The opposite of lens lust? D200 Pinhole camera

[Lurker]

What is the "focal length" of a pinhole camera anyway? Since everything is in focus ???
So maybe a better question to ask: what is the corresponding focal length for the angle of view that a (more specific: this one) pinhole camera gives?

 

[AlJohnston]

IIRC, focal length is defined as the distance from the 'lens' centre that parallel rays are brought to focus, so in this case, the distance between the hole and the sensor - in the region of 43mm for a D200...

 

[CharlesVincentPhotography]

Thats very interesting! Im supposed to be making a pinhole camera in my photo class in school this year, but i might just have to try it now :tongue:

 

[Lurker]

The downside is that the bigger the hole, the more light and the faster your exposure. But the downside of that is of course that a bigger hole produces fuzzier images.

It seems that placing a curved piece of glass inside the hole mitigates that problem and apparently this guy Dennis Taylor has been experimenting with three pieces of glass (two convex curved with a concave one in the middle) with pretty good results. Anyone got experience with that?


All goofiness aside, the hard part is to get a small hole centered, and the trick is to have the material that contains the hole to be as thin as possible. From what I understand best results are made with tinfoil or even goldleaf, and laser-punctured holes are best since they don't bend the material at the edge like punching with a needle would (which is why drilling like the OP did is not a bad idea either).

At that point having a tripod doesn't hurt either, I s'pose.

 

[cwilt]

Black cine foil works ok and doesn't create as much flare in the mirror box as normal aluminum foil would.

 

[exitnine]

nice try, really fun idea, like back to the old film day..

 

[wgilles]

What magazine (and month/year issue) was this in?

 

[TommyO]

show us the macro shots from it! I used to use a pinhole for shots of my model trains.

 

[Hovmod]

What magazine (and month/year issue) was this in?

Black+White Photography August 2009...

 

[Hovmod]

show us the macro shots from it! I used to use a pinhole for shots of my model trains.

I think I have to make a new one. I bumped it.

 

[twinturboteddy]

D is so tiny, f almost approaches infinity. Hence no need to focus. Which is lucky, since there is no way to focus. :biggrin:

Well you COULD rotate the cover futher out or in on the barrel thread. :biggrin: