Homemade Panoramic Pinhole Camera

"Camera without a lens which uses a very small hole pierced in one end to allow light to pass through and form an image on the back of the camera, which can be covered by film. Diffraction and light fall-off determine the optimum pin-hole size and image distance needed for maximum image quality." - The Photographer's Handbook by John Hedgecoe

What does one need to create a pinhole camera? Two important things: patience & creativity. Everyone has these two attributes. Does one need to know woodworking? NO. Does one need to know high math? NO. Does one need to be very intelligent? NO. Many links can be found on the web to help one to build and design a pinhole camera which I will list at the bottom of this article.

What tools will I need? A pinhole camera can be almost built with anything that is box-like and is sealed tightly. Some examples I've heard are oatmeal cans, soda cans, cereal boxes, shoe boxes, and a body cap of your favorite SLR camera. If you want to challenge yourself and have plenty of time on hand a nifty wooden one can be easily made. Finding the appropriate materials may be a bit of a hassle though. I am not a woodworking expert nor do I have any tools for sawing/drilling wood, therefore I needed more tools than an average household. Here are some of the tools and materials I needed:

• Coping Saw
• Elmer's Wood Glue
• Wood (Poplar), I know nothing about wood
• Dowels 1/2" & 1"
• Eye Hooks
• Latches
• Wooden Handle
• Sand paper
• #600 grit sand paper
• Brass shim (0.03" thick)
• Springs
• Black acrylic (matte)
• Black felt

Most tools/materials can be bought at local hardware stores. I started from scratch, so I used around $55 to buy all stuff I needed. The brass shim can be found at hobby shops, I got mine in a pack of 3 in different sizes for $3.00, but if you know an engineer they should easily locate some.

The most critical steps in creating a pinhole camera is determining the pinhole itself and the film transport system (if you are using roll film instead of sheet film). One has to first consider what format they would like to make for their camera. Most people would prefer 120 opposed to 35mm because of the bigger film size and said to yield better image quality. I personally chose 35mm because of the convenience of developing the negatives. My "pinoramic" camera is of course, panoramic, a 72mm x 24mm size. I never owned a panoramic camera and regular 36mm x 24mm is too typical and no fun at all. **Draw a sketch and do all the calculations before creating your camera.**

This is a basic sketch of my pinhole camera, it was modified from the original sketch I found at Jon Grepstad's webpage, the 120 sketch. [Innards] shows the insides of the camera, I used dowels, but woodworkers should have their own tools to easily make the spools. 1" dowels are for the knobs and 1/2" ones are for the spools, and I used the wood glue to attach together. The frame right smack in the middle with four sides and two metal rods is the film plane. I had earlier created the film plane before I glued it into the camera, it's wise to create all the sides first and glue them at the end. When advancing the film, I turn the right knob counterclockwise. I have a black mark on the top of the camera next to the knob to know how much I have advanced. [Back cover] shows the back cover of the camera. It is placed with 4 springs on each corner attached with a piece of wood in the front. This piece is to onset the film to lie flat on the film plane.

OK, here comes the important part, making the size of the pinhole. The size of the pinhole can be calculated using Larry Fratkin's pinhole calculator. See, no math is required... (good for people like me). A piece of brass shim is needed right now. I previously made a pinhole but unfortunately it was too big after I tried a roll of film through it, therefore, I had to rip the brass shim off and make a new one. My advice is, create your pinhole so that it can be easily removed to allow an error. Pinhole instructions can be found here.

Voila, here's my pinhole camera. The cover lying on the bottom is what determines the exposure, I just slip it off and on (as a shutter) for the amount of light the exposure needs. Determining your exposure times can be found at Larry Fratkin's pinhole design center. Make sure that the entire insides of the pinhole camera is painted in matte black, I had experienced some reflections caused by using varnish to paint the insides after I painted it black (that was dumb).

The black felts are used to glue around the knobs and the back cover to prevent light leaks. As you can see, I'm not an expert so it really depends on you to research some. But I hope this will give you somewhat an idea of how I made my pinhole camera and if you are up to this challenge. Mistakes are understandable, give yourself more time and go slowly through each process. It took me around 2 whole weeks to finish mine, it is surely a rewarding project to build your own camera and taking pictures with it.