pinhole ?

[jon benson]

So, I want to try pinhole photography with my Hasselblad 500C I am not sure what size hole to place in the body

cap. Anyone who can help, I need it. Also not sure what the exposure time would need to be??? I have never shot

pinhole, at all. I would be using 100ASA film, if that even matters? I think it would. Anyhow, whatever help I could get

would be super!

Thanks!!!

Jon

[BrianS1664879711]

Try a #12 (.016") or #13 (.013") needle size. Estimate f/200 or so and experiment on your exposure from there.

[richterjw]

I would use a 1/2" or 3/8" drill bit in the body cap, then cover that with a piece of aluminum (as in a coke can), and put the pin hole in the aluminum. The plastic from the body cap is probably too thick and will cause a very narrow stream of light to enter the film plane; whereas, the aluminum is much thinner. I did what I just described on my Mamiya, and it worked nicely. Brian's suggestion above sounds right, too. JR

[norman_valentine]

I have always used aluminium cooking foil. That is even thinner than a coke can.

[JDMvW]

I have also used the aluminum foil solution. It has the additional virtue that you can try multiple pinholes for effect.<div></div>

[protest]

I used to make these. Here is my technique: First purchase some thin brass shim stock from your local hardware store. It

usually comes in a package with several sheets of varying thickness. From a very thin sheet cut a piece about an inch

square. Tape it to a piece of glass with the center exposed (i.e. no tape on the center). Using a sewing needle and

something like a piece of wood to apply pressure, drill a hole through the brass. This makes a very small round hole. You

can determine the hole size by shining a laser through the hole and measuring the diameter of the diffraction rings. Have

fun.

[dave_thomas8]

Ideally the pinhole wants to have a knife edge. This is sometimes accomplished by pushing a dimple in brass shim stock then wetsanding with very fine wet-or-dry sandpaper to open the dimple. There are many links to information at the Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day site; http://www.pinholeday.org/support/

 

I successfully adapted a Bronica SQ-A a couple of years ago (poor man's Hasselblad :D)

http://www.pbase.com/dw_thomas/sqhole

 

DaveT

[tim_klimowicz]

My pinhole methodology, which has worked out REALLY well for my old Canon AE-1 Program film camera, as well as my newer digital.

I'm not entirely sure of the aperture, but the hole is smaller than 1/128th of an inch, and a sunny "average" scene requires a .5 exposure

at ISO 200.<br>

<br>

1) Buy an extra body cap or two (the extra is incase you mess up). If there's a logo on the front, sand it off flat, first with medium-rough

sandpaper, then with fine.<br>

<br>

2) On the inside, measure and mark the very center of the lens cap.<br>

<br>

3) By hand -- with a screwdriver that accepts bit attachments -- gently hand-drill with a bit no larger than about 1/8" into the marked

center, on the INSIDE of the body cap.<br>

<br>

4) Feeling the thickness of the cap between your fingers, drill until you're feeling like you're getting pretty close to reaching the other

side. Stop before reaching it.<br>

<br>

5) With a screw (or pin, or anything else really sharp), start pushing into the center of the drilled hole, also from the inside, while it's

placed down against a semi-soft surface (wood, relatively speaking). Push gently at first, and harder if needed. Continually flip the cap

and look for the plastic to begin stretching outwards and becoming white (as plastic does when it stretches).<br>

<br>

6) When you reach this point, push just a little bit more, and stop. Do NOT break the surface, but make sure there's a nice little bump

that is visible, and raised just barely enough that you can fell it when you run your finger over it.<br>

<br>

7) Break out the fine sand paper again, and begin sanding the outside of the cap. The goal here is to sand through the cap of the bump,

exposing the very small hole created by the conical bump from the other side. If needed, push very gently though the hole from the

back, spin a little (to even out the edges), and continue to sand.<br>

<br>

Ideally, you will have a perfectly flat front face of the cap, with an almost invisible hole in it. From the back, you'll see the larger pit from

the drill, but from the front the hole will hardly be visible unless it's within about a foot of your eyes, or unless you're holding it up to light.

[john fleshin]

I experimented with commercial laser drilled, machine drilled, and hand made pinholes for several years with my

students.

 

I found the best material by far for the pinhole was .002" brass shim stock. Other stuff works, but this is durable

enough and soft enough to work with. Aluminum foil is too soft and thin, cans are too hard, you can quickly and

easily make numbers of usable pinholes very quickly. I bought some .001, but it did not work out as well. The local

hardware store had some, and ordered more for me.

 

Also, oddly, the best drills seemed to be sewing needles, and cleaning up the holes with 400 Wet or Dry "sand"

paper, with inspection by strong lenses or microscope, to see if the hole is well made, and some repeat "drilling"

with the needle and a bit more touch up with the paper.

 

They go pretty quickly, so you can use lots of trial and error.

 

Once made, they can be easily attached with black electrical tape (lots of tapes are not light tight) to just about

anything, including a drilled body cap. I believe I normally used a 3/8" hole in the cap, or lens board.

 

We made pinhole cameras out of film cans, coffee cans, old scrap cameras, 126 film cartridges, 110 flm cartridges,

cardboard boxes, wooden boxes, cookie cans, old oatmeal type tubes, paint cans, Whisky tubes (holiday packing) ,

all with good success. Film was sometimes 35mm in the film cans, and some government surplus film in long rolls

for aerial photography, paper, etc. 30 seconds a good start for exposure, and as much of the film was ortho, we

developed by inspection normally in paper developer.

 

If you can find an abused, or unabused, Graflex, it can be converted in about ten minutes, and extending the bellows

gives you a "zoom". It is very much experimental, I found the image in a circular container extended from almost the

pinhole all the way around, you will discover a lot on your own faster than I can advise. Students loved the fact that

you can make a photograph from a piece of brass and a box yourself and get something acceptable.

 

Eric Renner is the Guru, IMO, for the past twenty years, a search should give you a lot of further information.

 

If you want a serious rectilinear result, find an old woodie 8x10 field camera, and have at it.

 

I have half a dozen commercial cameras, and they work well, but you have choices. A company in Cin. Ohio made a

cardboard film box that holds a single sheet of 4x5 film. We shot on Polaroid with the Graflex, but am unsure as to

the future of the film.

 

You surely can use your Blad body with a pinhole mounted in a drilled hole in the body cap, but the image will be

small, I enlarged some negatives from a Leica SM using a pinhole equipped body cap, and got acceptable, but very

fuzzy 4x5 prints, as I said, it is largly experimental. Like to hear how you make out.

 

 

Regards, John