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11-14-2014, 03:38 PM   #1
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Camera Obscura

Just randomly came across this very intriguing technique, called camera obscura.....where the photographer covers the windows of a room with dark plastic and makes a small hole. She then puts a small convex lens in the hole which projects the image from outside, inversely on the room inside....it is a very interesting effect...here's a link if anyone is interested,,,,,has anyone tried anything like this? Camera Obscura Reflects Pictures in a New Light Photos | Image #5 - ABC News

11-14-2014, 03:41 PM   #2
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It is interesting. I don't like very much her pictures, but the technique is something very interesting!
11-14-2014, 04:04 PM   #3
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QuoteOriginally posted by flaviopetrone Quote
It is interesting. I don't like very much her pictures, but the technique is something very interesting!
True...she only had one that really worked for me...but the effect has enormous potential.....I am sure our resident master mad scientist with the lenses jean Poitiers would have the lenses to pull this off......could be amazing reflecting his whole garden of flowers inside to his walls.....!
11-14-2014, 04:05 PM   #4
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QuoteOriginally posted by phoenixvision Quote
True...she only had one that really worked for me...but the effect has enormous potential.....I am sure our resident master mad scientist with the lenses jean Poitiers would have the lenses to pull this off......could be amazing reflecting his whole garden of flowers inside to his walls.....!
Yes, he is the right man!
I'm wondering which kind of lens is best to try this experiment...

11-14-2014, 04:08 PM   #5
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A camera obscura was an item sometimes seen on 16-19th Century estates but as a specially built building. They were also a 19th Century sideshow attraction :






Last edited by p38arover; 11-14-2014 at 09:29 PM.
11-14-2014, 04:14 PM   #6
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In fact the origin of the term 'camera' in its present meaning goes back to camera (meaning 'chamber') obscura.
11-14-2014, 04:19 PM   #7
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QuoteOriginally posted by jva59 Quote
In fact the origin of the term 'camera' in its present meaning goes back to camera (meaning 'chamber') obscura.
It is the same meaning of dark room.

11-14-2014, 04:25 PM   #8
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QuoteOriginally posted by p38arover Quote
A camera obscura was an item sometimes seen in 16-19th Century estates but as a specially built building or as a sideshow attraction
So actually there were projected images dating that far back....I had no idea....thank you for that intriguing tid-bit....and the wonderful semi-holographic visualization of it!
11-14-2014, 04:45 PM   #9
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The term is often applied to an enclosed box with a pinhole in one side. The pinhole acts as a lens and projects an image on the opposite side of the box. I have used the technique myself to observe solar eclipses. The sun is to bright to observe directly but pinhole box camera makes it possible to observe safely. No glass lens is needed; the pinhole itself provides the necessary refraction to produce an image.


Ilford makes a pinhole "camera obscura" including provision for a 4x5 sheet of film or photographic paper to capture the image. Adorama and many other photographic supply stores carry. I have even seen a kit for building one but I don't recall where.
11-14-2014, 04:49 PM   #10
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Actually It goes further back than that. It was created in the region now known as China, (470 to 390 BCE), Before the first Emperor of China United the tribes. The guy with all the terra-cotta warriors, who the country was named after. It was a originally a tent with a small hole on one side. It was used by a general to help keep peace between the tribes. It would be set up, and acrobats in animals would be paraded past the aperture hole. There was no lens involved. We now call it a pinhole camera, When the image is projected onto a sensor or strip of film.
11-14-2014, 04:59 PM   #11
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very cool technique
11-14-2014, 06:19 PM   #12
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Canaletto (1697-1768) was known to use the camera obscura.

Here's his painting of Piazza San Marco (1740) in Venice from the collection of the Detroit Institute of Art... Note the church at the termination of the Piazza. When Napoleon captured Venice, he had it removed to make way for additional administrative offices.





... and a view taken from an elevated vantage point (2014). Note Napoleon's "update."




Here's another camera obscura sketch by Canaletto (1740) from the archives of the Acadamia in Venice. Cartoons like this guided the execution of the final painting.




... and a 2014 image NOT quite from the same position as the artist, but you get the point.




Cheers... M

Last edited by Michaelina2; 11-15-2014 at 06:47 AM.
11-14-2014, 06:30 PM   #13
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You can create your own by darkening a room and putting a pinhole in a window covering. The image of whatever is outside will be projected on the opposite wall and you can vary the size of the hole for depth of field. Just my $0.02.
11-14-2014, 06:35 PM   #14
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QuoteOriginally posted by dakight Quote
The term is often applied to an enclosed box with a pinhole in one side. The pinhole acts as a lens and projects an image on the opposite side of the box.. .

The Q-system's 07 Mount Shield lens shares similarities to a pinhole camera's lens and produces like effects...

Pentax 07 Mount Shield 11.5mm f/9 Lens 22267 B&H Photo Video

For a review, see...

Cheers... M

Last edited by Michaelina2; 11-16-2014 at 09:33 PM.
11-14-2014, 07:24 PM   #15
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If you go to the Holga Cameras website you can get a K-Mount pinhole aperture to mount on you DSLR.
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