New member

Hi all,

 

I'm new here, but I've been playing with pinhole for about 20 years,

and into photography most of my life, maybe half a century. That

would make me 39, give or take a little. The height of my pinhole

experience would be the Snapdragon 4X5 cameras you can see here,

www.holgamods.com/snapdragon . I made them for a short while but had

to give it up, due to lack of space and time. I noticed a post

requesting info about building pinhole cameras for beginers and I

have lots of ideas, but, when it comes to computers, I'm a beginer

myself. For instance, I don't know how to post photos on this forum.

I would be happy to trade any help I can contribute for your patience

with me.

 

Kent Nunamaker

<a href="http://www.holgamods.com/snapdragon/Exposure/exposure.html">A rather

interesting way of timing a pinhole exposure</a>.

Kent,

 

Start here http://www.photo.net/frequent-questions

 

:)

You like? Actually, I do a test to determine a "base" exposure with the film I want to use, under normal- nice sunny day- conditions, and remember it. I compensate for different conditions by adjusting the exposure; double the time = one stop more, half the time = one stop less, and so on. Works for me.

 

The Snapdragon camera was not hard to build, just time consuming, but it's a very adaptable design. With simple adapters, it can handle anything from 120 roll film to 4X5 sheet film, to 4X5 polaroid, to 5X7 paper negs.

Welcome to Photo.net, Kent.

 

I love the timing guideline for pinhole exposure, but I'm not a religious person; can I substitute any poem instead of the Lord's Prayer?? ;-) I have a favourite poem from Pogo. It takes 10 seconds to say.

 

"How pearceful grows the hazy yon,

How myrtle pettled thou,

For spring hath sprung the cyclotron,

How high browse thou, brown cow"

 

If you're older than me (43), you should know who Pogo is. My dad, who is 71, had a huge collection of Pogo books, and I would read them when I was a kid. I never understood what they were saying, but I loved that poem.

 

Where can I get my hands on one of those Snapdragon Pinhole cameras? I can't believe the photos it takes. I also love the idea of using Polaroid Type 55 film; I used it once in a 4X5 using a Polaroid back and loved the results.

 

Nancy

Hi Nancy, nice to hear from another Pogo fan. I loved to read Pogo, but I only have one of Walt Kelly's books, and I'm old enough to BE your father. Try 66.

 

Yes, you can use that delightful bit of Pogoisms if you like, or anything that works. Using a "base" exposure works fine for me. I have two cameras I use, a 3" model, and a 1 1/2" wide angle. With any medium speed (80-125 ASA)film, on a sunny day, the exposure with the 3" should be 10 sec., and the 1 1/2"- 5 sec. With a little bit of head math I can adjust for any film I'd want to use, or any condition I'm willing to shoot under.

 

The pics on that site were done by Randy Smith with a 3" model he got from me. The photographer had a lot to do with the quality. As for the cameras, I only wish I had the time to build them again. I sold all I made for $100 apiece, except for the 2 I kept for myself. But they're not hard to build. I used Poplar for the basic frame, and basswood for everything else. Get the basswood in a craft shop or hobby shop. The frame is made to fit a standard 4X5 film holder, and the pinhole was formed by hand in brass with a beading needle. The guillotine shutter was made from three pieces of 1/16" basswood. The hard part was finding the time.

 

Pogo for President!

Kent

Do you have the schematics or plans for the camera? I can't make anything without a pattern or recipe.

 

Nancy

 

39, eh?

I never had any blueprints, Nancy, just a few measurements jotted down. When I needed a dimension, I'd just take it off my prototype camera. The only close measurement is the fitting of the film holder. The body is lined inside with 4 strips of 1/4" basswood which reinforces the camera, and sets the focal length. The parts are all held together with furniture glue, no nails. The rubber strips for the back were cut from vaccum cleaner belts. If I could figure out how to attach pics, I'd post a couple for you.

 

Kent<div></div>

Opps. Too big! Sorry, but how do I downsize them?

 

Kent

For the pictures to show up in your post, they must not be bigger than 511 pixels wide, and you must add a caption. To add more than one photo, you must submit an answer to your own post. Try again, and see if you can get it to work.

 

Nancy

<< but how do I downsize them? >>

 

You have to resize them on your computer, using an appropriate image-editing tool.

Re-sized in Photoshop and saved as jpeg.<div></div>

Thanks, Pat, but I don't have Photoshop. How do I downsize them? I can print them any size from 8X10 to wallet size, but when I try to post them there's no size adjustment at all. :-(

Kent, do you have any photo editing software? Paint Shop Pro or Microsoft Photo Editor? If not, maybe you should get one of them. With either of these programs, resizing the photos is easy. When you have the photo up on your screen, right click on your mouse, and open the picture with the program you have. When the photo is open in the software, you simply click on the word Image, then when the pull down menu comes up, click on the word Resize. You should see a little window where you can change the size of the picture. There should be a choice to change the Pixel width, which should be less than 511 pixels wide. After you've changed the pixel width, give the file a name, with a .jpeg ending, and save it wherever you would save your picture files. Then, when you want to attach a picture file to a post, after you've typed your question or whatever, and hit Post, you'll come to a page where you can Browse for your photo files. After you've attached the properly sized photo, you must add a caption. Then, hit Submit. That's how I've always done it and it works perfectly. Good luck.

 

Nancy