[qleak]

I've been poking around with the idea of turning an SLR into a pinhole camera for a while now looks like I'm not the only one:

35mm Single-Lens Reflex Pinhole Photography

Here's what I was thinking

* Extension tube set
* Tripod
* Shutter Release Cable
* Stopwatch

I'm not sure what I should use for the end of the extension tube to put my pinhole in. There might be better materials than tin foil/lens caps.

It might pay off to try different lengths a bit. The optimum length of the tube will probably depend on the size of the pinhole.

Film speed is also a good question. I'd also like to try this in digital, but currently I will just have a k1000.

I'd like to try for some of those old fashioned huge depth of field landscape or city shots.

What do you think? Anyone tried this?

Best,

-Q

[mrNewt]

Not sure what you need the extension tube for ... but ...
You can find on "cheapbay" a lot of pinhole caps/lenses - some quite meticulously designed (and sexy looking some might say) with different interchangeable "holes" ... for different effects .

These caps can be used on film or digital formats.

[Nesster]

You don't really need the extension tubes. I've used a lens cap, and bought mine from Lenox Laser cause I'm lazy. There are other suppliers these days, and I feel Lenox uses a bit too large a pinhole in their calculations.

With ASA 400 film you might be able to meter with your camera - I could do so with a Program Plus, but not a ZX10. The limiting factor will be the size of the film frame, plus diffraction.

[qleak]

Okay I just ordered a very overpriced pinhole. I ordered the skink Pancake pinhole lens since you can chage out different "holes"

Here's where an extension tube is handy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinhole_camera#Selection_of_pinhole_size

Gives the optimal pinhole diameter for sharpness given focal plane distance. The given hole with the skink is 296 micrometers which with yellow green light should be about 79.65mm from the film plane but the skink will only sit 44mm from the film plane. So I'm going to go out on a limb and say the 35mm tube will probably give better results for this pinhole. Will also have a macro effect I assume. Should be interesting. I'll surely try both since it sounds like great fun. Just estimating this will give somewhere around 2/3 a stop less light right?

Though I may have to throw what I know out the window for exposures due to the Reciprocity failure.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reciprocity_%28photography%29#Reciprocity_failure

I'm not sure how much of an issue this would be on digital format for those of you interesting in doing this DSLR style.

Best,

-Q

[vonBaloney]

Pinholes on digital are a bit of problem -- you see every bit of dust/residue on the sensor, and there is ALWAYS some there, more than you might think. Also if it is true pinhole, i.e. an open hole (some have a mini gel or something to seal them), it lets in more micro dust. I was thinking of trying it using multiple exposures and sliding the composition slightly between them in order to move the dust spots around, and then stacking software could automatically remove the spots. You could also do a blue sky shot to make a mask of the spots which would help to photoshop them out...