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m6 as a pinhole camera


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Stefan,

 

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Pin-hole cameras are relatively free from abberations, but you won't

be disappointed by the soft focus - particulary on 35mm. The maths

favours large film and wide angle to get the most "pixels" out of the

image. For a "focal length" of 25mm, optimum pinhole is 0.24mm,

giving ~f/100, and about 250 resolvable points across the 36mm frame.

At 100mm, optimum pinhole is 0.47mm, giving ~f/200, and about 125

"pixels".

 

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The important equation is: d = 0.047 * sqrt(f)

 

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d(mm) is the optimum pinhole diameter, f(mm) is the focal length.

 

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So I'd dispense with the can, coke or otherwise, and put the pinhole

in the body cap. Make a few-mm hole in the cap, prick some aluminium

foil (between two pieces of card) with a needle, glue it onto the cap

and post the results...

 

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See http://www.pinhole.com/resources/articles/Young/

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Stefan;

 

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You will get better Bokeh if you use an authentic German Beck's or

Erdinger can. I am sure these brewers can supply can stock in either

black or silver chrome, black paint or titanium.

 

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You will also get better edge sharpness if you use a Bosch drill

rather than a Makita drill to make the hole.(It will have lower

resale value if it is a Bosch drill made in Canada.)

 

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What shape lens hood will you use: the perfect rectangular or the

vignette-prone circular one? (Leica codes: Nosun or Sunin)

 

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Try getting one of special limited edition body caps celebrating the

100th aniversary of the day Barnack's dog (Hektor) peed on his

tripod. (Leica Code: Hekpee)

 

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For practise, you must start a flood in Wetzlar again.

 

You can then start rumours of an Aspheric model to take the place of

tilt and shift in view cameras, as well as a PH6 with built-in meter.

 

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Will Panasonic supply the chip and electronics for the digital model,

about which you can also start runours?

 

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HHHMMM Ponderous questions indeed.

 

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Cheers & good luck.

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I'm actively using, on occasion, a pinhole adapter for my M3. It

came from Pinhole Resource. The shots are comparable to the

pinhole shots on another 6x6 camera I use similarly. Pinhole

photography is utterly unique & unpredictable. Get one &

experiment! You'll be surprised & pleased.

 

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And BTW, pinhole photography is no different on large format

than on 35mm, just limiting somewhat in the amount you can

enlarge w/o loss of quality. I frequently blow the Leica pinholes

to 11x14 w/ no problem---

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For the aperture, I would use .002" brass shim stock, commonly

available in most hardware stores, and drill a .0085" (.008 to .009

is okay) hole in it. Prior to drilling the hole, sandwhich the stock

between two pieces of plastic or hardwood -- this will avoid burrs at

the rim of the hole. Then chemically blacken the brass (with brass

black), or "soot" it with a candle. Do not paint it... When mounted

on the back side of a body cap, this will give you about a 28mm lens

with an approximate aperture of f128.

 

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Post some images when you're done!

 

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Cheers,

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Richard,

 

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German beer in a can! What kind of heretic are you? And besides,

everyone knows that the best beer in the world is Mexican. BTW, the

best Bokeh comes from the development process: salt, lime juice,

tequila, in the order that suits you best.

 

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Hil

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I have an article on <a

href=http://unblinkingeye.com/Articles/Pinhole/pinhole.html> How to

Make a Pinhole</a>, and the page also has a link at the bottom to an

article on how to make a simple calculator for long exposures. You

should be able to drill a hole in a leica body cap to mount your

pinhole.

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Calumet sells a leica lens cap with a metal shim that is laser cut

for about $40-45 US. It's made by a small company in either Idaho or

Utah. I bought mine 2 years ago and have used it many times. The info

that comes with the cap says that it is approx. 30mm focal length.

The f-stop is 128. I mounted the M4-P on a tripod and I put my 28mm

f2.8 lens on and shot 3 frames at different f stop/shutter combos,

next I mounted the pinhole lens cap and bracketed for 2, 4, 6

seconds using f 128 as a starting point. I did this throughout the

entire 36 ex roll and had the lab process "do not cut or mount". On

the light box the framing is as close to exactly 28mm as anyone could

tell. Viewing the Leica lens vs. the Leica lens cap pinhole side by

side was interesting. Pinhole was sharp but not sharp if you know

what I mean. Maybe soft sharp is a better. Colors were slightly

muted. This is interesting and fun to play with and at 40 odd $'s

not a hugh investment. I've shot B&W, Chrome and Scala all with

interesting results. Next project is to get a pinhole lens board for

my Linhof Master. Good Luck!

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Well, all pinholes are aspherical. I might suggest putting one on a

zoom mount to achieve the world's first ASPH 24-100mm f/100-200

zoom. The Bokeh is controlled by whether the air in the hole is

german or canadian. Also recommend St. Pauli Girl rather than gin &

tonic.

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"The info that comes with the cap says that it is approx. 30mm focal

length.....On the light box the framing is as close to exactly 28mm as

anyone could tell."

 

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The focal length of a pinhole 'lens' is equal to the distance from the

film: Since (thanks to Erwin and the Hexar debate) we know the film/

flange distance of the Leica-M is 27.xx millimeters. then a 'bodycap'

pinhole mount will be a 27mm (+/-) optic. I guess on a Hexar it would

be a 28mm (+/-) - and clearly inferior. 8^)

 

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Get some kind of extension or recessed cap and you can build your own

'SuperAngulon 21' pinholes (don't forget that symmetrical design) and

'Tele-Elmarit 90' pinholes (Lots o' soft beautiful flare).

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Stefan:

 

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Mow that's an interesting question. Has anyone ever used flash with a

pinhole setup?

 

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I don't see why it wouldn't work, at least using guide numbers. Maybe

lots of pops with a handheld flash over the field of a 28mm

pinhole "lens" would make for an image I would like to see. Won't be

me doin' it tho, as I have enough trouble getting non-fuzzy images as

it is.

 

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Cheers again

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William Baker's writing above gives you the info. you need. Have used

the same pinhole cap for 2-3 years. It is inexpensive, easy to carry,

fun to use (you get great reactions from your subjects), gives you a

different perspective on things (has infinite DOF), as easy to use on

an M as your lenses and will give you the soft focus you desire.

Experiment and have fun. Just do it.

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The M6 as a pinhole camera--now that's an expensive pinhole camera!!

Anyway, there's a Japanese-made gadget called the Avenon P. H. Air

Lens, essentially a metal M-body cap with a pinhole drilled into it.

You mount it onto a Leica-M body and, voila, you have a Leica pinhole

camera with a non-lens of 28mm equivalent focal length. Cost (M-body

not included) = about US$100.

 

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</p>If you neither fancy the expensive "air lens" nor building a

pinhole camera yourself, there's a cheap and easy way: buy one of

these new<a href="http://www.interq.or.jp/world/m-

naka/PinholeC/Camera/sihan/polaroid.html">Polaroid instant pinhole

cameras</a>. The lens on this Polaroid camera has exactly the same

optical quality as the expensive Avenon!

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