How to Make a Milk Box Camera

You can make a simple camera with just a light-tight milk box and a tiny pinhole for a lens. These pinhole cameras operate in the same way that more sophisticated cameras do; they let light pass through an aperture and expose light-sensitive paper. You can take and develop pinhole camera pictures at home. Load paper into the camera in total darkness, and process the prints under a red or orange safe light. You'll need to buy print developer, stop bath and fixer to process the paper. You'll enjoy making this camera, and you'll learn a lot about photography.

Difficulty:

Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Milk box or similar box
• Black paint
• Black electrical tape
• Scissors
• Aluminum foil
• Needle or pin

1. Choose a box for your camera. You can use a milk box, a shoebox, a photo paper box or even a cylindrical oatmeal container. The longer the distance between the pinhole and the paper in the box you choose, the longer the camera's focal length. Cameras with longer focal lengths will function more like telephoto lenses, allowing you to get closer to your subject, and cameras with shorter focal lengths will function like wide-angle lenses, with greater depth of field.

2. Paint the box completely black to minimize any light reflecting off of its surface. Seal any small holes or tears in the box with black electrical tape.

3. Cut a square hole in one end of the box with scissors or a knife. Cover the hole with aluminum foil and tape the foil down with black electrical tape.

4. Poke a tiny pinhole in the center of the foil with a needle or pin.

5. Make a shutter flap out of black electrical tape large enough to cover the aluminum foil square. Attach the flap with tape above the foil. When you load paper into the box, secure the shutter flap with additional pieces of tape to prevent light from entering the box. When you open the shutter to make your exposure, you will have to lift the additional tape.

6. Secure the box's lid with black electrical tape every time you load paper into the camera to prevent light from leaking in.

References

• Kodak.com: How to Make and Use a Pinhole Camera
• Rcn.com: Oatmeal Box Pinhole Cameras
• Teachingengineering.org: Create a Pinhole Camera

Resources

• Pinhole.org: A Gallery of Contemporary Pinhole Photography
• Pinholeresource.com: The Pinhole Resource