This segment is dedicated to the low tech realm of the Camara Obscura. The pinhole camera is a modern incarnation of the optical sciences that date back all the way to Aristotle. In this sense, the principal notions and fundametal ideas of photography have ancient roots, which provides that it can be one of the most complex and delicate vehicles for artistic expression

Building a pinhole camera is incredibly easy, the rules for developing one fall under 4 simple guidlelines; focal length, pinhole diameter/aperture, controlled medium exposure, and an exposure method (shutter). With this in mind it is also wonderful to consider how your camera connects to your work subjectively and objectively. Consider how it will behave in the field. You may choose to build cameras in an origami fashion out of paper and glue. If you're in a hostile environmemnt then you'll want to design water proofing. The possibilities are wide open and the results can be quite satisfying.

This page will provide the bare bones of the info one needs to build a camera ex nihilo and will also have some links to important charts as well as a visual demo and examples.

These sketches are the brainchild of a 4"x5" back pinhole that accomodates film slides. This is a layout of the basic camera body and velvet lined back. There are two crucial measurements to get right in any pinhole camera which are; leaving room enough in the camera body for the exposure plane where the film sits, and making sure the distance from the film plane to the lens is the exact distance established by a focal distance chart or calculation found here.

The body for this camera was assembled from pressboard puzzlepieces that were cut out and notched with an industrial razor blade. The puzzle edges were compensated for in the initial measurements and allowed for structural integrity without the use of heavier fasteners. The inner panels of a camera should always be painted black to absorb any "light bounce" from hitting the film.

Upon glueing the frame together with wood glue, tag-board buttressing was added to joints for structural and light soundness. Raised tripod mounts can be easily created by embedding the right size nut for your tripod into a sound base, you can even make a groove for the bearing so that it locks. Next, all critical joints can be sealed w/ electrical tape- then the camera gets a hearty coat of black duct tape. With the velvet lined cartidge film slides can be easily loaded.

For the lens/shutter I use a basic paper tab with a strip of velvet that works a lot like a film slide. The lens is 'drilled' out of a piece of aluminum using the proper diameter sewing needle (ex.) to produce the most perfect hole possible. This camera has an interchangeable lens system that uses a metal bracket to stick a magnet backed lens to the front- providing a light-free seal. I came up with this system because I wanted a fairly permanent 4x5 model so that It could be used with a variety of lenses including slits or zone plates. As a bonus, damaged lenses are disposable.

For a viewsite, triangulate site angle by drawing a line from the corner's of the film plane to the pinhole. Looking direcly down one of these angles will help frame the edge of a shot. A site can be added to the top (horizontal alignment,) or the side (vertical alignment.)

The resulting fidelty of the pinhole image makes a succesful camera well worth the work. To learn more about pinhole photography visit:

www.pinhole.org

For image examples: [(O)]