Pinhole Pentax

Has anyone used a body cap with a pinhole for this type of photography? We had a chap at the club who gave a demonstration and mentioned this idea although his main pinhole cameras were purpose built. I would think the difficult part would be getting a suitable size hole in the bodycap then having some sort of "lens cover"

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Regards
Stan

PPG

There will be plenty of videos on YouTube showing the techniques, probably. One way is to make a hole in the centre of the body cap. Then make the pinhole using a very thin sheet of brass, or perhaps even some Aluminium foil. Press a pin through the brass to make a dent, but don't go all the way through. Then sand the dent point until you wear through the metal and make a really tiny, perfect circular hole. Attach the brass pinhole to the body cap, with tape or glue, and the job should be done.

A refinement might be to make a tube to have the pinhole further from the sensor. The distance from the pinhole to the sensor will dictate the focal length/field of view.

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Best regards, John

A long time ago I did (actually in 1977):


This was with a plastic body cap partly cut-out with some aluminium cooking foil stuck to it in which the pinhole was made. Just making a pin hole directly into the plastic might not give a clean edged circle.
I can't remember if that was taken with an ME (which had only just come out) or more likely an ageing ESII.

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John K

Thanks for the feedback. If I have any success I'll post on here. The idea of different focal length does appeal, maybe two tubes one inside the other. I would tink a light tight seal for the join wouldn't be too big a problem. Off to the drawing board

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Regards
Stan

PPG

Hmm. Rip the rubber off an old M42 hood and stick the plastic bit that's left to a loo roll core. Screw that into the mount adapter. Make a pin hole affair, as described on a tube that fits the loo roll. Use masking tape around the loo roll to make up any diameter differences and ensure light-tightness. Voila a zoom pin hole

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Both the *istDS and the K5 are incurably addicted to old glass

My page on Photocrowd - link

If you want to get really fancy you can buy pinhole body caps from ebay... but half the fun is making it from tin foil, loo roll and sticky tape.

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Kris Lockyear
It is an illusion that photos are made with the camera… they are made with the eye, heart and head. Henri Cartier-Bresson
Lots of film bodies, a couple of digital ones, too many lenses (mainly older glass) and a Horseman LE 5x4.
My website

i bought one of the ebay ones (more being lazy than fancy), have not used it much yet though.

Thanks again for all the feedback regarding this. At the moment all photographic adventures are on hold for at least two months.

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Regards
Stan

PPG

The Q system also has the body cap lens, which will provide images just as blurred as a pinhole will!

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Best regards, John

Looked at a Q system when they more or less first came out (Barrie Forbes had one) and it felt so small and awkward I couldn't consider it.

As regards blurry images I can and often do get them without really trying. I am now at the stage where I rely on the camera "beep and green lozenge" to tell me when an image is in focus and if that is incorrect it means I'll never ever have a sharp image again even using a tripod and remote Doesn't put me off taking pictures though.

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Regards
Stan

PPG