Topic: Pinholes for thickies!

[vicky slater]

I've made quite a few pinholes with my digital camera and have really enjoyed them
http://vickyslater.com/gallery_276529.html
 but the quality is really not so good...probably partly because i've not shot raw and have usually had to adjust them by cropping or curves etc.

anyway i now have a pinhole cap for the hassy and want to give it a try.
technical things are not my strong point so i'm wondering if any of you can give me a clue where to start.
i'm going to be using f350 on a 160 film in a room where i'd normally be shooting f2.8 @ around 125 or even 60.
maths is not my strong point....i'm thinking maybe 3 or 4 mins? am i wildly off? (probably :).
Luckily i can get it deved within an hour to see how badly i've done but i'd like to waste as little film and time as possible.

any help appreciated!

(re estimated to about 7 minutes...think i'll use 800 film instead or i'll be there forever)

[Diane Peterson]

Vicky..I have downloaded this page from    http://www.mrpinhole.com/exposure.php
and it works perfectly..well, I guess thats relative..but it truly is a great tool to use..just plug in what f stop your pinhole has and it generates the rest..hope it helps..Randy at Holgamods is a dear friend and he always says to me "be the emulsion"..but this works better for me..LOL!

[Diane Peterson]

Just did the math and it says 2 minutes 2 seconds for F350 based on your F2.8 at 125 numbers.

[Pete_R]

The chart from mrpinhole doesn't take into account the reciprocity failure of the film. You could adjust manually if you check the details of whatever film you are using or you could try this from pinhole.cz which takes it into account, assuming it has the film you're using listed.

[Andrea.]

Actually I rather like your colour pinholes Ms Slater.
I self-hole with a pin into silver-foil, have a wide-angle self-converted franka-rolfix camera that works out about f90 ish. My lightmeter goes to f90 too. viola! As for reciprocity, I use the given exposure up to about 10 secs then after that add some more. 15=20, 20=30, 1min =2min. works for me although the only colours I usually use are black, white and grey.

[vicky slater]

Thanks chaps, you're stars :)

Diane, that's just the kinda thing I was looking for, at least til I get a feel of how it goes, thank you!

Peter, i'll add on a little and see...it's all expired film, don't know if that'll have much bearing on things.

Thanks Andrea, my lightmeter (such as it is) only makes it to f64 and is only useful in ordinary situations...the needle gets stuck if it's too extreme :)


Anyway, I'll post one up after my first attempt...I'm really curious to see!

[vicky slater]

anyone used chrome for pinholes, btw?

[gothamtomato]

I've made quite a few pinholes with my digital camera and have really enjoyed them
http://vickyslater.com/gallery_276529.html
 

Those pinholes are quite beautiful.

I like the idea of turning an ultra-sharp Hasselblad into a pinhole. It's so gangsta.

Did you make the pinhole cap yourself?

[Info Red]

I would  recommend picking up a Black Cat Pinhole Exposure Guide from: http://www.pinholeresource.com/.  It covers just about every contingency for shooting pinhole, no matter the size.

They also carry a wide range of pinhole body caps, cameras, kits, books, and related materials for all things pinhole.  Eric Renner is a master pinholer, has been doing it for years, and his book "American Disguise" is an amazing collection of pinhole images accompanied by fascinating text.

I have a Hasselblad pinhole body cap from him, and it does wonderful work, as well as one for my Nikons. 

Info Red

I forgot to mention that he has caps for both film and digital cameras.  The big difference is that the digital ones keep dust from entering and landing on your sensors.  And, if you have an interest in the history of pinholes and how they relate to the infancy of photography, he wrote an excellent book on that, as well.

IR

[Diane Peterson]

Peter, thank you for posting that information..being prolly the least knowledgeable person on filmwasters about such things as reciprosity I just try to figure these things out but I use my nikon f100 with 100 film to meter the same area I am shooting film of the same speed in a pinhole and adjust to the pinholes F stop.....and it has worked so far so I am really flying by the seat of my pants..in time I will figure this thing out!

[astrobeck]

I'm late to the table here, but you do indeed need to allow some margin for reciprocity.
So give your exposures a bit more time for that...especially if you are shooting in shade or indoors.

As far as shooting chrome, it shifts a bit to the blue IMO-- but each film brand has its own quirkiness when it comes to that as far as color goes.  I shoot Kodak since in my use it seems to shift less than the Fuji.  I also use expired films that have been in the fridge so that also comes into play but not much in my experience.

Print film is not so shifty, but I always find the shift is interesting and adds to the overall pinhole "look".

Most of the time I just pretend to "be" the emulsion or paper and do it by when I think the film has had enough light.  I don't count or use a watch anymore, I just do an Obi-Wan and stop the exposure when I feel it's done.

Sounds crazy, but it's what I do.   

Love your shots, and hope to see more soon from your next adventure.

Astro

Hope this helps.

[astrobeck]

one more thought......

You can go through the World Pinhole Day galleries and look at the photos with their details, cameras, film/paper types, exposures etc. to get more ideas of exposures and how they were made.

I find it very enlightening.

http://www.pinholeday.org/

 

Astro

[vicky slater]

Thanks everyone...there is now no excuse when I balls it up :)

[Pitxu]

I've made quite a few pinholes with my digital camera and have really enjoyed them
http://vickyslater.com/gallery_276529.html
 but the quality is really not so good...probably partly because i've not shot raw and have usually had to adjust them by cropping or curves etc.

Nonsense!

That's a brilliant series!

[vicky slater]

thanks pitxu.

by poor quality i mean i can't print them large...they're fine at 8x10 size but i've been asked for them much bigger and they won't go :(

[Francois]

That's because the hole you used is too big. Unlike a lens, the image created by pinholes is made up of a series of pinhole sized disks. Think of it a bit like round pixels...

[gothamtomato]

I have a Hasselblad pinhole body cap from him, and it does wonderful work, as well as one for my Nikons. 

I just checked that out. I was wondering, when you put a pinhole cap on an SLR, can you see the image through the viewfinder?

[Pitxu]

Also, it must be reminded that there is an optimum size for the hole for any given focal length.

I can recommend this wonderful little program which calculates the best size pinhole for your desired focal length. (and much more).

http://www.pinhole.cz/en/pinholedesigner/

It's a free download for windows.

[astrobeck]

I have a Hasselblad pinhole body cap from him, and it does wonderful work, as well as one for my Nikons. 

I just checked that out. I was wondering, when you put a pinhole cap on an SLR, can you see the image through the viewfinder?

You can--- if the subject/scene is bright enough.
I have a body cap for my old Pentax K1000, and have used a flash- light aimed at the subject (indoors) to make sure I had the subject positioned where I wanted it in the frame.
I've done similar with the Crown Graphic and homemade lens boards and pinholes.
If you can shield your face or eyes from the surrounding brightness,even with a cupped hand, it's not too difficult to see the image through the viewfinder in most cases.

[vicky slater]

That's because the hole you used is too big. Unlike a lens, the image created by pinholes is made up of a series of pinhole sized disks. Think of it a bit like round pixels...

Francois, that makes sense...i think the one i've been using is about f164 or something, i can see the hole is substantially larger than the hassy cap.
which means that unless i try and do the film ones i'm scuppered


gothamtomato, i bought the cap from holgamods.

[vicky slater]

and thanks everyone, you've been really helpful!