# Has anyone made a digital pinhole lens?



## dirty1thirdee (Oct 23, 2006)

I'm toying with the idea of drilling a pinhole in the center of my body cap for my D70s. I know it won't be good quality, but I want to try just because I've been doing a lot of pinhole photography with photo paper lately and it would be pretty cool to make a pinhole lens for my DSLR. 

I'm thinking the best build would be to start drilling a hole through and stop before I reach the other side, then poke a tiny hole with a needle. That way it will be the smallest hole possible, just so my images will turn out sharper. I'll probably then tape saran wrap on the outside of the cap just to keep dust off of the sensor. 

Does anyone have any suggestions for this? I'd like to see lenses and/or actual digital pinhole photos.


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## Big Mike (Oct 23, 2006)

I think you can buy something very similar...check E-bay.


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## Digital Matt (Oct 23, 2006)

You can buy premade pinhole body caps.

http://www.calumetphoto.com/item/PY2110.html

They are overpriced, but at least they are precision drilled.  Give it a try your way and see how it works.  The worst case is that you lose a $2 body cap.


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## dirty1thirdee (Oct 23, 2006)

That's cool, but the main reason I'm doing it is to have fun making it and to see results of a lens that I made.  Its sort of the same thing with the pinhole camera I made last week out of an oatmeal box, it takes crystal clear photos which is very satisfying to me.  I would post them but I don't have a scanner. But maybe if I like what I see with results I would drop $30 on one, but i seriously doubt it.

Another way I was thinking of doing it was to cut out a hole in the middle, then take a piece of flat copper and poke a hole through that, then electrical tape it to the back of the body cap.  I might try that after the first idea though, so that way I wouldn't need 2 body caps.


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## mysteryscribe (Oct 23, 2006)

By its nature pinhole is no lens... It is a tiny aperture only... In digital it is usually a pinhole in the body cap that fits the camera.  The holes are usually a little too large from what I have seen so far.  It would probably be better to get an old body cap drill a larger hole, then cover the hole with a bit of foil and a bit of tape then punch it with a needle.  

I would think that would work best...


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## Johno (Oct 23, 2006)

Funny you should mention this, but I actually experimented with this earlier this week. I drilled a 1cm diameter hole in the centre of my dslr's body cap. Covered the hole with aluminum foil. It works great, I had to experiment with the guage of the hole to fine tune the focussing but after a couple of tries it works pretty well. It's a neat little experiment. I've heard of people taping a uv filter over top of the cap to keep dust off the sensor but I haven't had a problem with mine. Hope it helps.


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## dirty1thirdee (Oct 23, 2006)

Well, I just made a pinhole out of a piece of cardboard, electrical tape, and a needle.  I'm very happy with the results, even though they are poor quality.

















As you can see, I just coated a piece of posterboard with electrical tape and punched a tiny hole in the middle.  I then taped it to my camera body.  There wasn't a seal between the mount and the pinhole card, so I had to hold it down every time I took a picture.  The shots were all ranging from 8-30 seconds, and most were at 800 ISO.

Post your results from previous attempts too!  It is cool to do this and actually see results from an aperture that you made.  I'll make the cap and foil one later on, and then post results.


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## cal_gundert05 (Jan 20, 2007)

So, can you make a P&S digital camera into a pinhole camera?  

My camera (Olympus C-3030 Zoom) has full manual mode, so setting the aperture and shutter speed manually is no problem.

I'd love if I could do this...does anyone know if it would work?


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## Alex_B (Jan 20, 2007)

cal_gundert05 said:


> So, can you make a P&S digital camera into a pinhole camera?



only if you break off the glass from its lens i suppose ...


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## Alex_B (Jan 20, 2007)

I thought of building my own pinhole for my SLR or DSLR .... I guess I will go for the needle + metal foil first.

but at work we also have ion beams and similar stuff. i just wonder if i could use any of those to drill better and smaller holes .... hmmmm


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## ksmattfish (Jan 20, 2007)

cal_gundert05 said:


> So, can you make a P&S digital camera into a pinhole camera?



Somewhere out there I wandered across a website that shows how to do it.

The guy built a box out of black foam core, except for one panel, which was white foamcore.  The pinhole is mounted so it projects onto the white panel inside the box.  The point-n-shoot is placed inside the box facing the white panel, and the exposure is made by timer or remote.  

I drilled a 1/2" hole in my DSLR body cap.  Made a pinhole in a piece of aluminum soda can, and taped it into the hole in the body cap.  For me the only problem is that I prefer a wider angle pinhole camera.  With an APS-C DSLR a body cap pinhole is somewhat telephoto.  But I had fun.


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## ksmattfish (Jan 20, 2007)

Alex_B said:


> i just wonder if i could use any of those to drill better and smaller holes .... hmmmm



Smaller isn't always better, although if you can precisely control the size that would be good.  Here is info and lists of pinhole sizes that give the least diffraction for the focal length being used.

http://ca.geocities.com/penate@rogers.com/pinsize.htm

http://www.pinholeday.org/support/faq.php


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## cal_gundert05 (Jan 20, 2007)

ksmattfish said:


> Somewhere out there I wandered across a website that shows how to do it.




Yeah, I found that website, too.  It's a little cumbersome, though.  :er:


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## Alex_B (Jan 21, 2007)

ksmattfish said:


> Smaller isn't always better, although if you can precisely control the size that would be good.  Here is info and lists of pinhole sizes that give the least diffraction for the focal length being used.
> 
> http://ca.geocities.com/penate@rogers.com/pinsize.htm
> 
> http://www.pinholeday.org/support/faq.php



Thanks, those are interesting links 

I knew about the diffraction problem already. I can assure you, that the hole sizes i would need are all smaller that what my shaky hands could do with a needle 

Also prcisely controlling shape is good. I mean that thing is supposed to be round.


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