Images will open in a new window
Pinhole
The Voigtlander Bessa 66 is a German 6x6 folding camera from the late forties. Given the wrecked lens and bellows it was a good contender for pinhole conversion.
The front panel has been sealed shut on the body and the shutter is now mounted on the front. The pinhole disk lies just behind the shutter.
The Arti-Six is a 6x9 camera that was made in Britain in the early fifties. The body is bakelite and the lens and shutter are mounted on a tinplate screw thread. Removing the diopter lens required minor surgery, but it now has a 0.3mm pinhole mounted in the shutter, 70mm from the film plane.
There is no hinge to secure the back cover, as the back and front were designed to clip together. The clip is worn so it needs tape to secure the back in place. A 6x9 takes 8 shots on 120 roll film.
The Koroll S is a 120 roll film camera made by Bencini, Milan, around 1950. Since the single diopter lens unscrews from the front it is a very simple conversion to pinhole. A strip of copper sheet with a 0.29mm pinhole is taped inside the barrel behind the shutter. The focal length is 75mm.
It's an odd camera, as the body is made of cast aluminium and it has a telescoping lens barrel. However, it's ideal for a pocketable pinhole with a big 6x6 or 6x4.5 negative, especially as it also has a viewfinder. The shutter has a B setting and flash sync, and with an ultra fast film it can be used hand-held.
The Vag-Luxette is a pinhole conversion using the body and film holder of a late-twenties Voigtlander Vag and the shutter from a Luxette of the fifties. The Vag can take 6.5x9cm sheet film, but it's more practical to slip a 120 roll film holder on the back to give 6x7cm negatives. Focal length 45mm.
Most pinhole exposures are several seconds or minutes long so the 'B' setting is used with a locking cable release. However, the shutter also has speeds from /100 to /25 and a flash sync connection, so the slow speeds might be used with flash and a fast film.
The Box Pinhole has a 90mm focal length and takes 4"x5" sheet film in standard double dark slides. An extended front section increases the f/l to 200mm. Using a large film format means that the final images can appear very sharp on a monitor after resizing and sharpening, but the negative is also suitable making for large size prints.
Making the Pinhole
I use stiff copper sheet, cut to the size of a plastic 35mm slide mount. Create a dimple on one side with a ball-point pen by pressing down lightly against a piece of soft wood. Then, using what I think is an Arkansas oil stone (it's pretty fine) abrade the bump gently until a 1mm circular abrasion appears. This makes the bump thinner for the needle. They were difficult to find but I got some numbered needles - mostly I use a #13 which is 0.3mm dia.
Carefully rotate the needle point against the inside of the depression - this is where you'll make burrs if you push in too roughly. The drilling motion is a bit like trying to light a fire, only real slow. Once the tip is through you should only go a short way up the 'cone' end of the needle, don't go right through - the hole is probably already bigger than the needle diameter, so stop. Carefully abrade the bump side again - and then put it on the scanner. Check the diameter in mm under Image Size.
If it's not a circle you can try again gently with the needle. If the hole's too big - throw it away and do another.
Fit to slide mount, use a black felt tip pen in the area immediately around the hole and black paint over the back of the rest of it. Tape the mount onto your box camera.Alternatively, if you're using an old folder camera, remove the lenses from the old shutter and cut the copper sheet into a circle to fit behind the aperture leaves.
E Voila! Start shooting.
Copyright Notice. All material on this site, text and images, is the property of Sandeha Lynch and may not be used in any context without prior permission. Copyright ©2000-2010 Sandeha Lynch.