• From: Arizona, USA
  • Registered: 2005-09-23
  • Posts: 5,057

Topic: TEST SHOTS ADDED--Pinhole Camera from Graflex XL Parts

Well, this thing has finally come together.  It's got a light leak I'm working on, but it's pretty much ready to go.

I made it from a graflok back and 2-1 inch spacers intended for a Graflex XL.
One of the spacers was sacrificed to provide a mount for the lens board.  The lens board will snap on and off (the conical buttons in front retain it).  The lens board is a piece of anodized aluminum cut to fit and bolted to the spacer.
Add that to the other 1 inch spacer and graflok back and you have a versitile pinhole camera.  The FL is about 45mm when you include the spacer and where the pinhole mounts on the shutter.  I can add another 1/2 inch spacer if I want a longer FL.
The pinhole is a .25mm laser drilled hole mounted on a larger aluminum disk and retained in the shutter via friction and a large rubber gasket.  I have other holes I could use if I wanted to match the hole to a different FL.
As you can see, it'll take a roll film back (6x9 is mounted) or a polaroid back.
Apperture with .25mm and 45mm is about f192.
The shutter is a Prontor Press.  Speeds are T, B and 1-125. With the long exposures necessary, I'll use it mostly on T setting.
I have a couple of 21mm finders laying around, I just need to figure out a handy cold shoe mount.  In the mean time, I just point it and use a finder in my hand to approximate the field of view.

Now all I need is an opprotunity to shoot something.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2234/1573182943_4d0c4e74f7_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2336/1574070218_bdd2794720_o.jpg

About Me

dazedgonebye's Website

  • From: UK - up north
  • Registered: 2006-02-23
  • Posts: 4,047

Re: TEST SHOTS ADDED--Pinhole Camera from Graflex XL Parts

Looks a very smart piece of kit Steve, I am interested to see the results.  Have you tried it with a proper lens?

Currently using Canon 5DII and NEX 6 with Olympus and Pentax converters.

Photo Blog

Wheelman's Website

  • MACS
  • Focus: Infinity
  • Offline
  • From: Amersfoort, the Netherlands
  • Registered: 2006-09-13
  • Posts: 1,742

Re: TEST SHOTS ADDED--Pinhole Camera from Graflex XL Parts

Looks really cool! Can't wait to see some results smile

Mark.

Mark.
Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II // Canon EOS 350D // Leica R7 // Bronica SQ-B // Olympus 35SP // Olympus XA
Lenslist: click

MACS's Website

  • buze
  • Administrator
  • Offline
  • From: Berks, England
  • Registered: 2005-08-10
  • Posts: 6,014

Re: TEST SHOTS ADDED--Pinhole Camera from Graflex XL Parts

Great hack Steve !! Can't wait to see what you turn out with :-)

Canon 5DII and a few lens -- Tachihara 8x10. Chamonix 45N-1, Crown Graphic 4x5. Moskva, Zeiss Super Ikonta C
Bronica S2A, Agfa Super Isolette, Iskra, Rolleiflex. Leica M2, Bessa R, Zorki 1,3,3M and a few more...
  • From: Arizona, USA
  • Registered: 2005-09-23
  • Posts: 5,057

Re: TEST SHOTS ADDED--Pinhole Camera from Graflex XL Parts

Adding test shots.

Full sized polaroid test shot, followed by 100% crop.

Is this going to be too sharp for pinhole character?

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2182/1581710840_103635e069_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2356/1581710924_b1ed2c96d4_o.jpg

About Me

dazedgonebye's Website

  • ryan s
  • Focus: Infinity
  • Offline
  • From: Madison, WI
  • Registered: 2007-07-31
  • Posts: 861

Re: TEST SHOTS ADDED--Pinhole Camera from Graflex XL Parts

Hey hey, a fellow 6th gen Accord owner big_smile

FWIW, I think it's a bit too sharp but...how could you solve that?

Pentax Bodies: K10D + D-BG2 | MX
M: Zenitar 16/2.8 | 28/2.8 | 50/1.7 M39: Mir-1 GP 37/2.8 M42: Vivitar 28/2.5  AD2: Tamron SP Macro 90/2.5
  • From: Arizona, USA
  • Registered: 2005-09-23
  • Posts: 5,057

Re: TEST SHOTS ADDED--Pinhole Camera from Graflex XL Parts

ryan s wrote:

Hey hey, a fellow 6th gen Accord owner big_smile

FWIW, I think it's a bit too sharp but...how could you solve that?

I'll tell my neighbor you like his car.... :-)

I could make it less sharp by choosing a pinhole size that is not so well matched to the FL, or I could use a needle to damage that whole just a bit.

About Me

dazedgonebye's Website

  • From: UK - up north
  • Registered: 2006-02-23
  • Posts: 4,047

Re: TEST SHOTS ADDED--Pinhole Camera from Graflex XL Parts

Looks good to me!  I am seeing a shot taken in your favourite diner, with everything in focus from the stuff on the bar inches from the camera to the people in the background.

Not what you would call an inconspicuous camera though but  wink

Currently using Canon 5DII and NEX 6 with Olympus and Pentax converters.

Photo Blog

Wheelman's Website

  • From: Las Vegas, NV.
  • Registered: 2005-09-05
  • Posts: 5,443

Re: TEST SHOTS ADDED--Pinhole Camera from Graflex XL Parts

This must be the deluxe model pinhole camera Steve. Nice results so far. smile
-Bruce

I put that adapter in a safe place, never to be seen again.
  • vilva
  • Focus: Way Over There
  • Offline
  • From: Porvoo, Finland
  • Registered: 2006-06-07
  • Posts: 433

Re: TEST SHOTS ADDED--Pinhole Camera from Graflex XL Parts

A quite nice project you have got smile

dazedgonebye wrote:

Adding test shots.

Full sized polaroid test shot, followed by 100% crop.

Is this going to be too sharp for pinhole character?

Lack of sharpness doesn't equate with pinhole character. With a properly dimensioned LF pinhole camera, one can get very sharp photos, and they are still pinhole photos. Here you are limited by the inherently low resolution of the Polaroid film. With normal 4x5 film you'd get much more detail - considering my first test photos with the 6x6 Zero 2000 were like this: http://galactinus.net/vilva/pinhole/demo_files/x3.jpg , which wasn't even very well scanned at the lab, I can do better myself.

  Veijo

VPK Meniscus Achromat , VPK Rapid Rectilinear, 1917 TTH Cooke Anastigmat, various 1930's Schneider-Kreuznach folder lenses
M42: Industar, Helios, Jupiter, Takumar, Schneider-Kreuznach, CZJ et al; Carl Zeiss for C/Y;
Leitz Wetzlar: 50mm Summicron-R (1st version), 60mm Macro-Elmarit-R, 90mm Elmarit-R (1st), 135mm Elmarit-R (2nd), 180mm Elmar-R, Elpro VIIa

vilva's Website

  • From: Arizona, USA
  • Registered: 2005-09-23
  • Posts: 5,057

Re: TEST SHOTS ADDED--Pinhole Camera from Graflex XL Parts

I ran out of time or I would have tested my super angulon 47mm for the same shot.  I suspect that, considering the polaroid, I would not have had much better results.

I need to get in front of some decent subject matter and see what I can do with this.

About Me

dazedgonebye's Website

  • From: Burnham, UK
  • Registered: 2007-01-30
  • Posts: 657

Re: TEST SHOTS ADDED--Pinhole Camera from Graflex XL Parts

It's perfect Steve, don't change a thing. Don't be surprised if you start seeing Chinese clones of this on the web soon!;)

Paul

Nikon D200, Nikon F90,  Rolleiflex SL35, Konica 1 rangefinder, Bronica SQAi, Yashica Mat & Yashica 24, Hasselblad XPan, 45mm f4 & 90mm f4, Chamonix 45N-1, Schneider Symmar 180mm f5.6, Schneider Super Angulon 90mm f5.6, Schneider 240 G-Claron f9, Polaroid 600 SE & SX70, Zero 2000 & Zero 45 pinhole cameras, Agfa Super Isolette

mitchtheshutter's Website

  • Xpres
  • Focus: Way Over There
  • Offline
  • From: Essex, England
  • Registered: 2007-07-20
  • Posts: 401

Re: TEST SHOTS ADDED--Pinhole Camera from Graflex XL Parts

Looks fine, and wow what blue sky you have!  Sooo Gray here. 
Maybe if you put he pinhole behind the shuter rather than in front you might get a wider angle?

And what if reality dissolved before our very eyes?
  • From: Arizona, USA
  • Registered: 2005-09-23
  • Posts: 5,057

Re: TEST SHOTS ADDED--Pinhole Camera from Graflex XL Parts

Xpres wrote:

Looks fine, and wow what blue sky you have!  Sooo Gray here. 
Maybe if you put he pinhole behind the shuter rather than in front you might get a wider angle?

I tried the pinhole behind the shutter, the shutter causes vignetting when I do that.

If I really wanted wider, I could use a shorter extension, I have one that is .5 inches so that would give me something near to 30mm.  I might try that, but that's getting wider than I normally want.

About Me

dazedgonebye's Website

  • From: Northern Alabama
  • Registered: 2006-12-18
  • Posts: 2,470

Re: TEST SHOTS ADDED--Pinhole Camera from Graflex XL Parts

Steve, agree with Paul, great results! Especially compared to other pinhole pics I've seen.

Bill

  • From: Copenhagen, Denmark
  • Registered: 2007-04-07
  • Posts: 1,478

Re: TEST SHOTS ADDED--Pinhole Camera from Graflex XL Parts

Excellent result! hope to see more of your pinhole shots. smile

Canon 350D, Nikkor 10.5mm 2.8,  CZ Distagon 18mm 4, Oly 21mm 3.5, CZ Distagon 28mm 2.8, CZ Distagon 35mm 1.4 HFT,  Canon 17-40l, CZ Planar 50mm 1.4 ZF, Tomioka 55mm 1.2,  CZ Planar 85mm 1.4, Canon 135mm 2 L
my galleries: http://www.flickr.com/photos/97676069@N00/,
http://picasaweb.google.com/ivmakarov,
my LJ: mr_equator.livejournal.com

mr_Equator's Website

  • From: Arizona, USA
  • Registered: 2005-09-23
  • Posts: 5,057

Re: TEST SHOTS ADDED--Pinhole Camera from Graflex XL Parts

I just did a couple of test shots using the graflex xlsw and polaroid for comparison to my pinhole shots.  I think it's safe to say that the polaroid film is indeed the limiting factor in the resolution of these shots.
I'm itching for a chance to do some actual pinhole shots on film.

About Me

dazedgonebye's Website

  • From: Northern Alabama
  • Registered: 2006-12-18
  • Posts: 2,470

Re: TEST SHOTS ADDED--Pinhole Camera from Graflex XL Parts

With pinhole cams, are you limited to ISO selection?  Perhaps not, with slower film you just leave it uncovered longer to make the shot.
Just curious what your first film selection would be.

  • From: Arizona, USA
  • Registered: 2005-09-23
  • Posts: 5,057

Re: TEST SHOTS ADDED--Pinhole Camera from Graflex XL Parts

funrazor wrote:

With pinhole cams, are you limited to ISO selection?  Perhaps not, with slower film you just leave it uncovered longer to make the shot.
Just curious what your first film selection would be.

I've chosen to use superia 100 because I found reciprocity data for that film.  I prefer to use color film because the local mini lab can develop it for me.
I think there is also data for the superia 400.  For the most part though, I want the longer exposure times because I hope to include movement in my film shots...if I ever get around to taking any.

About Me

dazedgonebye's Website