameras are also the cheapest and simplest cameras you can get - so simple that you can easily design and build one yourself. If you don't want to build your own from scratch, you can find many pinhole designs on the web you can build, you can get a pinhole kit, and you can even buy a ready to use pinhole camera. If you have an old 35mm SLR laying around you can easily convert it into a pinhole. Whichever way you decide to go, pinhole photography is easy to get into and fun, so give it a try...

(Photo Credit: Clemson via Flickr under the Creative Commons license)

Pinhole Camera Pictures

Examples of pinhole photos...

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Getting Started with Pinhole Photography

First you'll need a pinhole camera...

Finding (or making) your own pinhole camera is easy. In order of difficulty, you can buy a ready to use pinhole camera, convert an existing camera to use a pin hole aperture, build a simple pinhole camera that uses photographic paper instead of film, build a 35mm pinhole camera from plans or a kit, or design your own pinhole camera. Whichever way you decide to go, pinhole photography is a lot of fun so lets get started...

Photo Credit: cibomahto via Flickr under the Creative Commons license)

Ready to Use Pinhole Cameras

Cheap, easy, and fun...

The easiest way to get started in pinhole photography is with a ready to use camera like the Holga 135 pinhole. It's cheap, easy to use (don't forget to wind the film between shots), and takes 35mm film. If 35mm isn't your thing, the Holga 120PC takes 120 film. Besides these "standard" pinhole cameras, Holga also offers a couple other interesting pinholes (both take 120 film): the Holga 120 Wide Pinhole Camera takes panoramic shots and the 120Pc-3D Stereo Pinhole Camera takes stereo 3D slides (you'll need a 3D Slide Viewer to view them). If you do get one of the Holga pinhole cameras, don't forget to get the Holga Shutter Release Kit - it will make it much easier to take pictures without photographer induced blur...

Holga Pinhole Cameras and Accessories

Great prices from Amazon...

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Holga Pinhole Camera Pictures

Some photos taken with a Holga pinhole...

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Convert an Existing Camera

Convert a 35mm SLR into a pinhole camera...

If buying a ready to use pinhole camera sounds too boring but you don't quite feel up to the task of building one yourself, converting a 35mm SLR film camera is an easy way to go. You can find them all day long on eBay for $50 or so, and besides the camera all you need is an extension tube that fits whatever camera you have. The camera has to have manual shutter control (sorry, an OM-10 won't work), so if you're buying one for this project make sure it does. The best part about this conversion is you can still use the camera as a "regular" 35mm camera when you're not using it as a pinhole...

35mm SLR Film Cameras For Sale

It's easy to convert these into pin hole cameras...

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Build Your Own Pinhole Camera

Building a pin hole camera from scratch...

Pin hole cameras are easy to build from scratch because they're so simple. The easiest ones to build use photographic paper instead of film. Since paper is loaded 1 sheet at a time, you don't need to worry about advancing the film between shots. Paper is also much less sensitive to light than film, so black and white paper can be loaded into your camera under a safe light while cut film sheets require complete darkness.

Paper or Plastic?

Film or Paper for your Pin Hole Camera?

If you're making your own pin hole camera, you can choose a design that uses film or you can choose a design that uses photographic paper. Film pinhole cameras are more convenient because you can shoot a whole role of pictures before reloading the camera, and you can get the film developed just about anywhere. On the other hand, you may need to load and/or unload in complete darkness depending on the design of the camera. Pinhole cameras that use photographic paper must be loaded for each shot (under a safe light is OK for black and white), but they allow you to do your own developing which can help save money. Paper pinhole cameras can also be used for interesting special effects like solargraphy.

Photographic Paper or Film?

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Give Me Paper

Give Me Plastic

patrickward21 says:

Film, not sure though, paper seems more labour intensive but accesible

 

Pinhole Camera Designs on the Web

Lots of designs from simple to complex...

The Populist Camera
A full featured 35mm film pinhole camera you can build yourself.

Pinhole Camera Kit

This kit gets greeat reviews and really IS easy to build...

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Please Sign My Guestbook

Ask questions or share your pinhole tips...

  • flicker Feb 18, 2012 @ 9:02 pm | delete
    Building a pinhole camera sounds like a fun project! A photographer friend of mine showed me some photos she took with hers and they are very unusual and interesting.
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glockr

Pinhole cameras are a lot of fun. You buy a ready to use pinhole or make a homemade pinhole camera by converting a 35mm film camera, getting a pinhole... more »

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