How to turn a room into pinhole camera?

[tony_black1]

I would like to turn a room into a pinhole camera.

 

I will cover up the windows and make a hole in the middle.

 

What should be the diameter of the hole?

 

Do I need to put a lens instead of a hole?

 

And if I want to expose the scene, what kind of paper do I need?

 

How will I determine the exposure?

 

Thanks very much.

 

 

I couldnt find a suitable category for this post. I hope this one is ok.

[fred_leif3]

Google (or other search engine) is your friend ... look for Camera Obscura

[brucecahn]

You can use a hole, but it has to be very small and clean with no burrs. They say brass is best. There are books on pinhole that will give you exposure guides. "The Hole Thing" is the one I read. You could focus by putting the paper or film on a wheeled easel . If you print onto paper you will get a negative. That may be good for fine tuning the system, but then you should get some 20x24 film. Please let us know if it works.

[troyammons]

Hole is fine. There is a ratio formula/ hole size/ mexposure etc somewhere on the web. You may want to search pinhole cameras.

 

You dont need a room for 20x24 film. Just build a big box. You could just use a large format 20x24 camera with a pinhole instead of a lens but they cost a fortune and are super heavy. Better to just build a box although it would be nice to have a film holder and GG but you can make GG easy enough.

 

Ortho film is cheap and there is one kind from freestyle that does good with dektol and you can use it under a special safelight. J+C sell some big stuff too.

 

I did some internegative enlargements to 16x20 and it was pretty nice.

 

http://apps.carleton.edu/news/?content=content&module=features&id=28818

 

Might be able to get some ideas for a whopping big camera here.

 

http://home.online.no/~gjon/camerabuilders.htm

 

http://www.artm-friends.at/rm/foto/

 

 

I think one of the largest is a building in santa monica.

 

Also these guys. Big paper (or cloth in their case), lots of chems.

 

http://www.takegreatpictures.com/HOME/Columns/World_Photo/Details/params/object/9604/default.aspx

[troyammons]

Found This

 

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00FAIc

[jeff bishop]

Above it's been mentioned that you can burn a negative onto regular photo paper. While I've never done this, I've read that you can make a contact of that negative onto another sheet of photo paper and exposing to light for awhile.

[allen_friday]

I turned my sons room 14x14x8 into a pinhole camera last year. I covered the windows with cardboard, taped with gaffers tape around the edges. I then took a lid to a cigar box and drilled several holes in it, from 1/4 inch to 3/4 inch. I would then cut a small peice of the cardboard out and tape the wooden peice over the opening, so that I could try out the different size holes. I finally used the 1/2 hole. I taped up a heavy blanket on the outside of the door. That way, I could start the exposure and go in and out of the door. I took a picture of the room from just in front of the window. Using 400 speed film, the exposure took 4 hours at f22. The trees outside my sons room appeared on the far wall, upside down and backward. Your exposure for photo paper would probably be several minutes.

[tony_black1]

Allen,

 

did the trees appear right away after all the covering and making a hole?

[allen_friday]

Yes, the trees showed up on the far wall right away. I could make them out as soon as my eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room.

[jon_grepstad1]

<p>Please note that in October 2015 my webpages on pinhole photography and building large format cameras move to: jongrepstad.com</p>

<p>Jon Grepstad</p>