Brainstorming a New Pinhole Camera

[@flatbrokefrank6482]

Years ago i made a roll film back for a wooden box pinhole camera, if you could create or purchase a roll of paper you could have multi exposures if that was your main criteria. I have a DSLR with a pinhole attached but that would be considered way too modern for such a forum. keep them coming Joe!

[@shaunbrowne3963]

Joe, your caster rolling system for the developing tank is a brilliant solution for developing film, photo paper, or direct positive prints. Highly inventive!

[@shaunbrowne3963]

Joe, the detachable tripod base and elastic band support for the pinhole camera is another great idea!

[@Daow9915]

Joe! Really fun watching you hash through ideas. Have been trying to make your paper bellows. Your right practice seems to be the trick. Thanks for all the original creativity. Can't wait to see how you get on.

[@artemorbid]

Good day. I was wondering how you get the photos to look so sharp? Thanks for sharing the process.

[@aleisterlavey9716]

The smaller the pinhole, the sharper it gets, the longer it takes. Large pinhole, blurry but fast.

[@chrismead1464]

This is probably unrelated, but can you run photopaper in a vintage box camera like a brownie or a jem?

[@Joe_VanCleave]

If the shutter has a bulb setting you can. The shutter speeds are usually around 1/100 second, with an aperture around F/11-F/16, not suited for slow photo paper unless you're using really bright strobes. But with a bulb setting you can get good exposures, say 1-2 seconds in shaded daylight, depending on the aperture of the camera.

[@eimablank]

Why not just to put the pin hole on a slide. The paper stays put, but the pin hole is moved along the way, as a panoramic image, one shot at a time. If it works on a straight line, you can then make it curved to have a full 180° or 360° panoramic view, by focusing inward (photography of sculptures) or outward ((landscapes). Thank you for sharing your brain storming, it is fun to watch.

[@BobSmith-dx9bj]

What if the pinhole was on a sliding rail on the front of the camera. What if the camera was plastic or pvc so you could develop the paper in the camera. What if you use a 8x10 sheet film holder and the camera had slots for each size image. I would like to use harmon direct paper but where do you get it?

[@Joe_VanCleave]

Those are all great ideas. Which is one reason why camera-making can become addictive, it's tempting to try out each concept separately. I've seen Harman paper for sale at B & H photo.

[@KevinPatrickJr]

I wonder if it would be easier basically to make a film holder which could be removed from the camera which you would slide forward for each shot? Just one chamber and aperture, and the holder would have three light-tight dividers that are moved in succession for a new frame. Then you could pull something only slightly larger than your paper negs out of the camera, place that in the changing bag while the camera stays on the tripod. Fussing about in a bag with something maybe only the size of one and half modern cell phones would be a bit easier than the whole camera. This could be something inserted into the camera in a slot, or even something more like a film back.

[@Joe_VanCleave]

Great idea, Kevin. It's interesting how there's more than one solution to these problems.

[@ricardoborges8564]

For having such an wonderfull small photo like you showed of the tree, the paper matters? brand, quality, grain density? thanks for the video.

[@Joe_VanCleave]

Yes, the paper's physical attributes are important to such small prints, something hard to appreciate with digital images that aren't physical objects.

[@dobby6841]

I've just started on salted print and want to do it with my pinhole cameras, use the Salted sensitized paper in the pinhole instead of film or photographic paper, is that possible? thank you so much for this awesome video, I am planning on working on ideas to build awesome pinhole cameras and this was gold!

[@Joe_VanCleave]

Yes, salted paper should form an image. You'll have to test to find the working ISO for your emulsion. I'd start somewhere like ISO 0.8 and go from there.

[@klausphotobaer5754]

Very interesting idea Joe ! Just in case you need a project name, how about " The Triptych Camera " ? Thanks for sharing!

[@Joe_VanCleave]

Thank you, Klaus!

[@ConstantinSPurcea]

I like the idea but it's maybe too impractical to have literally 3 cameras stuck to each other because of one piece of paper. I thought maybe a revolving mechanism where you only have one pinhole and shutter and the camera obscura, and then the paper revolves in position with the three frames, and you'd have a way to check from the outside. I will definitely have a crack at it myself. But also, where do you find Harman Direct positive because Ilford's website have had it out of stock for months now, and ironically I live a few miles away from the actual town of Ilford in England and can't get a hold of DP paper.

[@Joe_VanCleave]

I had the idea, after making this video, of a 4-sided square cross-section revolving drum in the back, each facet holding a 3-image strip of paper. You make the three exposures for each facet, then turn the drum 90 degrees. Wouldn't have to use a changing bag and still make 12 exposures in the field, cut down in strips from one 8x10 sheet of paper. I've seen Harman DPP for sale at B & H photo's website. The price is higher than I remember, so maybe it's new old stock.

[@bkspicture]

Have you tested using positive papers with color filters?? Personly only tested variable papers and used that with a yellow filter which can given way better resoults in terms of contrast and sky detail.

[@Joe_VanCleave]

I have not. This Harman paper is a bit slower than conventional negative paper, so I don't want to lose any more speed. And I kind of like the tonal range I get from it. I've gotten used to orthochromatic paper's "19th century" palette, hence I typically compose less for the sky and more for the landscape and foreground. You'll also see a similar kind of sensitivity with wet plate collodion, though paper emulsions typically have a bit more green sensitivity.

[@bkspicture]

Yes a yellow filter lowers the papers sensitivity by about 1 stop, assum its about the same as the papers I used. Have also tested a green filters which didn't add anything more then the filter factor. But do prefer the resoults from the yellow filter so I stick to that. Could be nice to have the option with filters in case you want to take a shot where the sky is not just washed out etc. (assuming the positive paper give similar results) Keep snapping!