What is a pinhole camera? It's a camera with no lens. Pinhole cameras are usually homemade and can be made of almost any box that is dark and hallow. Photos are taken through a tiny (pin) hole on one side of the box and are manually exposed by uncovering the hole for a moment. You can read more technical info here.
The thing I love about pinhole cameras is that it creates photos similar to a holga (or many other plastic toy cameras). These unpredictable, distorted photos are so pretty to me. I've been wanting to try this project for a long time and my dad has helped me to construct my own camera and this week I will share with you a tutorial for constructing your very own homemade pinhole camera, tips and photos! We are going to make our cameras for regular 35mm film so they can be processed quickly (and inexpensively) at a local photo lab/drugstore. I'm so excited!
This first section in our D.I.Y. is dedicated to introducing you to pinhole photography and getting inspired for the upcoming project!
Here are some inspiring pinhole camera photos:
here are two pretty pinhole photos by infaready.
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Here are some neat handmade cameras:
[made from Coke cans! source]
[made from Legos! source]
[made from a mr. potato head! source]
[pretty box camera with woodgrain laminate. source]
and here's a photo taken with the above camera! source.
are you excited? ME TOO.
more parts to this D.I.Y. coming soon! Love, elsie
73 Comments
i will try to do this with you.
This is VERY cool! YAY! xo
How exciting, those photos are amazing!
xoxo~Meg
i have a pinhole camera that my ex-boyfriend made for me. it is broken now, but i should try to fix it… hmmm.
Love pinhole cameras. I used to make them all the time out of coffee cans. The lego one is amazing!
I’m excited to try this! Can’t wait for the tutorial! =)
Oh. My. Gosh. This is going to be sooo fun!!
ooh… my sister made one from an oatmeal box in school!
whoa, what! I have never heard of this, but I am excited to see the rest of the DIY!
I’ve been interested in trying this for a while- I’m so glad you’re doing a tutorial on it!
Wow! really fun project! i would love to learn to do this too! can’t wait to see the tutorial and your photos! 🙂
This is awesome!! I’m sooo excited for this DIY! I made a camera obscura out of a shoe box for my digital photo class last summer. This is going to be so much fun!
How in the…??? I can’t wait for this DIY!
that is just so darn cool! i’m really excited to see the rest of this wonderful diy!! thanks elsie!
I got a kit to “make your own pinhole camera” from my kids for my birthday, and it looked sooo complicated, but your explanaition is so simple Elsie, that I’m gonna try it!
WOW!! that is the coolest!! can’t wait to see yours!!
Oh I can’t wait! I’ve had an Holga for quite a while, but right now I am hardly the richest girl around, so I’ve had to cut on film costs… so can’t wait for this less expensive option! 😉
this looks exciting!!
i have always wondered how to do this–i can’t wait!!
Yes! This is amazing! I hope it’s ‘do-able’, but I will definitely try with you (all)! 🙂
That wood laminate camera is gorgeous! Can’t wait for the next part 🙂
what a great idea!
im so so excited for this!
OH MY GOD i can’t wait for the instruction to be posted! this is so amazing and exciting, really. I always wanted to know how to construct them and I pretty like the Lego one, because I actually have a crush on Lego. Well. This is great.
That is awesome! I’d love to try to make one myself.
Can’t wait to read the rest! I haven’t made a pinhole camera since high school when I used an old oatmeal and had access to a photo lab. I just got a pinhole blender mini 35mm from lomography.com but haven’t had a chance to use it yet!
Okay, that’s just freaking cool. Can’t wait to see the tutorial!
http://amysreallife.wordpress.com
this is so exciting! i cannot wait to make my own!
i made one of these in high school out of a shoe box! it’s fun!
xo.
If you go to this website, you can also download multiple pinhole cameras to make.
http://www.corbis.readymech.com/en
This does look like a lot of fun!
wow elsie! this is going to be amazing. we made pinhole cameras in gr. 8 at school. i don’t have it anymore so i’m excited to make one!!
I am really excited to try this out! Anxiously awaiting part II…
soooo neat! Thanks for exposing us to a new craft project 😉
This could be the best tutorial ever, I cant wait to see more!
I can’t wait. All the other ones I have looked at seem so complicated. Thanks for sharing this fun project.
This is so exciting!! I cannot wait to get started – I’ve been interested in pinhole cameras for a long time, but never had the motivation to make one. I’ll definitely be playing along!
We were allowed to make pin-hole cameras for my art history class last semester as extra credit! Unfortunately, I had a million other projects to do and didn’t get to it.
http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=define:hallow&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
And make sure, whoever else makes a pinhole camera, that the box you use is dark and sacred.
very cool. can. not. wait.
So cool! I haven’t done this since 10th grade photo class. I can’t wait to try !
me and my dad were just talking about making one this morning, how weird!
cool project. I am gonna try make it with my boyfriend although his DIY skills are to be questioned lol.
ooooh can’t wait for this!
I’ve been wanting to learn this for years!!!
Thanaks, thanks, thanks…I can’t wait 😀
I am SOsosoooo excited!
omg!
so want to that!!
I am so excited! The photos are amazing!
Yeay! I can’t wait to do this! How cool!
AWESOME!!!
Oh, man – I’m so excited to see what kind of camera you make!! 🙂 I need a Mr. Potato head one, I think. So inspiring!!
🙂 YAY! i’m excited too! i need to develop my first roll ASAP!
Best DIY ever. Sister here is on. board.
OH MAN the potato head one? awesome! can’t wait to see more!
ahh I love pinholes! we made them in year 11 photography, with coffee cans, but our images never ended up so pretty like those ones above, they are just amazing <3
I made a pin hole “lens” for my dslr by following this tutorial:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/batudiste/2089489231/
I love the pin hole effect. Photography is general is just so amazing because there is soooo much that can be done and experimented with to create an interesting photo.
Can’t wait Elsie!! I’m totally on board. Let’s do this!!
i am playing with pinholes at the moment too. thanks for this ode to them
i’ve wanted to try this for ages.
excited!
x
i’ve wanted to try it since i’m 10, and never did. hmm.. looking forward to get to see your tutorial! especially i’m wondering how the pictures get sharp? or do you have to find out the optimal distance?
http://www.etsy.com/shop/luzbox
I’ve made one before, let me look it up~ 🙂
Funny life
So, are you preparing for pinhole camera day??? (4/25)
Also here’s a site for pinhole exposure times. There’s a calculator there too:
http://www.mrpinhole.com/calcpinh.php
I just happened to watch the movie The Brothers Bloom in which a character used a watermelon to make a pin-hole camera. I would suggest this amazing film to you! It’s beautiful (and so is Adrien Brody!).
This is awesome Elsie and I can’t wait!! Thanks so much I am loving this!
oh!! I made one last week too 🙂
Can’t wait to see the pictures !!!!
Wow, I’ve wanted to make one of these for a while.
Can’t wait!
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I like that saying, thanks!
Thanks for posting this. Very nice recap of some of the key points in my talk. I hope you and your readers find it useful! Thanks again
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I really love the photos that overlap over the gear holes in the film… where would you take your photos to be printed in order to achieve this look?? I have rolls and rolls and ROLLS of film that I haven’t developed (from my Holga) because I took them to a drug store and they ruined my pictures! They were cut and trimmed and lost the effect! Help anyone!? lol