Pinhole Update

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CLICK HERE FOR FURTHER ADAPTER INFORMATION ON MY BLOG

Since I have been ‘collecting’ quite a few M42 135mm lenses to use as ‘host bodies’ with the various old Kodak lenses, I find myself with an ‘extra’. I am going to put a pinhole holder inside on the helical focusing section. This will allow me to easily use various size pinholes at different focal lengths with my Canon XTi. The dismal body cap pinhole images I have gotten after several tries at pinhole sizing are making me rethink how best to use a DSLR and a pinhole. I am going to make sure that I use the RAW format in an attempt to circumvent the JPG software gremlin inside.

The very best images from any of my pinhole cameras come from the Yashica A conversion. I am fairly sure this is due to the twin lens system it has. I am able to focus and frame the shot with the top lens. I feel that since both lenses move on the same platform and both lenses are very close to the same distance from the film plane, that the focus does actually work. Using this premise, I will build the above mentioned lens for use on the DSLR’s.

With the upcoming Pinhole Day 2009 on April 26, 2009, I have a month to build and experiment with the concept. How to make the changeable holder for the pinholes seems to be the toughest part of the project.

This pinhole project and putting the Kodak Bimat lens in a 135mm host body are on the ‘to do’ list today.

CLICK HERE FOR FURTHER ADAPTER INFORMATION ON MY BLOG

A Second Yashica A

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This weekend I ran across an online auction for a Yashica A that needed CLA (clean,lubricate,adjust) with just an hour + left to run. The bid was around $10USD. I put in a bid of $13.98 on a whim and won it for just over $11. With S&H it came to ~$18USD. 

So, I will be doing the modification to a second Yashica A as I have covered on my photographyhacks.org website and in the pages to the right under the same name. The website has a couple of pictures that I didn’t carry over.

This modification was the most gratifying so far in that to a casual looker, it appears to be an original camera. The only difference being the lower lens is now a pinhole. That plus the aperture and shutter still work afterwards. The photographs taken so far are  above my other cameras in detail. Do a tag search on Yashica for the original post with photo.

Update March 2009: The camera still sits here. The ‘leather’ is flaking off, so it will be a project for outside to cut down on the mess of complete removal. Maybe I’ll go to Tandy Leather and get something neat to re-cover it.

Photographyhacks.org RIP

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I have decided to let my website photographyhacks.org die a natural death after June 2009. It is too much expense to maintain a non-income generating website and too time consuming to play with HTML code every time something is changed or added. 

In order to maintain the information I have on the website, I made a page entitled photographyhacks.org and I placed  the information from the website there. The images in general aren’t worth the effort to move. So, now is the time to look at the pictures if you wish. The images from the tutorials are still there.

 
UPDATE 12-10-2008: I found a quick way to zip all the images from photographyhacks.org. I will put them in a gallery on their own page. They will include, in no particular order or filename convention, cross-eye stereo, images that originally were embedded in the projects, and normal (for me) snapshots.

It is a dark and dreary day ……….

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Perhaps I will see what develops ……….  Enough of that ! 

I do have a personal website, nothing for sale and no opinions on current affairs.

Update March 2009: The website below is now being forwarded to this website. All information is on a page named photographyhacks.

There is an article with details on the Yashica A conversion to pinhole, another on those screw on wide angle adapters, and more photographs.

Today I am going to attempt working with the stereo pairs I have from my homemade pinhole stereo camera. I will probably do one in P***oshop and another in a freeware stereo program. When I get done, if either are decent, I will post them in a message here. They will be in both stereo pairs for crosseyed viewing and in anaglyph format for use with red/cyan glasses.

I just found that the NYC metro system has a 1 day pass for $7.50, available at automatic dispensers. Compared to the double decker bus day pass it is a bargain. I believe I will get one first thing. A note to remember for newbies on the NYC Subway system- in less traveled areas of Manhattan (possibly other places also) there are entrances that only go in one direction. With my last fare used on my card, I went through the turnstile and got in an uptown terminal – yup – I wanted downtown. So, back through the turnstile, up the stairs, across the street, back down, purchase another fare ticket and get on the correct train.  Like I have said in an earlier posting here, I am but a country bumpkin.

My first pinhole camera

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Actually, I first modified a camera body cover with a pinhole, following the general instructions on the Internet. I tried it out several times on both my Canon 300D and XTi. The results were very disappointing. I did three different sized pinholes with no apparent improvement. I believe the AI in the camera might have had something to do with it. Putting one of these pinholes on a Nikon digital body cap had much better results. I have deleted all of the images taken with it.  

Then I picked up a Yashica A TLR from my favorite camera store and went at it. I removed the taking lens and either unscrewed or destroyed the lenses init. One was cemented in place and was removed with a punch. This left the shutter and the aperture blades intact. I then went to the local auto parts store and bought a set of feeler gauges. Using the thinest, I made a pinhole with a quilting pin. 

The test film came back with some nice images of a local library.

The construction project of the Yashica TLR to pinhole is covered in detail on the photographyhacks page.