Pinhole Photography

...using a 35mm camera with body-cap pinhole

Exposure: about 4 seconds, Velvia colour slide film ISO100

...using an Oval tin

AlteBruecke200.jpg
"Die Alte Brücke" (The Old Bridge), Heidelberg, 2006
The famous "Heidelberger Schloß" (castle) is in the background.
Exposure: about 20 seconds, scanned contact print.
Due to the long exposure, the many people strolling over the bridge are not visible, making the bridge look almost deserted

Rathaus
Rathaus (Town Hall), Heidelberg, 2006
Exposure: about 20 seconds, scanned contact print.

Heiliggeist-Kirche
Heiliggeistkirche (Church of the Holy Spirit), Heidelberg, 2006
Exposure: about 20 seconds, scanned postive print.

Through the window at the Uni., 2006
Exposure: about 30 seconds, scanned paper negative, inverted in Photoshop.

My workplace, 2006
Exposure: about 30 minutes, scanned paper negative, inverted in Photoshop.
 
Lunchtime, Mensa, Uni. Heidelberg, 2006
Exposure: about 20 minutes, scanned paper negative, inverted in Photoshop.
  
Klinik
 Cafe200.jpg
Klinik, Uni. Heidelberg, 2006
Exposure: about 20 seconds, paper negative scanned & inverted. 		View from the café terrace (2007, me on the right)
Exposure: 40 seconds, paper negative scanned & inverted.


BotGarten.jpg
Neurobiology, Uni. Heidelberg, 2007
Exposure: 20 seconds, paper negative scanned & inverted.

HotelRitter200.jpg
The "Hotel Ritter", Hauptstraße, Heidelberg.
Exposure: 2 minutes, paper negative scanned & inverted.
Due to the long exposure, the large group of Japanese tourists who stopped to take pictures, is not visible.

364Evening200.jpg
Neurobiology, late afternoon
Exposure: 40 seconds, paper negative scanned & inverted.
The shadow of the camera postioned horizontally at the end of a metal fence is visible near the middle of the picture.


WaterMill_B45_200.jpg
Water powerstation near Neckargemünd
Exposure: 40 seconds, paper negative scanned & inverted.

fountain.jpg
Fountain, Adenauerplatz, Heidelberg
Exposure: 40 seconds, paper negative scanned & inverted.


fountain.jpg
Gonca and Güney at the Heidelberger Schloß (castle), August 2008
Exposure: 80 seconds, paper negative scanned & inverted.



Heidelberg's Old Bridge and Castle - my submission for World Pinhole Day 2021

Pinhole Size Calculator

MrPinhole.com

Inches mm
Focal Length 3.54 90
Diameter 0.016 0.4
f stop 225
Image Circle 6.8 173

...using a Flat Tin

Through the window at the Uni.
Exposure: about 20 minutes, scanned paper negative, inverted with Photoshop.

Print-Media-Academy
Print-Media-Academy, Heidelberg
The statue is of a sprinting horse.
Exposure: about 20 seconds, scanned postive print.

Sun picture

sun-1.jpg
3-month exposure, winter 2009/2010
A grey winter unfortunatelly. Wooden box camera, proportionately made to hold the 13x18 cm. paper in a half-rolled position. Fixed un-developed, scanned, inverted and enhanced. Unfortunately the fixing removed more of the image than expected.



Pinhole Size Calculator

MrPinhole.com

Inches mm
Focal Length 2.56 65
Diameter 0.013 0.34
f stop 191
Image Circle 4.91 125

Exposure guide:

60% of that for oval tin
Photo material:
Ilford Multigrade* paper, pre-flashed 0.4 seconds**, developed in Ilford 1250 machine developer

*Slightly better green sensitivity compared to fixed-gradation papers, giving lighter leaves & grass.

**Pre-flashing increases the sensitivity and lowers the contrast of the paper and improves shadow detail. Using Ilford Multigrade IV with a pre-flash (0.3 seconds, 10W lamp pointing up 2 meters under the ceiling, paper 1m under the lamp). The correct pre-flash exposure time is determined by placing a flat object on the paper and flashing it with a weak white light. The correct exposure is the longest time where the shape of the object is not visible on the developed paper.

  Positive print:
Face-to-face contact with Ilford Multigrade IV Deluxe photographic paper.
Contact print: enlarger 1m above baseboard; 6 seconds

20.3.2007

I now have a Gossen Sixtar light meter from eBay :-)
I made a few tests from the window and then made a "proper" picture: Neurobiology, Uni. Heidelberg, 2007 above

The settings are: ASA/ISO 6, read the exposure time against f/45 and multiply by 10. This is for outdoor exposures - indoor exposures might require longer times, due to the lack of UV (it's absorbed by the glass in the window) but I haven't tested this.

As our Ilford 1250 developing machine is no longer used <sniff>, I'm developing my pictures in a Kodak X-ray film developing machine.

30.10.2009

Development through the machine was never optimal as there were often roller marks along the print, so now I'm going to develop the prints in the tray using the chemicals from the x-ray machine for convenience.

First test: developing a strip of photo paper in room light (as the paper has to be totally exposed) for 10, 20, 40, 80 and 160 seconds, 20 seconds was the shortest time that gave maximum black; longer development times show now increase in density. 20 seconds is much too short to get an even development, so my guess is

100 seconds diluted 1:5 at ca. 20°C

The developer used is Focus, produced by Röntgen Bender here in Germany; Kodak X-Omat would be an alternative.
6.11.2009

Further tests:

Development: 2 minutes.
"Focus" X-ray developer, stock solution, diluted 1+5 @ 20°C

Preflash: 0.3 seconds. The longest flash with no visible effect.
Safelamp, filter removed, pointing at the ceiling. Paper lying on top of the developing machine.
25.3.2010 - my birthday :-)

Opened the camera of a long exposure I'd been making: b/w paper exposed in the direction of the Sun over a 3-month period (December 2009 - February 2010). As the exposure was so long, it wasn't necessary to develop the image, as it was already visible on the paper. All it needed was scanning. Unfortunately I made a mistake: I fixed it, thinking the image consisted of silver particles and it would protect the image from darkening but the fixing removed some of the image. The image was scanned, inverted and greatly enhanced and can be seen above. There weren't many sunny days unfortunately, but the technique works at least.
November 2019

After a looong break, I'm taking pinhole photographs again.
Not happy with the cumbersome one-shot technique described above, I now use
The SONY a5000 is a mirrorless, viewfinderless digital camera.
Positives:
The shutter settings I use are Aperture Priority and Manual/Bulb. For Bulb I have a manual cable release that plugs into the USB connection. The WiFi provides a connection to the SONY Imaging Edge Mobile app. The 2-second delay is useful when triggering the shutter by hand. 16:9 format for nice wide/tall shots.

Negatives:

The Thingyfy Pinhole Pro-S has a 0.14mm pinhole positioned at 11mm from the camera chip - exactly as calculated as the optimum pinhole size by Mr. Pinhole. According to the specifications it has a 120° field of view.
Negative: I suspect the shiny surface of the cone shape of the 'lens' directs stray light into the pinhole. Red fringing on the short sides of the image.

The SONY 'Imaging Edge Mobile' app allows basic control over the camera, namely
Manual exposure calculation is made by using the 'Light Meter - Free' app for Android by WBPhoto. For some reason, calculated exposures longer than 20 seconds require exposure correction of +1 stop; over 1 minute require +3-stop correction.

The HAMA table-top tripod does a good job of holding the camera steady on uneven surfaces. It has a ball head for adjusting the position of the camera. Vertical shots are a bit fiddly as the camera hangs between two of the legs, not allowing much room for tipping the camera upwards when taking low-level shots. The tripod screw mount is under the lens, but the main weight from the batteries is at the other end of the camera - one tripod leg has to be under the batteries or the tripod will topple over.

The USB lockable cable release is about 1 meter long. The sliding lock is useful for very long exposures.