Pinhole Photography

[@Enrique-the-photographer]

Good to see you Alan, but now I don’t know if I should call you Reuben Goldberg or Victor Frankenstein. Nice experiment, my favorite image is of the person on the bike @15:45, that one will give Henri Cartier-Bresson a run for his money, great job. Be well and stay safe.

[@photographyforenjoyment]

I've been called a lot worse Enrique, so Reuben or Victor are both acceptable! Yes the biker was my favourite too!

[@TC_Conner]

Quite an interesting video this week Alan. I’ve never heard of pinhole photography till now. Interesting images too. They have an old school Kodak film attractiveness. I’ve not photographed a waterscape in some time, spring gardening chores, mowing my big yard, and helping my wife renovate a room for her new quilting hobby have taken precedence over photography. I hope to have an unboxing video ready in a day or two. Have a great week and keep enjoying your pinhole photography! 💜💜

[@photographyforenjoyment]

Thanks for the support TC, keeping your wife happy with her new hobby should earn some brownie points for you! Then you can get out for some more photography!

[@TC_Conner]

@@photographyforenjoyment I’m hoping for exactly that Alan! 😂😂

[@johnjon1823]

Good work, great information, nice images in the end. Thanks. God bless!

[@photographyforenjoyment]

Thank you Johnjon, much appreciated!

[@WSS_the_OG]

Great to see you keeping this photography niche alive. Reminded me of being in high school photography class, and one of our projects was to make our own pinhole film camera out of cardboard and foil. I recall having my mind blown, both in terms of the physics of light, but also the rabbit of hole of camera obscura, as you mentioned. I truly loved the black and white cyclist photo, truly a lovely and artistic capture (nice job panning!), impressionist in a subtle way. Terrific video!

[@photographyforenjoyment]

Well what can I say Wrinkled (excellent 'handle' btw!), its comments like yours that keep me wanting to produce more. Thank you so much.

[@duringthemeanwhilst]

fascinating stuff Alan. I actually quite like the first buttercup image you showed - brought Claude Monet very much to mind 🙂 I have a vague memory of maybe even making a pinhole camera in either O'level (remember those?!) Art or Physics. I researched doing it again during lockdown but never got past the research stage sadly.

[@photographyforenjoyment]

'O' Levels..! Yes indeed I remember them - just 😂. There are a couple of images that I'm happy with but I think there's a lot more to learn if I'm going to get any real keepers.

[@michaelbuckley8986]

Thank you for sharing this👍

[@photographyforenjoyment]

Thank you Michael, micro four-thirds probably isn't the BEST format for pinhole photography but it is fun to try and it can yield some interesting results.

[@randall.chamberlain]

Nice job chap. Thanks for sharing

[@photographyforenjoyment]

Thank you Randall, M43 may not be the best format for pinhole photography, but it is still fun to try these things!

[@randall.chamberlain]

@@photographyforenjoyment I think the surface area has a big impact. The small sensor doesn't allow for that much filed of view unless you could get the pinhole very close to it. But regardless, I'm trying it out this weekend. Thanks to you!!

[@photographyforenjoyment]

Yes, spot-on with that but have a crack anyway!

[@badger67]

Believe you me Alan, some of your images were better than my first attempt with my old DSLR 😂🤣🤣🤣🤣. What a thoroughly interesting subject. I was thoroughly engrossed. I would be very interested in the night time photography, so no pressure there then 😅. I do love my lightning bolts, hmmmm. That would be a challenge. I'd have to make one though, and use my D3000 body. Great video Alan 👍

[@photographyforenjoyment]

Thank you Badger, I'm hoping to improve on the results as this was very much my first attempt. It is fun though!

[@lukaszkiersztyn2956]

Good knowledge,info .....I also like long tíme exposition with ND 1000 and surrealistic ,schizofrenic infrared photography...........

[@photographyforenjoyment]

Thank you Lukasz, if you watch the video in 2 weeks time, it is all infrared!

[@DoctorMikeReddy]

Blur is because you need to choose the right hole diameter for the focal length

[@DoctorMikeReddy]

The company you got your 1mm and 0.5mm do as small as 0.1mm. The 1mm has a focal length about 1m. I don’t think your camera is that big

[@photographyforenjoyment]

Yes Mike, your diagnosis is spot-on, as I realised after making a rookie error! It just goes to show that researching a subject can save a lot of frustration (and some cash!). Thanks for watching and commenting, much appreciated.

[@c.augustin]

You did quite well, some shots are the way they are to be expected with pinhole photography. As a more systematic pinhole shooter (electrical engineer by education ;-)) I use established formulas to calculate the right pinhole size; the most used formula is: Pinhole Diameter = sqrt(Distance Pinhole to Film) * 0,037 (in mm). Personally I find m43 too small a format for pinhole photography - "resolution" (detail) increases with format size (for the same field of view), and 35 mm film (or FF sensor) is the smallest I would use. 6x9 is the sweet spot of resolution and pinhole effect for me, even though I do shoot mainly 4x5 by now, because a large format camera gives me perspective correction and a wide range of viewing angles (but resolution is so high that the pinhole effect is not instantly visible, at least not with wide-angle shots).

[@photographyforenjoyment]

Thank you for subscribing and commenting Christian, you have actually answered the point raised by Steve in the previous comment, and my own response to him; in as much as I have come to the same conclusion with regard to M43 and pinhole photography, namely that the format is too small. As you are specialising in the genre and shooting 4X5 I hope that other viewers will read through your comment, it is one of the very best things about YT, that advice and experience can be shared amongst so many. Pinhole photography is obviously very popular, my video has already generated a lot of views (for me!) in a short space of time, so I will be putting up a post guiding people to your comment, together with the formula you quoted. Great work and thanks once again.

[@c.augustin]

@@photographyforenjoyment I've seen that you did make videos about the Sony A7: The original model (that I have and used for my first pinhole experiments) is quite inexpensive when bought used. If you do have a Sony A7 or if you can get access to one - give it a try, it might give you better (more satisfying) results. Or use one of those old Leica copies (FED etc.) with thread mount; having a finder is helpful, SLRs are not suitable (and restricted to a normal field of view, or only mild wide angle).

[@photographyforenjoyment]

Thanks for that, a post has been uploaded mentioning that formula.

[@stevek.456]

Hi Alan, I'm not going to lie I completely agree with your own assessment that your photos although interesting weren't particularly great and probably not keepers, although I did think that the shots improved as we progressed through the video after you upgraded your pinhole cap. This is a another niche of photography that is going to force the brain to think creatively, after watching your video I decided further study was needed so these are my observations as yet not put into practice so this is only theoretical. The pinhole needed to be as finely cut as possible, the smaller the pinhole and the sharper the image although the exposure will be longer, the distance of the pinhole from the sensor affects the size of the image. The larger sensor on for example a DSLR should help to produce a sharper image than the micro 4/3 sensor, a medium format sensor even better. The experts say for a sharper image hard light works best. The distance or the pinhole from the sensor affects the size of the image, so I can see there are all types of variables here and for anyone who ever got a Blue Peter badge for making something there is a lot of scope here. After scouring the net for pinhole caps I realised that there seemed more stuff about for DSLR than Micro cameras, fortunately I also own a Pentax DSLR so I decided to go down that path and managed this morning to pick up a used Thingyfy, Pinhole Pro, cap that fits the Pentax at a quarter of the new price. One final thing that I don't think you mentioned or maybe I missed it, we shouldn't forget to set the camera setting to shoot without lens. Cheers Alan, and I look forward to next time.

[@photographyforenjoyment]

Hello Steve and thanks for such a detailed and explanatory comment. Yes indeed, distance from pinhole to sensor is what determines the angle of view (can't call it focal length cos there's no lens!). Sharper the hole, sharper the image. That's why I abandoned my DIY effort and went for the SLR Magic version. Although I haven't had time to experiment further, I do get the feeling that pinhole photography on M43 is pushing the envelope somewhat! I've not delved deeply enough yet, but I suspect that size of pinhole relative to sensor size is quite important! It might just be that to get sharper images out of M43, the hole would need to be microscopic. HOWEVER, having said all that I mustn't forget that this genre isn't about sharpness as much as atmosphere.

[@stevek.456]

@@photographyforenjoyment Hello Alan, one little tip I did see in my research, you mentioned your problems with the silver foil reflecting and maybe painting it black, well rather than getting the messy black paint out just use a black permanent marker.

[@jondr.8933]

Your choice of camera is going to be problematic if you want your images to look like traditional pinhole pictures. The smaller the film / sensor the less pleased I am with the results. I personally avoid anything smaller than medium format. I have some 35mm cameras, but only use them if I want a camera to put in my pocket. The other crucial element is the size of the hole. It has to be calculated with the distance from the film / sensor to get the best. It can be to small or to big. One thing that you have to accept is very long exposure times. I rarely go below 30 seconds, even in full sun. And have been known to go as long as 12 months.

[@photographyforenjoyment]

Yes Jon, it was a very steep learning curve for me and sadly it is one of those accessories that won't be used again. As you say M43 and pinholes just don't go together well. Thanks for watching and commenting, much appreciated.

[@jondr.8933]

I would encourage you to try pinhole photography again. It really is very interesting, taking pictures over minutes. I see from your uploads you have some Russian film cameras. I have made pinhole body caps for a number of my zenit 35mm cameras. The output is not as good as a dedicated pinhole camera, but it's cheap and interesting. I find an app called light meter very useful, as it allows me to calculate, both the aperture and the reciprocity failure of the chosen film.

[@ColinGilera]

Sorry to disagree but i think the original buttercup photos are wonderful, like impressionist paintings, I'd print those, super channel.

[@photographyforenjoyment]

That's very kind of you Colin, thanks for watching and commenting!