AW: Pintoids

Hello Jean

Thanks for your reply. I shall contact you off-list for a
"neighbourly" chat. In the meantime I understood that Altoids come in
oblong tin boxes roughly the size of a box of cigarettes (roughly
10x6x3cm). The lid covers one of the flat sides and is hinged to the
box. The same kind of box is used in Switzerland for red-currant
drops. I have successfully used them in the past to make pinhole
cameras. However with b/w paper the pictures turned out terribly
small.

Prompted by the pintoids discussion I started to also use b/w negative
film instead of paper. I must say, I am not really impressed by the
results. Maybe with more practice (aiming, exposure time etc.) and
more effort put in producing prints (filters) and with a changed
mind-set about the expected image I could get more satisfaction.

For those who are interested, I will nevertheless describe some of the
techniques I have used for bilding and loading the cameras and for
processing the exposed pieces of film.

Camera body:
The hole is placed in the center of the bottom pane of the tin. I use
an electrical drill, such as model builders buy them in hobby shops. I
found 0.3 mm drills branded MAXICRAFT (a French supplier). Too prevent
the drill from slipping on the metal suface, I use a small piece of
self adhesive paper tape (painter supplies) stuck to where the hole
should go. After drilling and carefully sanding the hole, I cover the
inside to the hole with adhesive tape before spraying the box unsing a
flat black spray. When the paint is dry, I remove the sticky tape and
paint the blank tin around the hole with a black permanent felt pen.
Finally, I cover the inside of the hinge area with black tape (tesa)
to shut out light. After loading, the lid is sealed all the way round
with more black tape.

Filmholder:
To the inside of the lid of my camera, I place two self adhesive
squares of thick felt (sold in hardware shops, meant to be stuck to
chair legs to make them glide silently) in such a distance that a
slide frame can be lightly pressed into the gap.

Shutter:
I designed a cardboard shutter. Here comes a little graphic of the
layout.
   __________________________
  | 3-fold |
  |__________________________| _______________________________
  | | | | \
  |3| | | |
  |f| _ | | |
  |o| |_| shutter-hole | | shutter |
  |l| | | |
  |d| | | |
  |_|________________________| |_______________________________/
  | 3-fold |
  |__________________________|

  The shutter mask is glued to the bottom of the box, such that
  the pinhole can be seen through the shutter-hole and that the
  shutter can slide between mask an box.

Preparing unexposed film:
(This is going to sound terribly complicated, but with a little
practice it is quite easy.)
I have plenty of old slides that I dont want to keep. The frames have
a black base with a white fiolm cover welded on three sides to the
base. One of the small sides is not welded to the base. There, the old
positive can be removed. To prepare 36 unexposed frames, I place 36
empty frames, a b/w negative film, a light tight container, a tool to
lift the white film cover (I use a Bostitch staple remover), a thin
textile glove for my left hand and a small pair of scissors in a
light-tight textile bag (commercially available in photo shops). With
my arms in the light tight sleeves of the bag, I pull a few inches of
film out of the case and cut off that part which has not the full
width. I then grab one of the empty frames and find the edge which is
open. Using my right hand I lift the white cover by pushing my tool
through and then with my glove-covered left hand I push the film
gently along the flat side of the tool into the slot until it touches
the far edge of the slide window. I make sure that the sensitive side
of the film points to the black side of the frame. (The correct
orientation can be determined by gently feeling aroung the window with
the fingertips.) Holding film and frame in my left hand , I turn turn
the frame 90 degrees in order to be able to cut off the film along the
outer edge of the frame. I then try to push the cut-off piece of film
all the way into the frame. At the far side of the window it can still
go under the white cover. I do not always succeed. In that case, the
picture will not be centered in the piece of film, which is not fatal.
I place the prepared frame in the container and proceed with the next
one. Finally all 36 frames are in the container, which I close before
taking everything out of the bag.

Processing the film:
From a normal straight rack for 50 slides I cut off three segments for
4 slides using a saw. After a little trimming on the corners, I could
fit the three segments into the normal round film developpment box
between the two discs that would hold the film strip. When unloading
my 12 cameras in my textile bag, I place each frame in one of the
slots and close the box. Then develop exactly like I would develop a
normal film. For easier handling when making copies, I use adhesive
tape to from a short strip of 4 pieces of film.

Loading the cameras:
I normally combine unloading with reloading the cameras in my textile
bag. In the bag I have prepared the development box and its lid and my
container of prepared unexposed slides. In a fairly dark room I remove
the black tape from the outside of the camera and hold it gently in my
hand when pushing the arm in the seleeve. Inside the bag I remove the
exposed frame from the camera, place it in the development box, take a
new frame from the container and insert it into the camera, making
sure that the white side faces the lid of the camera. If the film has
been inserted correctly in the frame, the black base of the frame with
the sensistive side of the film will face the pinhole.

There! I would be interested to know more about the techniques used by
other pintoid freaks.

Kind regards
Markus

> -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
> Von: pinhole-discussion-admin@pinhole.com
> [mailto:pinhole-discussion-admin@pinhole.com]Im Auftrag von
> Jean Daubas
> Gesendet: Mittwoch, 3. Oktober 2001 02:28
> An: pinhole-discussion@pinhole.com
> Betreff: Re: [pinhole-discussion] Pintoids
>
>
> Hello Markus !
>
> Sorry to be so late for my reply!
>
> >Being a Swiss, I have not the faintest idea what
> > an Altoid container is.
>
> Never mind for the Altoîds... I do not find them in France.
>
> But when I go climbing in the Swiss Alps, I often buy
> "Ricola" candies which
> are made from Alpine flowers juices and honey. They are
> good and above all,
> I may buy them in small round metal boxes which are very
> efficient to build
> pinhole cameras, with a pretty "clean" Swiss picture of the
> Cervin mountain
> (= the Matterhorn) on the lid.
> I suggest you to try building a pinhole camera with this
> typical Swiss
> product "ricola"
>
> Enjoy the taste of Alpine flowers and the Cervin vision
> through a pinhole
> :-))
>
> we are almost neighbours (I live in the Jura mountains,
> east of France, at
> 120 kms from the Swiss border...)
> Jean
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Markus Birsfelder" <birs@active.ch>
> To: <pinhole-discussion@pinhole.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, September 19, 2001 9:25 AM
> Subject: AW: [pinhole-discussion] Pintoids
>
>
> > Hello Marcy
> > Your pictures are great and I would like to try making some
> > of my own. Being a Swiss, I have not the faintest idea what
> > an Altoid container is. Could you give me a hint.
> > Thanks
> > Markus
> >
>
>
>
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Received on Sun Oct 7 06:59:24 2001