Pinhole photographers

Ricky91t

OK I'll be quick and to the point what is the appeal of pinhole photography when I see the photo I see an out of focus shot which looks nasty,My camera phone could actually take better...What is the appeal of it?

Apologies,I've been brought up in the digital age :pac:

KarmaGarda

I have to be honest, I've been thinking the same thing

AnCatDubh

sometimes for a quirky aesthetic quality (one mans bad, blah de blah de....)

sometimes to go back to the roots

sometimes to gain understanding

never to compete with DSLR's or even camera phones

there is an appeal to tracing the photographic roots

some people lurve holga's

some people (elven put your hand up) put holga lens on 5d's (iirc)

I suggest you don't try to understand it

Mr. Grieves

Haven't done it myself but I've been meaning to for a while. Making a photograph with homeade shoebox camera or similar has a certain appeal. I've seen good results too: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sfduggan/sets/1359738/

The smaller the hole, the greater the depth of field, so if the hole's small enough you can get very sharp pictures without needing a lens to focus the light.

Then there's the scope for really long exposures - up to 6 months or more in the case of solargraphs.

Ghost Train

does give you infinite depth of field

Fajitas!

It's a different aesthetic, noone is telling you to like it.

I like it, you don't. Although, I ask you to look at examples that come from larger mediums than 35mm - At least 6x6cm, better still at 4x5in. There's a fantastic atmosphere/character in them.

Chorcai

Over at PI there are loads of amazing pin hole stuff.

CabanSail

To quote George Mallory


"Because it's there"


The obvious foil to this would be

"Just because you can doesn't mean you should"

KarmaGarda

Just to clarify, when I replied I wasn't saying I don't like it, just saying I didn't get the attraction. After looking at some of the replies and links here I'm beginning to understand what the fuss is all about. I must look into more of this!

dakar

I just got hold of a pinhole optic recently, and I've been mucking about with it as I'm sure you've seen on the random thread.

The reasons why are mostly outlined by AnCatDubh and Fajitas!

Here's the thing, I know I can take a pin-sharp, focused image of a given scene with my nifty fifty at f8 ISO100 (with a tripod if needs be) on my D300. Been there, done that and will do it again.

Sometimes it's nice to experiment I love the fact that there is literally nothing between the scene in front of me and the sensor but fresh air, no glass, no fancy coatings, no autofocus, no vibration reduction, just light travelling in straight lines.

I suppose what I'm saying is I like the process as much as the result (although as it happens, the aesthetic appeals to me too), nobody else has to like it!;)

And if you think the pinholes are bad, you should see my Zone Plate shots!:D

Morrisseeee

you should see my Zone Plate shots!

Nice abstracts there Please elaborate on your set-up, materials used etc.:o

The only wierd 'optic' I have is an old 50mm that I took apart and then re-assembled incorrectly, an interesting optic indeed !

Ciaran500

dakar wrote: »

And if you think the pinholes are bad, you should see my Zone Plate shots!:D

Can't get my head around the zone plate idea. Why not just blur photos beyond recognition in PS if you want that effect?

Ricky91t

Thanks all for replying,Will have a look at the linked stuff now

DaireQuinlan

Yeah definately look for pinhole stuff in 8x10 (inches) or bigger. Its a popular size for homemade pinhole stuff because you can use relatively cheap paper as the negative. The bigger the format the better. The optimum pinhole size that balances softness due to the largeness of the pinhole and softness due to diffraction (which increases as the pinhoke gets smaller) is related solely to focal length. So essentially the bigger the piece of film or sensor you can stick behind the pinhole the better, as long as you have the coverage. I've never been too interested in 35mm and digital pinhole work for this reason. 6x6 is where it starts getting interesting.