Re: Viewfinder for Pinhole Camera

Brian's first suggestion is what I do. By simply making marks on the box you can determine where your edges will be. It is simple, quick, and accurate.

Cheers-

george

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 --- On Wed 06/09, Brian Reynolds < reynolds@panix.com > wrote:
From: Brian Reynolds [mailto: reynolds@panix.com]
To: pinhole-discussion@spitbite.org
Date: Wed, 9 Jun 2004 14:18:23 -0400
Subject: Re: [pinhole-discussion] Viewfinder for Pinhole Camera

Rita wrote:<br>> Does anyone know of a source that makes viewfinders for commercial<br>> sale, or can anyone give me very simple (but detailed) instructions?<br><br>New commercial viewfinders tend to be pretty expensive. You could<br>look for a used viewfinder from an old press camera like a Graflex<br>Speed Graphic. These came with masks so that you could match the film<br>format and lens focal length to the viewfinder.<br><br>Here are a few ways to make viewing devices.<br><br>Assuming your camera is basically just a box, with a T-square put<br>marks on the top front and left front edge of the camera that are<br>lined up with the location of the pinhole. Now on the side put marks<br>on the back left edge that are lined up with the top and bottom of the<br>film gate, and on the top put marks that line up with the left and<br>right edges of the film gate. Draw lines connecting the marks at the<br>back with the marks at the front. You'll wind up with Vs on the top<br>and side of the camera. By sighting
along the lines you can get an<br>idea of what will be in the picture.<br><br>Go to a hardware store and buy a peephole for an entrance door. Mount<br>this on the top of the camera. Set the camera up on a tripod and take<br>a picture. This works best if your camera can use Polaroid film, or<br>has a ground glass back. Look through the peephole and using<br>electrical tape mask off the front lens so that what you see through<br>the peephole matches the picture (or groundglass). This is similar to<br>the viewfinder on the press cameras.<br><br>You can make a wire viewfinder like the sports finders on old press<br>cameras. At the front of the camera you want a wire rectangle (or<br>square if you shoot 6x6) the same size as the film frame. At the back<br>of the camera you want a vertical wire with a loop (I'd guess 7-10mm<br>in diameter) placed so that it is behind the front frame by the same<br>distance as the lens (or pinhole) focal length. The loop should be<br>lined up with the center of the front fr
ame. You need to put your eye<br>right up to the loop, so if you wear glasses you might want to<br>position the loop a bit closer to the front frame to make up the<br>distance from your glasses to your eye.<br><br>-- <br>Brian Reynolds | "But in the new approach, as you know,<br>reynolds_at_panix.com | the important thing is to understand <br>http://www.panix.com/~reynolds/ | what you're doing rather than to get<br>NAR# 54438 | the right answer." -- Tom Lehrer<br>_______________________________________________<br>Post to the list as PLAIN TEXT only - no HTML<br>pinhole-discussion mailing list<br>pinhole-discussion_at_spitbite.org<br>FAQ at http://spitbite.org/pinhole-discussion/list.html<br>

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Received on Wed Jun 9 14:30:52 2004