How a Pinhole Lens Works

When you think of a pinhole lens, you may automatically picture the lens on a pinhole camera. However, there are also pinhole glasses, which are made with pinhole lenses. The fundamental principle that makes each type work is the same.

Pinhole Lens

Pinhole lenses control how light is processed by the eye. By reducing the light and streamlining it so that it passes through a center point --- be it the pinhole lens on a camera or the center point of the pupil through pinhole glasses --- it produces a sharper image.

Pinhole Camera

You can make a pinhole camera with something as simple as a Quaker Oats container. It doesn't have a traditional lens but rather a single, usually small, aperture called a pinhole lens. The pinhole lens forces every point of light in a scene to form a single, small point on the film. Usually, the smaller the pinhole, the crisper the resulting image.

Pinhole Glasses

Pinhole glasses have lenses that are covered with tiny holes that help constrict the pupil. These holes change the way light enters your eye, and by affecting pupil dilation, they help people see more clearly. Pinhole lenses show all objects as they appear naturally through every part of the lens. Objects viewed through the edges of traditional lenses can appear distorted.

References

• Myopia: Pinhole Glasses
• Camera Hacker: Making a Pinhole Camera