i am so sick of the flawless quality of my 35lux. i need abberations! endless softness in focus is my aim!

did anyone ever try one of those pinhole adapters by, i think, aveneon? i'd rather build one myself, out of a bodycap and a coke can. are there any useful webpages around?

-- stefan randlkofer (geesbert@yahoo.com), February 12, 2002

Answers

I wouldn't use a coke can if I were you. The gasses from it are hazardous to the camera. Better use a sprite can

:-)

-- ReinierV (rvlaam@xs4all.nl), February 12, 2002.

Stefan,

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".

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

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

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...

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

-- Robin Barnsley (Oxford, England) (rb@jet.uk), February 12, 2002.

Stefan;

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.

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.)

What shape lens hood will you use: the perfect rectangular or the vignette-prone circular one? (Leica codes: Nosun or Sunin)

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)

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.

Will Panasonic supply the chip and electronics for the digital model, about which you can also start runours?

HHHMMM Ponderous questions indeed.

Cheers & good luck.

-- RICHARD ILOMAKI (richardjx@hotmail.com), February 12, 2002.

I'm sure some of the aftermarket pinholes are very good, but I think I'd have more faith in genuine Ernst Leitz pinhole optics.

:)=

-- Rick Oleson (rick_oleson@yahoo.com), February 12, 2002.

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.

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---

-- Patrick (pg@patrickgarner.com), February 12, 2002.

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.

Post some images when you're done!

Cheers,

-- Jack Flesher (jbflesher@msn.com), February 12, 2002.

Richard,

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.

Hil

-- Hil (hegomez@agere.com), February 12, 2002.

Hil-

Since Bokeh is such a subjective subject, my vote for what produces the smoothest bokeh is a good gin and tonic. ;\

-- jeff (debontekou@yahoo.com), February 12, 2002.

I have an article on How to Make a Pinhole, 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.

-- Ed Buffaloe (edb@unblinkingeye.com), February 12, 2002.

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!

-- F. William Baker (atelfwb@aol.com), February 12, 2002.

bender photographic, the same guy who makes those wood view camera kits, also makes a pinhole camera kit you can build from wood.

-- Thomas Nutter (tmnphotos@erols.com), February 12, 2002.

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.

-- Bob Fleischman (RFXMAIL@prodigy.net), February 12, 2002.

"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."

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^)

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).

-- Andy Piper (apidens@denver.infi.net), February 13, 2002.

will i be able to use full ttl flash? ;)

-- stefan randlkofer (geesbert@yahoo.com), February 13, 2002.

Pinhole camera

http://www.eightelmphoto.com/newprod.htm

-- martin tai (martin.tai@sympatico.ca), February 13, 2002.

Stefan:

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

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.

Cheers again

-- RICHARD ILOMAKI (richardjx@hotmail.com), February 13, 2002.

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.

-- Richard Hoag (wpcdallas@aol.com), February 13, 2002.

"will i be able to use full ttl flash?" Yep! And it will be good all the way out to 1.5 meter with ISO 1600 film.

;-),

-- Jack Flesher (jbflesher@msn.com), February 13, 2002.

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.

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 newPolaroid instant pinhole cameras. The lens on this Polaroid camera has exactly the same optical quality as the expensive Avenon!

-- Hoyin Lee (leehoyin@hutchcity.com), February 15, 2002.