# digital pinhole... move if needed



## cameramike (Nov 29, 2007)

Not sure if this is the right place since it is digital but it is a pinhole. My first attempt, i've been interested in pinhole photography for a lil while now but have never done anything with film other than just use a 35mm cameras and i cant develop film so i was thinking why not make a digital one  (ya i know, nothing that hasnt been done.)

here are two shots.


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## cameramike (Nov 29, 2007)

I'm a bit scared a buncha people have viewed this but no comments... i have a feeling no ones impressed or has much to say?


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## sothoth (Nov 29, 2007)

cameramike said:


> I'm a bit scared a buncha people have viewed this but no comments... i have a feeling no ones impressed or has much to say?


 
I'm mostly curious how you made a digital pinhole.  Did you mount a sensor in a box and run the data/power leads outside?  Pretty impressive.

While i'm not sure that this is up to the f/64's standards, they're great pinhole shots for sure.  I like the color one personally, looks like a nice fall day.

Anyway, I 'm curious about pinhole photography (although I'd probably opt for film and not digital) so any info on how you went about this would be cool to see.


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## cameramike (Nov 29, 2007)

i may be wrong about calling it "pinhole" technically it is a pinhole though haha. I took the a body cap from my rebel XTI found the center heated up a needle and poked it through. Put it onto my body set the camera to manual ISO 100 and started playing. I had seen a few other DIY ones (and even caps that you could buy) when i googled digital pinhole photography. 

I actually got a few more body caps off of ebay and am going to play with difference size holes to see if i can get any other results.

Thanks sothoth i really like the color one too, a bunch of my friends think it looks like a painting.


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## Steph (Nov 30, 2007)

cameramike said:


> I actually got a few more body caps off of ebay and am going to play with difference size holes to see if i can get any other results.


 
That is a very good idea. The hole you made is probably too big for optimum image quality. Here you can find a caclulator to find out the optimum hole size for any given focal length (distance from hole to film/sensor). Obviously you won't get a very sharp image but you can get some very decent results with a pinhole camera.


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## BlackDog's (Nov 30, 2007)

Wow and I remember my Oatmeal Carton Pinhole camera with tinfoil.  Never thought of trying this with my digital cap.  This old Oatmeal Pinhole camera gave a rounded effect to pictures which I thought was cool.    

Anyway, I always thought that with a pinhole camera that there should at least be a pinhole of focus (soft focus, not sharp) in the picture produced.  A depth of field that goes on forever. Almost endless.   

Of course I'm a bit old school and maybe the way of pinhole photography has changed but I'm just not seeing that effect that made pinhole photos of old so cool looking to me in your photos.  Sorry.


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## doobs (Nov 30, 2007)

I think these focused are TOO soft. They are not even close to soft focused. I've only used film pinhole cameras, and I have found them soft focused with near endless depth of field, but I think this is too far out of focus.


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## cameramike (Nov 30, 2007)

not to sure how i can get any smaller of a hole. a few DIY ones online showed drilling a bigger hole then using tinfoil with a pin hole in it.. i'll try that because i used a pin to make the hole in the cap.


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## Steph (Nov 30, 2007)

cameramike said:


> not to sure how i can get any smaller of a hole. a few DIY ones online showed drilling a bigger hole then using tinfoil with a pin hole in it.. i'll try that because i used a pin to make the hole in the cap.


 
Here are 2 websites describing how to drill a pinhole in an aluminium can: click or click. Hope that helps.


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## stubbsk (Nov 30, 2007)

I made a digital pinhole a few months ago.











it's kind of poo, I know but it impressed my teachers at the time.

edit: It's really difficult to get a small enough hole, a hole good enough for film is rubbish on digital, I guess it's because of the small size of the sensor compared to a 10x8 sheet of paper. Anyway, the hole I used for this shot is only the tip of the needle I didn't push it all the way through.


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## cameramike (Nov 30, 2007)

stub what was your ISO? looks like if you had lowered the ISO the shot would have came out less grainy.
when i make the second one ill sand it andsee if that helps


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## stubbsk (Nov 30, 2007)

iso would have been 800 I guess. Night time indoor shot, my exposure couldn't be more then 30 seconds because the d50 only has a b function and not a t function so the shot would have blurred too much.


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## cameramike (Dec 1, 2007)

okay that explains the grainyness. I'm wondering if i should not wait for my other caps and just go ahead make a bigger hole in this one and try the aluminum foil... hm. 

Also, i just built a remote for my camera  so i'll try some others with longer exposures .


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## stubbsk (Dec 1, 2007)

bigger hole and foil, you can keep changing he foil then.


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