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MY PINHOLE CAMERAS

Photographs are, at the very least, to the same measure the product of cameras as they are the product of photographers, even if the process involves two different levels of execution. Thus it would be advisable to criticise the photo-camera.  Vilém Flusser, Fotokamera, 1982 

The pinhole camera assumes a somewhat unusual place among its fellows, and not only because it doesn't use a lens. The photographer generally designs and constructs it himself, thereby influencing to a fair degree the kind of pictures he takes. The construction of the pinhole camera is therefore the beginning of the whole creative process and becomes an integral part of the photographer's work.

I have made 46 pinhole cameras of various types since 1999, designed for different negative formats. Some of them are merely improvements on previous models, so I present here only those I'm currently using and those which are interesting for a particular reason.

DK1  The first pinhole camera, which I made in 1999, inspired by the cameras of Doug Bardell. Designed for a 9 x 24 cm format, the negative is not straight but curved, so that each part is the same distance from the pinhole.

Technical information: diameter of the hole 0.4 mm, focal length 115 mm, negative format 9 x 24 cm, angle of view 94°, camera dimensions: W 22 cm, H 12 cm, D 13,5 cm.

Photographs taken with this camera: 1, 2

DK4  The 12 x 30 cm film in this camera can be inserted to a distance of 60 or 90 mm from the pinhole.

Technical information: diameter of the hole 0.4 mm, focal length 60/90 mm, negative format 12 x 30 cm, angle of view 138°/120°, camera dimensions: W 34 cm, H 17 cm, D 11.5 cm.

Photographs taken with this camera: 1, 2

DK5 and DK6  Cameras made from tin cans, classic mode of pinhole photography. I used Segafredo coffee cans. Since the paper or film inside is curved, the resulting image is distorted.

Technical information: diameter of the hole 0.4 mm, focal length 30–85 mm, negative format 13 x 18 cm, height 14 cm, diameter 9 cm.

Photographs taken with this camera: 1, 2, 3

DK7  Pinhole camera made from a biscuit tin which has three holes round its perimeter.

Technical information: diameter of the holes 0.2 mm, focal length 20 mm, negative format 9 x 24 cm, height 10 cm, diameter 12 cm.

Photographs taken with this camera: 1, 2

DK9  I adapted a Moskva 5 Soviet folding camera into a pinhole camera mainly so that I could take pictures using 6 x 9 cm colour film.

Technical information: diameter of the hole 0.2 mm, focal length 27 mm, negative format 6 x 9 cm, angle of view 126°, camera dimensions: W 16 cm, H 9.5 cm, D 4 cm.

Photographs taken with this camera: 1, 2

DK11  Pinhole camera designed for 13 x 18 cm film-holders, used for large-format photography.

Technical information: diameter of the hole 0.3 mm, focal length 47 mm, negative format 13 x 18 cm, angle of view 131°, camera dimensions: W 21 cm, H 17 cm, D 5,5 cm.

Photographs taken with this camera: 1, 2

Dirkon  The legendary Czechoslovak paper camera, published in 1979 in the magazine An ABC of Young Technicians and Natural Scientists for readers to cut out and make themselves.

Technical information: diameter of the hole 0.4 mm, focal length 50 mm, negative format 24 x 36 mm, angle of view 46°, camera dimensions: W 10 cm, H 6.5 cm, D 6 cm.

More information about Dirkon

DK14  Pinhole camera for 35 mm film made from a travel-sweets tin. Four pinholes have been made around its circumference.

Technical information: diameter of the holes 0.2 mm, focal length 20 mm, negative format 35 x 145 mm, height 4 cm, diameter 10 cm.

Photographs taken with this camera: 1, 2