Here's another 35mm pinhole camera, this one was actually made before the matchbox pinhole, but the construction principles are very similar. Read the instructions for the matchbox pinhole first.
This one requires even less stuff to build it! :-) For this, you need:
- A roll of normal 35mm film in a box
- Some black tape
- A bit of aluminium foil, or a piece of aluminium cut from a drinks can
- A pin
- A black felt tip pen
- Either an empty 35mm canister or a roll of the cheapest 35mm film you can find (in this case, pull out all the film and cut it off two inches from the canister)
Very conveniently, a 35mm film box is just the right width for 35mm film! :-)
Open both ends of the film box, very carefully so that the card doesn't tear. Colour the inside of the box black with the felt tip pen (or use matt black paint) This will help stop internal light reflections spoiling the pictures.
Carefully cut a small hole, about 10mm square in the centre of the front of the box. Make a very small pinhole in the middle of the foil, aim for about 0.25mm (0.01"). Stick the foil over the hole in the centre of the box.
Thread the film through the box, and attach to the film "stub" on the empty canister. Then close down the flaps at each end. One flap at each end will lie on the back of the canister so and will help protect from light leaks.Wind the film to tighten up the canisiters against the box and get to work with plenty of black tape! :-)
(Note: in the photo above, both canisters have the sticking-out end of the spool pointing upwards. This is because for this one I took the canister apart and replaced the spool upside down. Normally, one will point up, the other will point down)
Build a shutter out of card to fit on the front.
A wind on clicker can be used for this design too, just allow 12 clicks between each frame.
I've only tested this camera once so far, and unfortunately I got the exposure calculations wrong and totally overexposed all the shots. This was about the only one that came out at all!
10/04/08 @ 20:35