Cameradactyl Pinholio Self-Developing Camera

[@Pixelkip]

This is so cool! I’m fairly new at photography but I want to learn how light effects everything and this seems like a great place to start. Thanks :) !!

[@EFD620G]

Built an Instax 4x5 pinhole camera. The advantage of seeing the shot right away and not having to wait to go home to develop is worth the trouble getting it built. Even works in bright sunlight with 800 speed color film. About 14 sec exposure.

[@LScott97]

That Harman print is very good!👍👍👍

[@aphexteknol]

I thought the direct positive photograph looked great to my eye. You and Ethan are pushing the envelope with these creative projects!

[@Carlos-wk2gd]

Ill keep my eye on it to buy in the future!

[@brineb58]

I love what you did!!! I am more inclined to try one after this!!! What developer and time did you use for the harmon DP?

[@Joe_VanCleave]

We used Dektol, processed about 2 minutes.

[@jcmilleker5449]

Wash well and scrub with a toothbrush. Made a 3D printed tank and spool for some cut film a few years ago and had contamination issues in the inherent ridges of the 3D prints. Before I moved on, had luck printing ABS and vapor smoothing the pieces with acetone.

[@edcastaneda8568]

Hi Joe, Love your videos! Have you thought about switching the pinhole for a small lens and turning the Cameradactyl Pinholio into a Lumen camera?

[@Joe_VanCleave]

That would be a fun idea!

[@kevinengberson5595]

Mr. Van Cleave - next week I am making pinhole cameras with my 8th grade science classes, your videos have been a huge resource in figuring out what I'm doing. Thank you! I am struggling with exposure times with a pinhole camera and Harman Direct Positive Paper. Do you know of any good resources that might help with that specific issue?

[@Joe_VanCleave]

It needs lots of light, especially blue and UV, which is lacking in the winter daylight. I'd rate Harman DPP at somewhere ISO 3 or below. And ensure you're using fresh paper developer, mixed a bit stronger than what you might use for paper negatives. With paper negatives, it's common to use a dilute or semi-exhausted developer, and process until the negative image comes up with enough shadow detail but before the highlights get blown out, in order to control excess contrast. With Harman DPP, you want stronger, fresh developer in order for the reversal to happen. Also, ensure the chemistry is at 68f or warmer.

[@DavidALovingMPF102]

A MAKE magazine (book) article by Todd Schlemmer shows how he made a camera with a 3-D printer. Uses 126 film. Interesting.

[@Frisenette]

How does pinhole cameras scale? Sharpness goes up when your film plane increases, but so does the exposure time (given the same pinhole size). Because the same light has to cover so much more. But seeing as pinhole is usually for still(ish) subjects that’s alright. But at what point do you reach the reciprocity failure limits of ordinary preflashed paper?

[@Joe_VanCleave]

That's a good question, and an astute observation. I've made paper exposures longer than 10 minutes, calculated directly from meter readings with no reciprocity correction applied. But I'm sure at some point its effect would be felt. Interestingly, there's a point with low enough illumination when using regular B&W sheet film where paper ends up being faster, as traditional film emulsions have a noted reciprocity effect whereas paper has little or none. When you mentioned that "...the same light has to cover so much more" it reminds me of this theory I've had about "information density," that as the pinhole camera scales larger and larger the amount of information on the paper or film takes longer and longer to record, as if it were reaching some mathematical limit. And that behavior seems nonintuitive, based on what we understand about the speed of light, and how information can be multiplexed using light in glass fibers, for example. It's as if the pinhole aperture itself were the limit - use a larger aperture refractive lens and you get more information; as if there was a limit to the information density of light. Of course, it's an artifact of the limitations of silver gelatin to record light, along with the limited light passing through a pinhole aperture.

[@CAMERADACTYLCameras]

I agree with Joe that this is a pretty astute question, and some facets of it are beyond my ability to answer. I will put in my 2 cents though. Generally, with a pinhole, as the effective fstop gets smaller, the images get sharper and have more depth of field. However, there is a limit to this. as the size of the pinhole approaches the scale of a light wave, you'll start to get some diffraction through the tiny hole, which will decrease sharpness. Empirically, i find that about f225-f275 is about right, however, that is in pinholes ranging from 40-90mm in focal length. I think that it actually has more to do with the size of the pinhole vs. the size of a light wave, rather than the ratio of the pinhole to the focal length. You may be able to make a very small aperture pinhole with a huge hole and a giant room, but now we're getting into the area of speculation on my part. I have one tip to share: The symmetry and smoothness of a pinhole can really change the sharpness of your pictures. I have tried pins and sandpaper all the way to laser drilled pinholes, and the method I like the best is using a piece of a soda can, pressed onto a phonebook and just drilling holes by hand with tiny PCB drills. they're available on amazon or most electronics parts supply places. You can really get nice round clean holes with them. Theyre usually available in sets and packs of 10 or something like that. I use a 0.2mm drill for this camera and many others, but its nice to have larger and smaller bits around. As for reciprocity limits of paper, I haven't run into them in under a minute, but then again I haven't tried much over with any paper.

[@Frisenette]

Joe Van Cleave, CAMERADACTYL Cameras thanks guys! Here’s what Rowland Mowrey has to say on the subject over at APUG/Photrio: www.photrio.com/forum/threads/reciprocity-failure-as-it-relates-to-paper.97419/#post-1292946 AFAICS there has to be some reciprocity failure effects, since pre flashing works. Camera obscura rooms illuminating large walls, usable for tracing, has of course worked at least since antiquity, but with quite large apertures. It would be interesting to know how far you can take it with photo paper with an aperture that retains optimal sharpness, while having the largest film plane possible. This especially considering photo papers special characteristics and capabilities.

[@DavidALovingMPF102]

3-D printed?

[@Joe_VanCleave]

Yes! He has a business 3D printing film photography-related items. Cameradactyl.com

[@tcsyme]

Helge, There is definitely a lower limit to pinhole size for any given focal length. My understanding though, is that there is a bunch of leeway, so you don't have to get the exact size. Smoothness of the circle is much more important. Inspired by this channel, I built a 4x5 camera recently, with a 75mm focal length @ F205. I used the Mr Pinhole calculators (see below) to guide my design and help optimize pinhole size vs focal length. Some of my early results have been most satisfying, and can be seen below. I've done more since, though not posted them yet. www.gryffinaero.com/pinhole mrpinhole.com

[@Joe_VanCleave]

Your images are very nicely done. And I like the design of your cameras.

[@DavidALovingMPF102]

You COULD leave your phone # for people that have questions...1-800- another great, interesting video,,or film? I had to repair my truck AGAIN after it died on Alameda on the way to a doctors appointment. Had to call a cab, tow truck..fix was a $30 oil pressure switch! YEA!! Tow was $124! might make a short video, but others have done it. Is that watch a prop?Could you make a view finder for that camera?

[@Joe_VanCleave]

No prop. It's a sub-$40 solar analog Casio. For many of these pinhole box cameras, having guide lines along the sides and top is a better way of judging your framing, since you can't actually see through the pinhole, especially with close-in objects where parallax errors are common.