Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/02/16

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Subject: Pin Hole Leica
From: Jack Campin <jack@purr.demon.co.uk>
Date: Mon, 17 Feb 1997 02:44:38 +0000

D Khong <dkhong@pacific.net.sg> wrote:
> I hear that there are pin hole adapters which can be fitted onto
> a leica SM or M body and this can produce pin hole pics with the
> usual long exposures required.

Roll your own by adapting a body cap.  Making a sharp pinhole is not an
entirely obvious process - you get a piece of metal foil, push a pin
almost through it, grind the resulting bump away with fine abrasive, and
then smooth the hole round as necessary.  Drill a large hole in the body
cap and glue the foil over it.  You could even bore the hole off-centre
and give yourself a *shift* pinhole if you wanted.

Someone asked "why, for crying out loud?" or words to that effect - two
reasons are long exposures (as D Khong suggests) and extreme wide angles.
A Leica rangefinder may not have any special features that make it an
exceptional pinhole camera, but at least there's nothing in the design
that gets in the way, and the small flange-to-film-plane distance helps
if you want wide angle images.


- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
jack@purr.demon.co.uk  -  Jack Campin, 2 Haddington Place, Edinburgh EH7 4AE