Re: Building my first serious pinhole

Diana,
The reason I limit the amount of vignetting I get is that I don't care for
it. I have made two pinhole cameras (one was a Pintoid, the other from a tin
cookie container) that vignette heavily. For me, the vignetting that surrounded
the image detracted from the image itself. As a result make my 4x5 pinhole
cameras with at least a 100 mm focal distance and my 5x7 camera with 120 mm or
more.

My preference is for making contact prints from the 5x7 rather than enlarging
the 4x5s. If I want a normal rather than a wide angle perspective, I will use
a pinhole Polaroid. This has the added advantage that by using 3000 speed
film I can hand hold the camera.

Jim

dhbloomfield@bellsouth.net writes:

> Hi Jim,
>
> That sounds like a really nice camera. I'm curious, though, why you're
> so intent on avoiding vignetting. I guess it's just an aesthetic
> choice, but vignetting (to my mind) is one of the big advantages of
> pinhole images. In fact, I hate it when I don't get that... Just my
> 2 cents!
>
> Diana
> On Dec 1, 2004, at 9:40 AM, JS2RT@aol.com wrote:
>
> > I have been using my homemade 5x7 pinhole camera for over a year now
> > with both film and paper negatives. I have a focal distance of 120 mm
> > with a pinhole diameter of .016 inches (.406 mm) for an aperture of
> > f/295. I am starting to see falloff at the corners, however it is not
> > objectionable and many do not notice it at all. The 35mm equivalent to
> > the 120 mm I have is 24mm based on the height of the negative.
> >
> > I used 1/2 inch (12mm) plywood from a model shop for the body because
> > this plywood has 7 layers of wood. The lensboard is 1/4 inch (6mm)
> > plywood. The pinhole was made from a soft drink can and was taped to a
> > 25mm square piece of matboard. Because of the wide angle view of this
> > camera, I had to make the opening in the lens board 25mm in diameter
> > to avoid vignetting. All of the joints for the top, bottom, sides, and
> > lensboard are rabbeted joints in order to create light traps. The rear
> > portion of the top, bottom and left panel are also rabbeted for about
> > 38mm to form a ledge for the film holder to rest against. The shutter
> > is a sample of countertop material cut to an appropriate shape which
> > pivots to cover and uncover the pinhole. The right side panel is
> > shorter to create the 30mm opening for the film holder. The back fits
> > within the top, bottom and left panels and is held in place with
> > screws from the top and bottom. The back has two springs from metal
> > picture frames to hold the filmholder up against the ledge. The tripod
> > socked in the bottom is a 1/4x20 T-nut which is covered on the inside
> > with a scrap of plywood. The interior is painted flat black and the
> > exterior is varnished. I drew sighting lines on the top and both
> > sides.
> >
> > Good luck with your camera and I hope you enjoy it as much as I have
> > enjoyed this one.
> >
> > Jim Stewart
>

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Received on Wed Dec 1 11:25:05 2004