Topic: matchbox pinhole

[astrobeck]

my latest love is matchbox pinhole.
I had built a matchbox a few years ago, but never really got on with it until now, and now I just cant' get enough of it!

Some film strips I load individually and process as one shots.  They are tedious at best to load, shoot, unload and process this way, but it gives me some time to really think.

A couple of them for you to critique and have your say about are below.
Expired B&W fuji Neopan 400
Thanks!

[JoeV]

I saw one of these over on your blog and was meaning to comment. I absolutely love this soft, grainy, low-fi look, they seem to operate right at the periphery of legibility, and the added processing artifacts are great. This inspires me to try this myself, I have a 9-section matchbox-sized pinhole camera I made years ago from brass, that makes a 3x3 grid of images.

~Joe

[gsgary]

Could you explain how to go about making and using a match box pinhole, I have a bit of an idea how you do it, or do you explain it on your website

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

[astrobeck]

Thanks guys!
Appreciate the comments and as far as making and using...the first matchbox I made was done by using the instructions here:
http://www.matchboxpinhole.com/
I think he's a Filmwaster, at least he used to post from time to time.

The other matchbox I made was by using Lena Kallberg's excellent guide and template at:
http://pinhole.se/Bilder/SEYMOUR_135B_eng.pdf
She made a movie using pinhole and that's my next/current work in progress...a pinhole film noir using about 10 rolls of old black and white film. 

As far as me using them, I just hand hold them and aim and pray as they say.  I don't add tripod sockets although I have seen some boxes that have had them added.  The joy of matchbox for me is the smallness, stealthiness and curious looks when someone sees it and realizes the little box makes photos.
The clicker thing is great for spacing and not wasting too much film.

I can build one in about an hour, and have 6 in my current "fleet".
 

[ManuelL]

Looks very interesting (as in good interesting  ) - almost abstract. I like the effect.
Are you really processing them individually? I would try tossing them in the tank when developping some other film?

[astrobeck]

yes, some of them I load as singles and process a couple of sections/strips at a time.

I've built my latest cameras with "clickers/counters" so I load them like shown in the links ...more efficient, but still time consuming to load, shoot, unload and process.

Pinhole is never a fast process, it's what attracts me to it.

 

[Francois]

These are sweet.
I'm currently in the process of building a fleet of six over-engineered lunchbox pinholes that expose 5x5 photo paper.
My latest has an insane 25 holes with individual grid separators. Think of it as a no action super extra sampler.

I'm now starting to think in Stereo for my next one. I also need to devise some viewfinders for them...

[Indofunk]

Excellent! And thanks for the link, I think I'll try to make one! It looks a lot less scary to make than a lot of the intricate custom builds I've seen posted here

[Info Red]

.the first matchbox I made was done by using the instructions here:
http://www.matchboxpinhole.com/

I have used his instructions with great success, and just passed them along to another student of mine last night. The design is fun to build, and works great. I might have posted this image before - if so, I apologize - but am posting it again since it is currently being exhibited as a 22" x 22" piece in an exhibit of my work. They wanted me to have it printed 60" x 60", but unless someone else is paying for it, I think I'll pass…

Anyhow, it was taken on a grey rainy day in Illinois, f/stop approximately f/200, time was about 6-8 seconds, on expired Walgreen's 100 ISO film. I call it "Seurat's Elephant"…

Mark

[okuko]

I made a couple of matchbox pinhole cameras, too. It's really fun to built them and play around with different "models" For instance if you happen to find a slim and long matchbox you can make a super wide angle camera. 

Here are some of my shots. I'm thinking of making a new one for world pinhole day

[astrobeck]

Very cool and fun to build!
I just built another one for WPPD, and one for a friend!

Many ways to modify and make them your own thing too!!!
 

[jojonas~]

these are all cool, guys~ I initially thought about doing a matchbox pinhole workshop in the club but I'll let that be level 2 for my lil pinhole prospects

[zapsnaps]

Astrobeck: Wow! The first one looks either like a still from a Japanese movie or a (B&W) painting by the British landscape Romantic artist Turner (1775-1851). Turner, to my eye, painted abstracts and impressionist paintings many decades before the schools or movements were even conceived. And for me, this is exactly how Turner would have taken a photo. As you may have gathered by now, I love it!

[astrobeck]

Gosh!
To be compared to Turner is quite a reference...thanks!

He definitely had a style like no other during his time.
 
Becky

[al]

Thanks guys!
Appreciate the comments and as far as making and using...the first matchbox I made was done by using the instructions here:
http://www.matchboxpinhole.com/
I think he's a Filmwaster, at least he used to post from time to time.

Yes, still here, still slowly filmwasting.... although my rate of filmwasting seems to be diminishing exponentially (it will never reach zero of course though!!)  Still enjoying lurking here looking at everyone's great work.

Glad to see hear you've become a matchbox addict - I love whatever happened on "Driving Through the Mindstorm" (2nd one)

[Francois]

Hi Al!
Good to see you back

[astrobeck]

Well hello long lost Al!
Great to see you again!
Yep, matchbox addict indeed I am!  So much fun to build, manipulate and just flat out have fun with!

Hope to see you pop in more often!   
Becky

[Francois]

Definitely. You know, you can drop by just for a chat even if you don't have any photos to show

[Ed Wenn]

Beckster: Those photos are amazing. I always enjoy any work which makes mine look tack sharp by comparison  , but these two shots are really special. Very nicely done!

Al: I thought we'd banned you. Please let me know how you got back in. 

[al]

  Thanks guys, yes now that I've cracked the security I really must make the effort! You know how it is, there's periods of life where stuff just gets squeezed out by other stuff, just need a few more hours in the day

On the subject of matchbox pinhole, I've been following this blog by some chap called Clem who for the last year or so has been travelling and recording his experiences with a matchbox  - got to admire managing to keep this up!

http://memoriesinamatchbox.tumblr.com/

[jharr]

I finally got around to making a matchbox pinhole camera and taking some photos with it. I used 1/3 of a roll of Indofunk's nasty (read 'awesome') expired Ektachrome 64. I shot it at iso 6 with a .2mm pinhole (f/105). The pinhole is a little large for the 21mm distance, but softness is only one of the things that make these shots appeal to me. The photos were quite orange straight out of the scanner, so I corrected the red channel down a bit and I think I like the color more this way.
One from the courtyard at my church.

pinhole-003 by James Harr's Photos, on Flickr

Here are a couple with solarized sun flares. Notice the squiggle on the second one because I wiggled the camera a bit when I took the 'shutter' off.

pinhole-002 by James Harr's Photos, on Flickr


pinhole-005 by James Harr's Photos, on Flickr