Building a Pinhole Camera

[WGibsonPhotography]

After reading Cus's pinhole camera thread, I decided that I wanted to build a pinhole camera (or at least design one on paper and give up after the math required to design one kicked my butt).

I printed out an article on Geocities that gave the pinhole diameter formulas, f/stop formula (which I already knew), and other calculations. This article gives aperture diameter formulas in inches and millimeters. I decided to use millimeters because I'm more familiar with the metric system. The formula for pinhole diameter in millimeters is.

"Pinhole Diameter=0.0366(square root of focal length)"

Since I'm not a fan of math, I decided to use a nice, even number. I stupidly picked 1mm as my diameter, not thinking of how big that would make the camera. I ended up with a camera 15.8 feet long :\

If anyone is interested in how I (correctly ir incorrectly) came up with that, I'll type out my process.

Pinhole Diameter=0.0366(square root of focal length) with a 1mm pinhole diameter

1=0.0366(square root of x)

1^2=(0.0366^2)(x)

1=0.00133956x

1/0.00133956=x

x=746.5137806

I rounded 746.5137806 to 746.5mm

To get 15.8 feet, I multiplied 746.5 by 10 to get 74.65cm. I then divided 74.65 by 2.54 to get 29.38in.

This is actually a lot more practical than the calculation I had before. It's amazing how one mistake can throw a measuremoent off that much

[bdial]

Your Metric to English conversion is off, to go from cm to inches you divide. 74.65 cm is 29.38 inches (74.65/2.54). Still pretty long but not so bad as 15 feet (4572 mm).

If you have access to, or buy a machinist's caliper, you can just measure the needle, then using the formulas figure out what the FL would be. Cheap ones are around for 20 USD, or so.

[Paul Cocklin]

I'm afraid the math is incorrect. You shouldn't multiply your cm to get inches, you should divide. A quick look shows that 746mm is less than 1 meter, so it's got to be under 3 feet. Notwithstanding this, it would still be a big camera.

[Christopher Walrath]

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry9000/4.6.0.167 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/102 UP.Link/6.3.0.0.0)

Mike your needle and multiply by 300 (edit) to get your focal length () and you should have a great aperture.

[BetterSense]

I think you mean focal length.

[DWThomas]

As long as the needle has a good sharp point, the dimple-and-sand method can produce a pinhole smaller than the needle diameter. You don't push the needle through, you just raise a bump and use fine sandpaper to remove enough material to expose a hole. (I use #600 wet-or-dry wet.) That process also gives the hole some approximation of a knife edge. Then you can work your way up to the desired diameter. The trick is being able to measure where you are. Purely by accident, I have a little 50x hand-held microscope with a direct measuring reticle built in, which works for me, but I know some folks are pretty successful using a [whisper] scanner [/whisper] to come up with a measurement.

I would be inclined to pick the "focal" length and then work up the pinhole size. But that's partly because my efforts to date have involved making adapters to fit existing camera gear.

DaveT

[WGibsonPhotography]

Originally Posted by Paul Cocklin

I'm afraid the math is incorrect. You shouldn't multiply your cm to get inches, you should divide. A quick look shows that 746mm is less than 1 meter, so it's got to be under 3 feet. Notwithstanding this, it would still be a big camera.

I actually thought that very same thing as I was driving around in my car just a while ago. Apparently I shouldnt be doing metric to english conversions early in the morning

I'm suprised it was the conversion that I screwed up and not the actual focal length formula. A pinhole camera just under 30in is much more doable than a 15 footer. I wouldnt be able to fit something 15 feet in my car

[WGibsonPhotography]

I have one more question: Would balsa wood be an appropriate material to make a pinhole camera out of (painted, of course)? I think I can get sheets of it at a local crafts store.

[BetterSense]

Take a high-powered flashlight and hold it right up against the material, and hold it right next to your eye while sheilding it with your hand. If you can't see the light at all when you turn it off and on, it should be good. I doubt balsa wood will be light-tight enough.

[WGibsonPhotography]

Originally Posted by BetterSense

Take a high-powered flashlight and hold it right up against the material, and hold it right next to your eye while sheilding it with your hand. If you can't see the light at all when you turn it off and on, it should be good. I doubt balsa wood will be light-tight enough.

that's a good idea. Balsa wood is pretty thin, and I doubt it'll be good enough unless I paint it. Even then, the paint might be good enough. I should be able to find something at Hobby Lobby that'll work, even if it isnt balsa wood