Re: Pin Hole Leica

[colin <colinmi@fast.net>]

Jack Campin wrote:
> 
> 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

If I remember correctly, the pinhole lens I saw gave the equivalent of a
28mm lens.  Wide, but not extreme.  Some sort of recessed cap would have
to be made to go wider.

I myself think that large format is better suited to pinhole
photography.  Enlarging a 35mm pinhole negative to 8x10 is pushing
things a bit.  Reducing an 11x14 pinhole negative to 8x10 (or 5x7) is
better in my opinion. 

Have Fun,

Colin