Pinhole Photo project

VinDevo

I'm planning to do a workshop with primary school kids for World Pinhole day on April 14th.

I'm looking for old/dated polaroid/fuji instant film - if anyone has some they'd like to donate or know where there might be a stock lying around I'd greatly appreciate it

Film is the 3"x4" type - Fuji designation is FC-100P

thanks

sineadw

Without wanting to sound rude, the stuff you're asking for is *very* expensive (even out of date) and in the case of Polaroid is very hard to come by. Most of us who shoot polaroid would trample small children for it* I'm just wondering if you'd thought of using light sensitive paper instead? It'd be a lot easier both to get your hands on and to use!

Thanks for the link btw - didn't even know it was on! About time I made one

* not really

DaireQuinlan

Hah, yeah if I knew where there was stock 'lying around' it wouldn't be lying around for very long, and I'd deny everything. EVERYTHING !

Sineadw's suggestion is a good one though, you can get a box of 50 sheets for about the same price as you'd pay for one pack of polaroid film, probably less if you head into gunnes or the camera exchange, explain what you want it for, and see if they have any shortdated or out of date paper.

Ideally you want grade 0 paper (it's the least contrasty) but VC paper will do the job as well, and is probably easier to come by. Expose for an ASA of about 6 in my experience, although I don't know what the story is with paper and reciprocity failure. IE you might need a significantly longer exposure than indicated. There are a ton of resources available on the net though so a bit of research will probably clear that up.

Load the paper under a safelight or darkness, and develop likewise. This is the bit where the polaroid I guess would be a lot more convenient, but there's an undeniable magic with watching the image come through on your paper when it's in the developer.

Also this will obviously give you a negative image (there are positive papers but they're finicky and expensive). You can scan and invert or (although I've never tried this) re-expose by contact printing your paper negative onto another sheet of paper.

Here are a couple of my paper shots. Interesting thing about paper is that you'll get real ortho-chromatic tones because of the lack of red sensitivity so portraits look quite interesting. OTOH, portraits would be kinda difficult I guess given the exposure times involved ...



-edit- Woops, forgot to mention, the above aren't pinhole shots obviously, conventionally lensed camera, but it's more the capture medium I was demonstrating.

VinDevo

thanks for the responses but for god sake think of the children!

You know the film I'm looking for is readily available. I have a small stock myself and I just need a few more packs to make the project viable and allow the kids to do a few shots each.

Using paper is completely impractical - these are 11/12 year old children and the national school surprisingly doesn't have a darkroom. We are looking of instant gratification not mucking around in the dark with chemicals.

As for portraits…portraits, children & pinhole cameras - no explanation needed - I think we'll be doing landscapes!

melekalikimaka

VinDevo wrote: »

thanks for the responses but for god sake think of the children!

You know the film I'm looking for is readily available.

you know your wrong tho :rolleyes:

DaireQuinlan

melekalikimaka wrote: »

you know your wrong tho :rolleyes:

The fuji stuff is anyhow, you can get it in gunnes & the camera exchange at the very least, probably a few other places as well. Dunno how much the retail hit for it is though. I was paying about €10 a pack on 7dayshop for the 100iso colour stuff. OP, I'm guessing you have the correct holder for the film, right ?

I take your point about paper & dev and so on, I -do- think as a complete process it'd be far more interesting than just getting the instant prints polaroid-fashion, but I guess that might not be possible from a logistics POV with even a moderately sized class of kids.

We are looking of instant gratification not mucking around in the dark with chemicals.

Ah kids nowadays. I despair

sineadw

It's 18 quid for a pack of 10 of the fuji in Gunns Polaroid (or Impossible Project copy film) is 28 for the same number of images.

VinDevo

It's 18 quid for a pack of 10 of the fuji in Gunns Polaroid (or Impossible Project copy film) is 28 for the same number of images.

If I have to buy I won't be paying retail!

I still have a few feelers out and I'm hopeful

and melekalikimaka there's always ebay

DaireQuinlan

VinDevo wrote: »

If I have to buy I won't be paying retail!

I still have a few feelers out and I'm hopeful

and melekalikimaka there's always ebay

If you're going to get them online 7dayshop is probably your best bet. £8.99 (sterling) for a pack of 100c. Shipping is expensive though, £7 or so the last time I ordered, but if you're buying a few packs then it'll spread out the cost a bit. I've always found them reliable.

VinDevo

If you're going to get them online 7dayshop is probably your best bet. £8.99 (sterling) for a pack of 100c. Shipping is expensive though, £7 or so the last time I ordered, but if you're buying a few packs then it'll spread out the cost a bit. I've always found them reliable.

Thanks Daire - I've a good price for short date film in Dublin.

But I'm trying to do the workshop for free, so I'm still hopeful I'll get my hands on some dated film. If not it just means that the kids (their parents) will have to pay a few euros each for the workshop

PS I have holders for the film.

spinandscribble

VinDevo wrote: »

thanks for the responses but for god sake think of the children!

You know the film I'm looking for is readily available. I have a small stock myself and I just need a few more packs to make the project viable and allow the kids to do a few shots each.

that might be but without knowing you or considering you only have a few posts, trusting your word its for the "kids" is difficult...

I think asking for a small donation from the parents would make more sense like you've suggested, as they'll know where its going.

You've picked a expensive art project afterall.

positivenote

as a side note id like to get some students to make there own pin-hole cameras, but im looking for a decent tutorial on how its done using a shoebox? (im sure i have seen this type of tutorial done before) i have loads of light sensitive paper and they have access to a dark room... any help or links appreciated

spinandscribble

positivenote wrote: »

as a side note id like to get some students to make there own pin-hole cameras, but im looking for a decent tutorial on how its done using a shoebox? (im sure i have seen this type of tutorial done before) i have loads of light sensitive paper and they have access to a dark room... any help or links appreciated

I know there was some great ones on youtube when I made these awhile ago.

positivenote

spinandscribble wrote: »

I know there was some great ones on youtube when I made these awhile ago.

hi I had a quick look there over the last hr or so...
a few quick questions if anyone has the ans as ive never attempted this before and id love to do it as part of the specified day:

Do you have to load the light sensitive paper in the dar, can i not do it under safe light conditions?

secondly, how do you know what you are getting on the paper and whether its going to be in focus?

excuse the ignorance, but as stated its all new to me
thanks in advcance

spinandscribble

positivenote wrote: »

hi I had a quick look there over the last hr or so...
a few quick questions if anyone has the ans as ive never attempted this before and id love to do it as part of the specified day:

Do you have to load the light sensitive paper in the dar, can i not do it under safe light conditions?

secondly, how do you know what you are getting on the paper and whether its going to be in focus?

excuse the ignorance, but as stated its all new to me
thanks in advcance

Sorry I've made matchbox/shoebox but i used 35mm.

The focus is never perfect with these but the smaller/clearer the pin prick through the soda can (if thats what you'll use) the better the focus (apparently). Also keeping the box very still will help.

You have to load the paper in the dark, I ruined some paper today in the darkroom because someone flicked on a light for a second.

If its new to you, I'd mess around and do it yourself before doing it with the kids, even just for examples. Get yourself plenty of electrical black tape.

aidanic

I made two of these last year, for a primary school science show, but they were not used in the end.

I only have one scan from an under developed expired roll of film. As a design, it's easy to build and use.

aidanic

I didn't get much time to work on this post over the weekend...

I did a pinhole camera session as part of a school science night with some primary school children (6-10 years old) last year, and wanted to share some experiences with the OP.

Although I was prepared to build cameras (using this model) taking 35mm film (Tri-X) and run development for the rolls, in the end, this was too complex and time consuming. Above all, over the heads of the children of this age.

Given the age of the children I was working with, and their general attention span (< 5 mins), I had to come up with something "on theme", "understandable" and "quick".

I designed this camera, which is a basic cardboard box, a cheap (50c) magnifying glass as a lens, and drafting paper as the projection screen.

Front Camera


Back camera


For a child to assemble the camera, I made the kit in three parts. A "roll-up" section, with a lip to tape down. On the front, I had a 10cm x 10cm square, with a hole for a half toilet roll holder. This allowed the toilet roll to be moved in and out for focus. Finally, the cheap magnifying glass lens on the front.

I did spend time preparing the main body of the camera - pre-cut and scored to make the folding and taping easy.

The image on the projection screen is OK in bright light, and upside down (the important part of the experiment). See here:

Image


In the school, we had a 400W red head and a 1000w halogen lamp lighting a soft toy (as a model). There was a good image on the camera screen.

Seperately, I bought a few cheap Canon EOS body caps on eBay, and drilled them to take a pin hole. The hole in the cap was about 10mm, with a piece of a drink can being the actual pin hole.

EOS Lens front


EOS Lens back


The children were able to make their own cameras and see the image on the back of the camera. With my 400D, and it's pin hole lens, they were able to see that even a tiny hole would work.

It only took the children a few minutes to make the cardboard camera, and get a result.

I also ran a session with sun paper, 120 negatives and UV lamps. The children did not really like waiting for a few minutes for the exposure to complete. One of the other parents working with me commented to a group "Science takes time!".

There will be another session this year, in the autumn, and I expect to just have the cameras.

sineadw

That sounds awesome aidan! I have an 8yr old who'd love it. Are the sessions you do public?

VinDevo

thanks aidanic

my project is fairly similar - the intention is to do 4-6 sessions in total

The camera has a pinhole/lens holder in the front. Construction is similar to a lens board on a large format camera - but of sticky tape and cardboard! On the back there'a a removable screen which can be replaced with a polaroid holder

The idea being that the kids will use the cameras as a drawing tool first with a basic lens and putting tracing paper on the back. Then later we will add the film holders and pinholes and use our boxes as cameras.

I want to produce all the cameras to the same template and I'll produce the pinholes which will hopefully insure a standard exposure for all the cameras.

My last efforts with fuji instant were between 6-8 mins - but as you say this is too long for kids - so either I will have to make the camera dimensions smaller which means smaller drawings or make the pinholes bigger which means softer images.