Without Lenses

Camera Roundup

Erin Malone — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 05:52:25 GMT

120mm Original Pinhole Blender,
from Pinhole Blender

One of the great things about the lensless community, is the passion so many people have for not only making images, but for making cameras as well. It appeals to the left-brain—more architectural—side of the discipline. For those of us who are not that technical or handy, there are a few people who share their passion for making cameras with the rest of us who are not so technical.

The handful of commercial camera-making ventures out there, are generally small endeavors—often the outgrowth of personal passion. They persevere despite the world pushing a digital agenda.

Without Lenses was curious about how many of these companies got started and what they think the future of pinholing looks like. We spoke through email with Nancy Spencer and Eric Renner of Pinhole Resource, Chris Peregoy of Pinhole Blender and Jim Kosinski who makes the Merlin Paintcan Camera and asked them each a few questions. The makers of the Zero Image declined to comment for this article.

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The Leonardo

We were lucky to catch up with Eric Renner and Nancy Spencer, proprieters of the Pinhole Resource and former publishers of the Pinhole Journal. Eric and Nancy make the Leonardo pinhole camera and their website store is one of the only places to find a variety of interesting and unusual pinhole paraphernalia, including cameras, pinhole shutters and books.

Without Lenses: Where are you all located?

Eric Renner / Nancy Spencer: Southwest New Mexico. 30 miles east of Silver City, in the Mimbres Valley, it’s very rural!

WL: How long have you been making cameras?

ER/NS: The Leonardo has been made since about 1995. Both Nancy and I have done pinhole for many, many years.

WL: How long does one camera take to make?

Molly Caged by Adam Hawkey
Leonardo Pinhole Camera,
Polaroid type 55, f250

Molly CU by Adam Hawkey
Leonardo Pinhole Camera,
Polaroid type 55, f250

Sleepy Sister by Adam Hawkey
Leonardo Pinhole Camera,
Polaroid type 55, f250

ER/NS: In production, a 4×5 – 3 inch Leonardo takes about an hour. We have made over 4000 of these.

WL: How many folks work with you?

ER/NS: Just the two of us. When Eric’s two sons were in college they helped too, while on vacations.

WL: What kind of workspace do you have?

ER/NS: Just a very small shop with a bench saw and a drill press, no heat. Most people would not consider it a workspace.

WL: Which camera did you start with?

ER/NS: Eric made many pinhole cameras to do art with before the Leonardo, the earliest ones were mat board and could take a 75 foot roll of 9 inch high film (aerial film) making 6 pinhole panorama images. (1968). If you look through Eric’s book "Pinhole Photography: Rediscovering an Historic Technique" you’ll see some of the cameras.

Nancy started with an oatmeal box. By 1995 we started to make the Leonardo in all sizes.

The Santa Barbara pinhole camera was one that Pinhole Resource initially sold as well as the 4×5 Pinhole Camera Kit and the 120 film PinZip, in about 1988 was when we initially carried those.

Pinhole Resource Inc., a 501 3 c non-profit started in 1985. When it got difficult to pay for the printing costs of Pinhole Journal in 1995, we started to make the Leonardo cameras which then made it possible to keep Pinhole Journal alive. By that same time all the major camera suppliers wanted to carry pinhole products.

WL: What’s the oddest camera you have ever made?

ER/NS: Hard to say which is the oddest. People have related to the red pepper camera, since it acts like a natural safelight. The most complicated one Eric ever made used a 10 foot piece of photo paper and had thousands of holes around it. He was teaching at the Visual Studies Workshop in 1974 when he made that camera.

WL: Where can people buy your cameras?

ER/NS: At the Pinhole Resource website – pinholeresource.com, Calumet, Freestyle Sales, Glazer’s Camera in Seattle and others.

WL: Do you drill your pinholes yourself or have them made?

ER/NS: Minute Aperture Imaging makes our pinholes, that’s Bill Christiansen. They are high quality micro-drilled and polished pinholes.

WL: What about zoneplates and seives – are those available or are you thinking about adding them?

ER/NS: Pinhole Resource started selling zone plates and were the first to do so commercially for pinhole photographers. The original zone plates (75mm to 300mm) were made by Kenneth A. Conners and then he turned their manufacturing over to Pinhole Resource . Sam Wang was able to make very short focal length zone plates (38mm and 45mm), so he makes ones we sell for digital cameras, Nikon, Canon EOS, Minolta, Olympus and Leica.

WL: Have you seen growth in the amount of orders since digital has become so pervasive or are you seeing a decline?

ER/NS: There are more people ordering digital pinhole and zone plate body caps and less large format cameras. We get orders from everywhere in the world.

WL: It seems to me that there are more people making cameras than ever and there are more "commercial" ventures. What are your thoughts on this?

ER/NS: As long as money is to be made there will be any number of quality to inferior pinhole cameras on the market. Pinhole Resource has always tried to carry the most unusual ones and the ones of the highest quality. Some of the most unusual pinhole cameras, the Hexomniscope and the Omniscope, made by Matt Abelson, are sold by us. We also sell a Abelson Pinhole, Zone Plate Slit Turret Kit and the Apo II Turret made by Bill Christiansen.

WL: Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us, any parting thoughts?

ER/NS: We have 4 new books out: "on deaf ears" by Nancy Spencer and Eric Renner—pinhole images of our assemblages, lens images of the assemblages; "Under the Blue" by Nancy Spencer—pinhole and zone plate digital landscapes; "American Disguise" by Eric Renner—how images impact culture; "Flight" by Nancy Spencer and Rebecca Wackler—a story of a woman and her swans told in pinhole photographs; and the fourth edition of "Pinhole Photography: Rediscovering a Historic Technique" by Eric Renner comes our in Nov, 2008.

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The Merlin Paintcan Camera

Merlin Paintcan Camera creator Jim Kosinski is also a teacher, ranging from kindergarten to university level. His cameras are often used in workshops with kids and his website is full of great advice for how to become a pinhole photographer, even without a darkroom. When Without Lenses launched, one of our first congratulatory emails came from Jim. We caught up with Jim to learn more about his path to making these cameras.

"Paper" Tulips by Deborah Kac
Merlin Paintcan Camera, F/200 at 3 minutes

Chillin by Deborah Kac
Merlin Paintcan Camera, f/200 at 4 minutes

Without Lenses: Where are you located?

Jim Kosinski: We’re located in the picturesque village of Cherry Valley, on the northern edge of the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York. We look over the Mohawk River valley to the Adirondack Mountains. Cooperstown is just a few minutes away.

WL: How long have you been making cameras?

JK: It all started around the turn of the century and MERLIN cameras went on sale about 5 years ago.

WL: How long does one camera take to make?

JK: Making the actual camera is short in time but long on getting all the materials & supplies stocked and ready to roll. Packaging is crucial and that takes a lot of extra effort. Boxes undergo a wicked amount of stress during the shipping process!

WL: How many folks work with you?

JK: Mostly I work solo, but will get one or two people to help with a large order (for example, 150 – 200 cameras). It is important to get the cameras out to customers quickly!

WL: What does your workspace look like?

JK: The workshop is that of a typical cottage industry.

WL: Which camera did you start with?

JK: The first MERLIN was made from a gallon paintcan and it had a complete darkroom inside: paper, chemistry, safelight & processing container. It was scaled back to just the camera due to the cost of making all the components by hand.

WL: How long before you expanded to make other sizes?

JK: The quart size, just right for the hands of children, was added within a year. I’m currently working on a combination pinhole camera & camera obscura.

WL: What’s the oddest camera you have ever made?

JK: Are there any odd cameras? One customer expressed a fear of photographing people and I made her a special camera labeled "Merlin Custom Paints". This was used in outdoor cafes and helped her to overcome those fears. Another interesting camera had multiple pinholes and a removable lens. The shutter was a strip of paper with a window cut-out, which could be pulled across an aperture at different rates, depending on the brightness of the scene. It also had a simple screen, which could be used to preview an image or to study image formation, as in classical physics experiments. My cameras tend to feature a flexible design so photographers can use their imaginations and manipulate the way light is captured to form an image.

WL: Where can our readers get a Merlin?

JK: Cameras are available through distributors and directly from me. Ordering information is available on the website www.paintcancamera.com

WL: Do you drill your pinholes yourself or have them made?

JK: Each camera is hand made and the pinholes are precision drilled.

WL: What about zoneplates and seives – are those available or are you thinking about adding them?

JK: They are not currently available but they are interesting.

WL: Have you seen growth in the amount of orders since digital has become so pervasive or are you seeing a decline?

JK: Orders have dropped. The digital age took over faster than anyone imagined it would.

WL: It seems to me that there are more people making cameras than ever and there are more "commercial" ventures. What are your thoughts on this?

JK: This is true, of course, but the cost of starting up an "alternative camera" business is high and their photo-market share is actually pretty small. It also takes a lot of work! My approach has been to tackle the relatively complex process of teaching & learning photographic art & science with a simple, inexpensive solution while other companies address the less complicated task of taking a photograph, but use more complicated cameras.

WL: Where do most of your orders come from – who’s doing the most pinhole photography out there, in your opinion?

JK: Most of my customers have been involved in education programs, and it has been a pleasure to work with and help many teachers & students around the globe. Mostly this is online, but sometimes I get to visit the class, where the activity and personal interaction is great fun for everyone, and very educational, too!

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Boothe Park #2 by Bruce Berrien
Pinhole Blender Mini-120, multiple exposures

Looking Up At Trees #26 by Bruce Berrien
Pinhole Blender Mini-120, multiple exposures

60 Chestnuts, Flying Cloud
by Heather Champ
Pinhole Blender mini-35, Three 2 minute and 30 second exposures

Buddha, Japanese Tea Garden
by Heather Champ
Pinhole Blender mini-35, 5 second exposure

The Pinhole Blender

One of the most interesting and creative cameras (in my opinion) available is the Pinhole Blender. Round cans with multiple pinholes, these cameras blend multiple exposures onto one strip of film creating amazing and beautiful images. I first met Chris Peregoy at the f295 symposium last year when he was trying out his new, smaller mini-cameras.

Without Lenses: Where are you located?

Chris Peregoy: Baltimore, Maryland, USA

WL: How long have you been making pinhole cameras?

CP: I’ve been making the Pinhole Blender, since 2002 but I’ve been making pinhole cameras for about 15 years

WL: What prompted you to start making cameras?

CP: My first Pinhole Blenders were made as Christmas presents in 2000. My friends thought it was such a good idea and that I should start an online business to sell them.

WL: How long does one camera take to make?

CP: To make one camera it would take over 24 hours to assemble it and allow the paint to harden. I can cut that down by working on many at once.

WL: How many folks work with you?

CP: One, its just me. Sometimes for a large order I’ll hire one of my students to help with assembly.

WL: What does your workspace look like?

CP: My workshop is in my basement. I finish the assembly, attach lenses and box up in my studio on the second floor of my house.

WL: Which camera did you start with?

CP: The Original Pinhole Blender 120, the three-hole 120 camera was my first. This is the one based upon my Christmas present.

WL: How long before you expanded to make other sizes?

CP: About six months after I started selling cameras I was asked if I would make a 35mm version. I started selling them about six months after that.

WL: What’s the oddest camera you have ever made?

CP: I made one for a camera swap called the Seven Day Camera. It was a 4 inch tube about 20 inches long with 7 pinholes along the length. The entire roll of film wrapped around the center core in an upwards spiral. A control knob allowed the user to rotate the center core http://taco.thoma.be/gallery/The-Seven-Day-Pinhole-Camera-of-Chris-Peregoy Another odd camera that’s received a lot of attention is my coconut camera. This is basically half a coconut with a hinged back, It uses photo paper or single sheets of film cut to fit in the coconut. I used a cork for the shutter and attached a lanyard to the user could wear the camera around their neck. http://www.f295.org/wordpress/?page_id=71

WL: How did you start selling the cameras?

CP: I started by announcing my camera in the Pinhole-Discussion mailing list http://spitbite.org/pinhole-discussion/list.html

WL: Where can our readers get a pinhole blender?

CP: Pinhole Blenders are sold in the US and through out the world from my website

http://www.pinholeblender.com And are sold through distributors in Japan, England, Germany and Switzerland.

WL: Do you drill your pinholes yourself or have them made?

CP: I use single slot aperture grids. These are precision pinholes that were originally produced for Electron Microscopy.

Chris Peregoy in his workshop making Pinhole Blenders

7 Day Camera, by Chris Peregoy

WL: What about zone plates and sieves – are those available or are you thinking about adding them?

CP: My mini Blender series are supplied with both a pinhole and a zone plate. I make my zone plates myself with a high resolution film recorder onto Technical pan film developed to a high D-max.

WL: Have you seen growth in the amount of orders since digital has become so pervasive or are you seeing a decline?

CP: Orders were pretty slow for the first two years but picked up quickly when I started selling in Japan. Now with distributors across Europe I’m seeing an overall increase everywhere. I think users are drawn to the DIY aspects of pinhole image making. Perhaps they have made a simple box camera but now want to move on to film. I think blogs have played a big part in the recent increase as well. People see interesting work on flickr or f295 and they want to get in on the fun.

WL: Where do most of your orders come from – who’s doing the most pinhole photography out there, in your opinion?

CP: I first thought my cameras would appeal most to students. I now think that most are going to advanced camera users and professional photographers that want a release from their digital cameras.

March 17, 2008 :: Editor's Notes

Erin Malone — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 05:07:20 GMT

Welcome to the 4th issue of Without Lenses.

This issue features our first featured artist gallery showcasing the work of Japanese pinhole photographer Noriko Ohba. Look for a featured gallery in upcoming issues. We also spoke with several of the folks who make the cameras many of us use and love. Eric Renner and Nancy Spencer of Pinhole Resource, Jim Kosinski of Merlin Paintcan Cameras, and Chris Peregoy of Pinhole Blender all spoke with us about how they make their cameras, what prompted them to start selling and their thoughts on the future of pinholing. Our how-to article this issue teaches how to create precision drilled pinholes.

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Hard to believe almost a year has passed and plans are in the making for the 2nd f295 Symposium and our anniversary issue, bringing in year 2.

A precursor to the symposium was the recent f295 Seminar held at B&H Photo Video in New York City this past January. Tom Persinger, the driving force behind f295 forums and the Symposium, put this “teaser” day together and had several of the speakers who will be presenting at the Symposium share short talks showcasing their work at the seminar.

The day was packed with 8 speakers—including an intro to the day by Tom. 15-20 minute presentations were jam packed with slides of each artist’s current work and a bit about their process followed by questions from the audience. The day started out with an overflow of attendees packed into a room which generally only holds about 75. The event was free and people came and went based on their particular interests (i.e. alternative process or a specific artist).

The work ranged from pinhole photos that are then collaged into assemblages with old book parts and text (Jesseca Ferguson), to pinhole daguerrotypes (Jerry Spagnoli), to collodian wet plate portraits (Jill Enfield), to firefly photograms (Scott McMahon) to cyanotyope handmade books (Laura Blacklow) to an overview of this magazine (me), to ocean side mysterious pinholes (Martha Casanave).

The day flew by and left most of the audience wanting to know more—both about the artist’s and their motivations and about the processes they work in. The backdrop of a bustling, Sunday shopping day at B&H, rounded out the experience.

As mentioned above, this day was put together as a teaser for the symposium where some of the same artists will have longer presentations or will be conducting workshops in their alternative process specialty. If the day in NY was any indication, the symposium weekend should prove to be interesting, educational and a terrific venue for sharing work and ideas with colleagues and for making new friends.

Drill Your Own Precision Pinhole Apertures

David Walters — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 05:07:05 GMT

Items that you’ll need:

an appropriately sized quilting needle
a pin vice
a micrometer
a cardboard drink coaster from a local eating establishment
a magnifying device (for us older folks)
a suitable pinhole material, the thinner the better
extra fine sandpaper, I like to use 1000 or 1500 grit
scissors

Gather all of your materials and use a clean, well lit area on which to work. Having everything at hand will make the job go smoother and be less frustrating.

Pinholes provide better image (more “sharp”, as it were) the more accurately “round” they are. Oval or out of round pinholes give blurry pictures, laser cut pinholes give sharper images due to their accurate shape. Matching an appropriately sized pinhole to a particular camera’s focal distance will yield the best, “sharpest” image. This is a convenient way to make your own pinholes that are fairly accurate in size and shape.

Lay out your pinhole material; the thinner the material, the better. A good hobby store should carry brass or stainless steel shim stock or you can use the aluminum from a beverage can. I have had consistently good results from .002 inch copper sheets that I bought years ago at an art supply store. Copper is soft, accepts the drilling process and sands well too. You’ll need to find an appropriately size for your pinhole; I have used several pinhole calculators available online. For this demonstration, I’ll make a pinhole that measures .0225”. That would be an appropriate size pinhole for a camera with a focal length of 190mm. Please note: I apologize for the mixing of metric and standard measurement, my micrometer measures in inches while I still measure most camera construction in metric. There are metric micrometers available for purchase.

You’ll need to dial the desired number into your micrometer. There are several ways to learn to set up a micrometer. I learned how to use mine from the instructions that came with the tool, an online tutorial and from experience in working with it. I paid approximately $25 for my micrometer at a local hardware store. Simply put, each complete rotation of the barrel of the micrometer measures ¼ of 1/10 of an inch. The .0225 inches shown on the dial represents the same measurement that should be the diameter of my finished pinhole.

Take a quilting needle that won’t fit through the measuring rods when set to your pinhole size. A number 8 needle will do in this case; a number 8 needle should have a shaft size of .0240 inches. Place it gently-point first-into the measuring rods on the micrometer until it stops, don’t force it. When it does stop in the measuring rods, the diameter of the needle is .0225 inches, get it? Good!

Bring the pin vice collets up over the other end of the needle and gently tighten the pin vice. By pushing the pin vice all the way up to the measuring rods on the micrometer and then securing the needle, you’ll end up with a needle sized to make a pinhole that is fairly close to .0225 inches in diameter.

Now, to drill your own pinholes; patience is the key. The pin doesn’t “drill” through the material as much as it is pushed through and the rough, protruding edge on either side is smoothed off. Place the metal stock on the drink coaster and press down onto the material with the pin vice and needle while rotating the pin vice with your fingers. Push and spin the vice slightly until you have dimpled the material. Now, lightly sand the opposite side with the sandpaper.

Repeat the process with the pin vice; spinning and pushing, flipping and sanding, until the pinhole enlarges slightly with each turn. Flip, sand and drill again until the pin vice collets are almost touching the metal sheet. Sand across the pinhole in different directions, slowly and with light pressure so as not to elongate your pinhole.

After repeating the process several times, the pinhole will be finished. Once again, patience is the key and you’ll have to use your own judgment as to when the material is sufficiently sanded and there is no more material that needs to be removed. This is a side-by-side comparison of a hand drilled pinhole that I made and laser drilled pinhole taken with a lensed, digital camera. The two images are fairly identical, the price of the pinhole being the only great difference. The laser pinhole is fairly costly and the hand drilled pinhole cost next to nothing to make, mostly your time and effort.

Good luck and good pinholing.

Noriko Ohba: Featured Artist

Erin Malone — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 05:06:51 GMT

View Slideshow

I am in love with you, zero2000 medium format camera

Our first featured artist is Noriko Ohba, a pinhole photographer living in Japan. I first noticed her work on flickr and have been following her work for the last couple of years. I hope you enjoy her work as much as I do.

Your Location? I was born and grew up in Hiroshima. But, I live in Osaka now.

Osaka and its surroundings is a very beautiful area. Classical and modern buildings, cityscapes and nature coexist well; Osaka is a wonderful city.

Breath, zero2000 medium format camera

How long have you been doing Pinhole work? I began to take the pinhole photographs from the early 2004. I am surprised because only four years have passed.

What cameras do you use? I use three cameras in large part.

1: Zero2000 Deluxe (Zero image)

This camera gives me courage to take the photo.

2: HOLGA (altered)

I removed all the boards and the partition of inside of this camera. and I’m taking 6×9 formatted. I love the tunnel effect of this camera.

3: Pinhole Blender

This camera annoys me very much. But, it’s very happy and can take a fantastic photograph like the fragments of the memory, by taking different colors and different scenery from three pinholes on this camera.

My favorite???

It is very difficult to decide it. If you insist… I like the altered HOLGA. I have an attachment to this mostly because I remodeled this camera by myself but this camera is in the worst shape of the three.?

Reflection, Pinhole Holga medium format camera

Your favorite subject? My favorite subject is a flower, the gradation of the sky at the magic-hour (the time as it is darkening after sunset), and buildings. These have become the themes I photograph.

Pink carpet, zero2000 medium format camera

See more of Noriko’s work: Website :: flickr