Tuesday 11 September 2012

How the Pinhole Camera Works


Today we learned about pinhole cameras and how they worked. Though something so complex as a camera that nowadays is mostly digital and made up of loads of complicated parts and cogs, it was surprising to know that we could make a camera out of something that compared seems so plebeian. You can make a camera not just with magnesium alloy and hard plastic and metal, but with just a tin, a slide of film, and a pin. Well obviously everything started off slightly less developed as it is today. At the moment we haven't yet finished making our pin hole cameras. We all brought in a tin (though mine was slightly mouldy and unable to be used) and painted the inside in a pitch black matte paint. We also painted the bottom of the lid. This was as so there would be no light entering the tin. Most of the tins were reflective on the inside, this was another reason we wanted to use a thick black matte paint to stop there being any reflections, which would completely ruin any photos produced. Once the tins are done drying, we will cut open a small slide for us to place a piece of thin tin (painted black also) that can be easily pierced with a pin. We will place a flap over the top of this hole to act as a shutter. A photo is made due to the shutter and the shutter speed. A very crisp photo is usually due to a very fast shutter speed. A photo where you see the lights blurred and extruded is due to a slower shutter speed. We will place the tin on a flat surface and we will try to keep it as still as possible, this will be acting as a tripod to reduce vibration. We will let the light fill in to the tin for a few seconds, before putting the black flap over again. This is the shutter. The photo will be encapsulated onto the film and be ready to be developed.

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