Topic: Is it possible to shoot pinhole with a TLR

[gsgary]

Ive got a lovely Mamiya C330 with 80 and 135mm lenses but I have been given a C220 body and wondered if it was possible to shoot pinholes with it, this is all Paul fault after getting his postcard

[Late Developer]

Sandeha Lynch has done some shots with a meniscus lens fitted into the sockets of a Mamiya C3, so I can't see any reason why, with a bit of jiggery-pokery, it shouldn't be possible to remove the shutter and turn the taking lens into a pin-hole.

I haven't done it myself but I'm sure one of the technologically-gifted amongst the FW fraternity will either have done it or will know how it might be done.

[gsgary]

I have got the blanking plate that covers both sighting aperture and taking aperture I could drill a hole and cover it with gaffer tape but I'm not sure if it would advance the film without a lens fitted

[02Pilot]

I don't know how difficult it is to remove the lens elements from the Mamiya lens/shutter assemblies, but if it were me I'd be looking at trying to do just that. Maybe find a lens assembly with trashed glass, take it out, and replace the front element with a pinhole? If the glass were bad enough to be useless, and thus sacrificial, you could just break out the front element and mount the pinhole in the mounting ring.

[Francois]

I've never handled one so I have a hard time figuring out if it would be possible to do something easily with it.

Right now, my lack of sleep brain keeps thinking rubber cork stopper... the big ones with a hole in the middle that you get from wine making shops... 

[gsgary]

I don't know how difficult it is to remove the lens elements from the Mamiya lens/shutter assemblies, but if it were me I'd be looking at trying to do just that. Maybe find a lens assembly with trashed glass, take it out, and replace the front element with a pinhole? If the glass were bad enough to be useless, and thus sacrificial, you could just break out the front element and mount the pinhole in the mounting ring.

Lenses come out by just releasing a spring clip I think it is the only TLR where you can change lenses

[gsgary]

I've never handled one so I have a hard time figuring out if it would be possible to do something easily with it.

Right now, my lack of sleep brain keeps thinking rubber cork stopper... the big ones with a hole in the middle that you get from wine making shops... 

home brew shop 5 minutes drive from me, but wouldnt I have to make the hile smaller ?

[limr]

I've never handled one so I have a hard time figuring out if it would be possible to do something easily with it.

Right now, my lack of sleep brain keeps thinking rubber cork stopper... the big ones with a hole in the middle that you get from wine making shops... 

home brew shop 5 minutes drive from me, but wouldnt I have to make the hile smaller ?

Or drill the hole in a piece of metal glue that to the cork, then use a magnet as a shutter?

[gsgary]

I've never handled one so I have a hard time figuring out if it would be possible to do something easily with it.

Right now, my lack of sleep brain keeps thinking rubber cork stopper... the big ones with a hole in the middle that you get from wine making shops... 

home brew shop 5 minutes drive from me, but wouldnt I have to make the hile smaller ?

Or drill the hole in a piece of metal glue that to the cork, then use a magnet as a shutter?

Bloody hell great idea with the magnet, all I need to do is find out what size hole got 4 roll of fp4 so I may be able to try it this weekend

[gsgary]

I've never handled one so I have a hard time figuring out if it would be possible to do something easily with it.

Right now, my lack of sleep brain keeps thinking rubber cork stopper... the big ones with a hole in the middle that you get from wine making shops... 

home brew shop 5 minutes drive from me, but wouldnt I have to make the hile smaller ?

Or drill the hole in a piece of metal glue that to the cork, then use a magnet as a shutter?

Bloody hell great idea with the magnet, all I need to do is find out what size hole got 4 roll of fp4 so I may be able to try it this weekend

[02Pilot]

I don't know how difficult it is to remove the lens elements from the Mamiya lens/shutter assemblies, but if it were me I'd be looking at trying to do just that. Maybe find a lens assembly with trashed glass, take it out, and replace the front element with a pinhole? If the glass were bad enough to be useless, and thus sacrificial, you could just break out the front element and mount the pinhole in the mounting ring.

Lenses come out by just releasing a spring clip I think it is the only TLR where you can change lenses

I think you misunderstand my intent. I'm not talking about removing the lens/shutter assembly, I'm talking about removing the glass elements from the taking lens, replacing the front element with a pinhole, and leaving the shutter intact. This would allow you to use the original shutter mechanism without any additional modifications to the camera, thus no worries about the film advance. You'd still be able to use filters as well.

[Bryan]

I don't think you need to have the lens in place to advance the film but you will have to push the shutter button to allow it to advance the film.  It would be nice to use an old lens as mentioned above so that you can use the viewfinder for framing.  the lens elements unscrew from the shutter assembly pretty easily.  They can be hard to get going the first time if they are tight.  I read somewhere about using a 135 film container and electrical tape to remove the lens elements if they are stuck.  I think this is how I did mine to clean them. 

[gsgary]

I don't know how difficult it is to remove the lens elements from the Mamiya lens/shutter assemblies, but if it were me I'd be looking at trying to do just that. Maybe find a lens assembly with trashed glass, take it out, and replace the front element with a pinhole? If the glass were bad enough to be useless, and thus sacrificial, you could just break out the front element and mount the pinhole in the mounting ring.

Lenses come out by just releasing a spring clip I think it is the only TLR where you can change lenses

I think you misunderstand my intent. I'm not talking about removing the lens/shutter assembly, I'm talking about removing the glass elements from the taking lens, replacing the front element with a pinhole, and leaving the shutter intact. This would allow you to use the original shutter mechanism without any additional modifications to the camera, thus no worries about the film advance. You'd still be able to use filters as well.

I get you, I think the front of the lens unscrews but I wouldn't want to effect the lenses I have because they are super sharp

[gsgary]

Bingo just unscrewed the 135mm and it all came out revealing the shutter

[Sandeha Lynch]

I wuz about to suggest 'don't', but you're obviously au fait with how they come together.  Note that here I'm using a pair of rear element meniscus lenses set at the rear of my shutter plate:






In place of the lower lens I've used another element casing to hold a pinhole, and that allowed me a comparison of pinhole and meniscus:






You can see that the second one is the pinhole, yes? 

It's not terribly wide, in fact the focal length strikes me as more suitable for the meniscus lens, if compared to sticking a pinhole onto a flattened (closed) Isolette:





And even this one was cropped !!

Nothing wrong, though, with just taping some black card onto the face plate, shoving your pinhole into the middle, using a magnet or other as a shutter, and composing with the sports finder.

[Francois]

It would be nice to use an old lens as mentioned above so that you can use the viewfinder for framing.

Isn't there a sports finder in the viewing hood?

[Bryan]

It would be nice to use an old lens as mentioned above so that you can use the viewfinder for framing.

Isn't there a sports finder in the viewing hood?

There is but the reflex viewfinder is much better.  I was thinking that's the point of using a TLR?

[gsgary]

I hope to get some shots over the weekend,  not sure how to work out exposure but my meter goes upto F90 so I eill guess from there and try different timing on each shot so next time I will be able to meter it

[Francois]

Get the pinhole designer. It prints out conversion charts that allow you to meter at f/22 and get times for your pinhole.

[Diane Peterson]

I was given a Lubitel 166b which I turned I to a pinhole...works perfectly in fact just sent one of the resulting image prints to James in San Diego..

[jharr]

I was given a Lubitel 166b which I turned I to a pinhole...works perfectly in fact just sent one of the resulting image prints to James in San Diego..

I agree, it works perfectly!

[gsgary]

Get the pinhole designer. It prints out conversion charts that allow you to meter at f/22 and get times for your pinhole.

Cheers I will have a look at that, by the was I love your podcasts

[Sandeha Lynch]

Or this ...

http://www.ilfordphoto.com/Webfiles/2011106152612113.pdf

[Francois]

Get the pinhole designer. It prints out conversion charts that allow you to meter at f/22 and get times for your pinhole.

Cheers I will have a look at that, by the was I love your podcasts

I must admit it's been so long since Ed Leon and I have made anything on that front...

[gsgary]

Well I managed to get away from work early so I made a pinhole adapter and took some shots of one of my motorbikes but I have just made a rookie mistake, its been that long since I developed 120 I only use 300ml of developer but I have got images circular ones not sure if that is normal or I need to get the pinhole nearer to the film

[Francois]

It could actually be the opposite. Too close to the film.

The closer to the film, the more light falloff you'll get. Think of it as half a sphere with the pinhole in its center.
The distance between the pinhole and the film dictates the size of the orb. If the orb is small, you get lots of light fall-off... this a circular image.
If the orb is big, then you get little falloff as the film is covered by more than than a tiny dot in the center of the image.


Personally, I think you probably have a vignetting problem either inside the camera or outside.

[gsgary]

It could actually be the opposite. Too close to the film.

The closer to the film, the more light falloff you'll get. Think of it as half a sphere with the pinhole in its center.
The distance between the pinhole and the film dictates the size of the orb. If the orb is small, you get lots of light fall-off... this a circular image.
If the orb is big, then you get little falloff as the film is covered by more than than a tiny dot in the center of the image.


Personally, I think you probably have a vignetting problem either inside the camera or outside.

Your a star I have just checked the negs and the last exposure I move the bellows out not fully and it has nearly filled the frame

[gsgary]

My Heath Robinson set up

[02Pilot]

I can't tell from the photos - is all the glass removed from the taking lens, or is the pinhole just stuck in front of it? If the latter, I imagine there would be some effect on the images.

[gsgary]

Glass is out and it is taped to the housing