How to Build a Pinhole Camera From an SLR
A pinhole camera, one of the oldest types of photographic equipment, creates images without using a physical lens. A pinhole photography image has particular characteristics, such as a softer-than-usual appearance and virtually infinite depth of field. By making a simple modification to the body cap of your digital single-lens reflex (SLR) camera, you can use it for pinhole photography.
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Things You'll Need
- Digital SLR camera with body cap
- Drill with 1/8-inch bit
- Square of thin aluminum cut from a soda can
- Sewing needle
- Fine sandpaper
- Utility knife
- Black permanent marker
- Black electrical tape
Instructions
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Drill a hole with the 1/8-inch bit in the center of the camera's body cap. The exact size of the hole is unimportant.
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2
Puncture the aluminum square with the needle, twisting the needle to ensure the aluminum does not bend. Create as small a hole as possible, preferably about 0.25 mm.
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Cut a circle around the hole with the utility knife so that the aluminum piece is small enough to fit inside the cap, but large enough that you will have room to tape its edges to the cap. Sand the metal until it is flat and smooth and the hole is uniformly round.
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4
Darken both sides of the aluminum piece with the marker so it no longer reflects. Tape the aluminum to the back of the body cap, making sure the hole in the aluminum is in the center of the hole in the cap. Attach the cap to the camera.
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Tips & Warnings
The flatter and smoother you make the aluminum around the hole, the sharper your photos will turn out.
A jagged pinhole or bent aluminum will greatly degrade the quality of your photographs. Because a pinhole camera has a large f-stop, you will need to use more light and a longer exposure time than for normal photos. You will need to use a tripod when shooting.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit film-camera on camera-bag image by Andrii Oleksiienko from Fotolia.com
