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Once you have all the materials together, the actual construction time will be about the time it takes to read this post. The time the paint takes to thoroughly dry is the largest variable.
A simple warning when using pinhole body caps. (1) You *will* get dust inside the camera from two sources, one of which may be questionable. Every time you go through a mount/dismount cycle of either a lens or body cap you are taking a chance of dust entering the sensor/film area. (2) Some places on the Internet warn that the action of the mirror moving on an SLR/DSLR will ’suck’ dust into the camera through the pinhole. Also, the glue and or paint used in the description below may flake, disintegrate, chunk, etc. All with the possibility of material entering the camera and getting into places it is not wanted.
I won’t go into fine details here. In fact, there are only three fine details to consider. The distance from the pinhole lens material to the sensor/film surface, the size of the sensor/film and the diameter of the pinhole. All of which can be ignored when first making a pinhole body cap. You can just proceed to having fun almost immediately, or you can measure, and search, and calculate, and search, and calculate, and search, etc. I would suggest just doing it and get some instant gratification, later you can play with getting it ‘perfect’.
If you want to do the details- use > http://www.mrpinhole.com/calcpinh.php < . Be forewarned that the biggest problem with going this route is measuring the pinhole – in 1000ths of an inch. Thats mainly why I suggest just going ahead.
1) Drill a 3/8″ hole dead center in the body cap. Don’t worry – if you need it later as a body cap- just put some tape on the front of the cap :)
2) Go to your local auto parts store and buy a nest of feeler gauges or use a piece of a side of an aluminum soda can. Either way, wash the material with soap and water and dry thoroughly before proceeding. A piece 1/2″ square is all that is needed. I use the .0015″ material from a feeler gauge nest, in fact, I bought a roll of it off an auction site- it was in the industrial section- 25′ in length and 1/2″ wide when I realized that the price of five nests paid for the roll. The brand name is Starrett. It is something to consider if a group is getting together to try pinhole photography or you get addicted.
3) Get the thinest, sharpest pin or needle you can find. A quilter’s pin is the easiest to find, otherwise a sewing pin or sewing needle will do. Sewing machine needles will be too big.
4) Get a piece of steel (like a cake pan).
5) Put three ( this will make a fairly small pinhole ) sheets of common note book paper or one index card on the steel. You can adjust the size very simply : more paper = bigger hole : less paper = smaller hole. By using a hard surface to work on it is possible to closely duplicate multiple pinholes and to create reference sizes for future use. Get a deal on body caps at an auction site and make a bunch of various sizes for experimenting.
6) Place the pinhole material on top of the paper.
7) Grip the pin firmly in pliers and keeping it straight up and down in relation to the hard material, push firmly through the center of the pinhole material and through the paper until the pin tip stops at the hard material. Then pull it straight back up without wiggling it around.
Hold it up to a light source and behold your creation.
9) Place the pinhole with the bottom side up and sand until all the dimple is gone, use just enough pressure to remove the material – not enough to push the material back into the hole. (This it one of the two most important things to do – getting the surface as flat as possible – spend some time on this step). Don’t sand the topside- it isn’t needed. Clean the pinhole material before proceeding and make sure the hole is not clogged.
10) Glue the pinhole to the *inside* of the lens cap with the *sanded* side towards the sensor/film. I use instant glue here. The closer to the exact center you can align it to the body cap the better.
11) Using *flat* black paint/pigment or permanent black marker, darken the pinhole material (not the hole itself !), glue smudges and if the body cap is shiny surfaced – the entire inside of the body cap, don’t get any paint/marker on the mating surface where the body cap and body come together or you will find little pieces inside the camera when they are scraped off when you mount/dismount it. Also do not get any paint/marker in the pinhole itself, just come close to it – I usually leave about a 1/16″ unpainted around the hole. (This painting is the second most important thing to do – otherwise reflections *will* cause image degradation.)
12) The absolutely most important thing – this is all done at your own peril. *You* defined – walk to a mirror and look into it – *you* refers to the face in the mirror. *You* do any/all of this yourself and as such- *you* are solely responsible for any injury, outcome, problems, damage whatever.
13) Wait for the paint/marker to completely dry. Again, make sure the pinhole itself is not clogged.
14) Try it out !
For more information on lens to body adapters click on the tag ‘adapter’ in the right column on my HomePage
