The Top 20 Strangests/Coolest/Most Beautiful Pinhole Cameras

Posted on April 20, 2009 by By Andrew
tags: flickr, pinhole, wpd2009

In the runup to WPD2009, we are churning out pinhole articles! Our latest is a strange one. You all know you can create a pinhole camera pretty much out of anything you can get your hands on, from tin cans, through to wooden boxes. This article lists some of the strangest, most bizarre, funniest, or beautiful pinhole cameras that people have made.

1.SPAMera

SPAMera® by CK

The SPAMera has to be one of the most famous modern-day pinholes! I seem to see this photo everywhere I go! Chris really has combined two classics into one form. You can see more info here:

http://www.chriskeeney.com/photography/pages/ck_SPAMera.html

2.John Baird’s Pinhole Camera

Pinhole Camera by John Baird

I remember seeing this camera last year some time and thought it had such beautiful construction. I can’t nail two bits of wood together, so I’m quite envious that John has created this marvel.

3.Homemade Cigar Box Camera

Homemade Cigar Box Camera by spiffytumbleweed

Spiffytumbleweed’s flickr photostream is full of bizarre contraptions, strange methods and interesting results, so where better to look for a pinhole camera hidden inside a cigar box!

4.The Hexomniscope

hexomniscope - 6 lens pinhole camera by Cory.Lum

This is a bit mental! A 6 lensed pinhole camera! Beautifully constructed and wonderfully thought-out, you can see more information here:

http://www.abelsonscopeworks.com/cameras/hexomniscope.htm

5.Pumpkin Pinhole Camera

pinhole camera made from a real pumpkin! by Haiku Garry

A pumpkin has to be one of the strangest items to pass film through. Don’t use a 36 exposure film, otherwise the pumpkin may have rotted before you finish the roll.

6.Normal Redscale Pinproject

É na manteiga, manteiga, manteiga...by Damiao Santana

Damiao has created a two holed camera, exposing the rear of the film as well as the usual front. Should lead to some interesting results.

7.Pinholo

PinHolo by by Dippold

Yep, that’s a pinhole camera hidden inside a pine nut! Uses tiny pieces of photographic paper to expose on to. Click on the photo above to see some of the results.

8.Polaroid Pinhole

let's make a pinhole polaroid camera! by Duchamp

At first, this may not look like much, just another pinhole in a foil container. But this pinhole uses polaroid film. Duchamp goes into a lot of detail in his tutorial, including how to account for reciprocity failure in polaroid film, and even how to ‘roll’ out the chemicals after taking a photo. Click on the photo above for a tutorial.

9.Coffee Cup Pinhole Lense

Coffee cup pinhole lens by paradefotos

It’s not often we feature anything digital on holgablog, but here’s something a bit strange. A pinhole lens for a digital SLR, made from a coffee cup!

10.The FrankenCamera

(No.2) Home-made assembled pinhole camera be composed of few original photography equipments by jonespointfilm

This camera is made up of parts from about 15 cameras (plus an ikea plant pot!). It has no right to look some pretty! The photos from it are wonderful too. Click on the photo for more info.

11.The Memocam

memocam by bertmac

at first I thought this was 100 years old, but it’s a modern pinhole made by bertmac, and featured in Make Magazine.

12.The Matchbox Pinhole

My home-made matchbox pinhole camera. I shot the previous pictures with it. by Hlynur

The matchbox pinhole is one of the ’standard’ pinholes that you make. It’s longevity lies in its simplicity.

13.Teapot Pinhole

Perky Pinhole by Voxphoto

Ross is another photographer who loves to create and experiment with photography. The teapot is one of many strange cameras he uses.

14.Pinwide

PINWIDE - DIY Pinhole, f/238, 6x18, 87.1degrees, 120film by rodolfo novak

The DIY pinhole creates a super-wide 6×18 photo on 120 film! Click on the photo for more info, and some photographs produced with the camera.

15.Folding Pinhole

Folding Pinhole 6x9 by effixe

effixe has taken an old 6×9 folding camera and attached a beatufully laser-etched shutter onto the front of the door.

16.Chamaeleon Panorama

Chamaeleon Panorama 6x6/2 pinhole panoramic camera by chamaeleon618

Chamaeleon on Flickr spends an incredible amount of time to create this hand-made pinholes. The process includes many layers of oil being rubben into the wood over periods of months, and all the wood is teak or ebony. There are no plastic parts at all. For further info see http://www.flickr.com/photos/lochkamera/.

17.Oatmeal Pinhole Camera

Oatmeal Pinhole Camera Tutorial by Archer's Eye

The Oatmeal DIY pinhole is another ’standard’ pinhole to make. If you search google for pinhole tutorials, the oatmeal tutorial is always near the top of the results. Click on the photo above to see a full pictorial tutorial.

18.Zero Image Pinholes

Zero image pinholes aren’t DIY jobs like most of the others shown here. They are created by Zero Image and sold via their website. Their pinholes are of gorgeous construction, but they do cost a fair whack! Zero Image do all kinds of different sized cameras too, so you can buy one which suits your needs best.

19.Niagra Falls Pinhole

niagara falls pinhole camera by Duchamp

Okay, this may be a bit like some of the others featured here, but it’s pretty!! Uses Polaroid 600 film held in place by magnets inside the tin.

20. Holga 120S Pinhole

diy pinholga shutter, take 3 (in open position) by willsfca

Our Final pinhole had to be a holga(well, this is holgablog afterall). This is a bit more advanced than a lot of the holga pinholes (most people just take off the lens and put a hole in a bit of can and tape it down!). Click on the photo for more info.

Look Further

TeamDroid: DIY Hight Capacity Pinhole

Free Downloadable Pinhole Cameras @ FCD

Over 100,000 Pinhole shots on Flickr

World Pinhole Day 2009

Which is your favourite? Are we missing one?

Comments

Posted by John Baird on April 21st, 2009, 15:05 (Reply to this comment)
Shucks, thanks for featuring my camera – I’m such good company here.
If anyone is curious about the photos I make with my pinhole camera look here.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnbaird/sets/72157594187199912/

-John
Posted by Alistair Scott on April 21st, 2009, 15:45 (Reply to this comment)
Wow! Some cool cameras. I love the spam tin one with the wingnut film winder.

And the coffee cup one reminded me of a digital pinhole camera I made using a beer can. Turned out to be quite a strong telephoto lens so it was difficult to see what I was photographing, and I had big problems with internal reflections. Had to blacken the interior. You can see it here:

http://alscotts.blogspot.com/2008/04/ive-got-new-lens.html
Posted by Arneee on April 22nd, 2009, 09:03 (Reply to this comment)
I prefer the 5th one. A pumpkin
I have three huge pumpkins left from last years crop awaiting to become soup or pancakes etc. They are all around half meter in diameter – I just imagined what size of negative I could shoot with those pumpkins. And as I have three of them – wonder what triptichs could come out of them
Thousand thanks for this post. Gets me crazy to wait for saturday!!! Three days to go!!!
Posted by Topics about Toronto » Blog Archive » The Top 20 Strangests/Coolest/Most Beautiful Pinhole Cameras on April 22nd, 2009, 13:31 (Reply to this comment)
[...] Net-Cool added an interesting post today on The Top 20 Strangests/Coolest/Most Beautiful Pinhole CamerasHere’s a small reading19.Niagra Falls Pinhole … niagara falls pinhole camera by Duchamp. Okay, this may be a bit like some of the others featured here, but it’s… [...]
Posted by Claire on April 22nd, 2009, 17:54 (Reply to this comment)
Very cool post, it gives me a lot of ideas for WPD2009 !
Posted by Photojojo » Get Ready for Pinhole Photography Day! on April 23rd, 2009, 08:45 (Reply to this comment)
[...] If you’re looking for inspiration, check out some of these crazy-pants pinhole cameras! [...]
Posted by Andrew(Admin) on April 24th, 2009, 13:32 (Reply to this comment)
I personally think the pumpkin one is inspired! If you check Garry’s flickrstream you can see some of the photos from it. They all have a lovely orange ‘tint’ to them
Posted by cu ocazia lui WPD2009, « blog de leigh on April 26th, 2009, 11:52 (Reply to this comment)
[...] cu ocazia lui WPD2009, 2009 aprilie 26 by li am descoperit inca de aseara un minunat articol, sa-i spunem, cu un top al celor mai cool 20 de pinhole cameras aici. [...]
Posted by monday Blogroll - Four Corners Dark : Holga, Lomo, Toy Camera and Low-fi Photography Blog on April 28th, 2009, 11:22 (Reply to this comment)
[...] Holga Blog’s 20 Strangest Pinhole Cams. [...]
Posted by ha.wi on May 3rd, 2009, 22:53 (Reply to this comment)
two DIY classic paper pinehole cameras

http://www.pinhole.cz/en/pinholecameras/dirkon_01.html

http://eie.scu.edu.cn/incoming/courseware/Linatree_brochure.pdf
Posted by effixe on May 9th, 2009, 10:23 (Reply to this comment)
thanks for featuring my camera.
All of my pinhole cams can be seen here : http://www.flickr.com/photos/effixe/sets/72157608644625544/
and there you can see pictures made by these cameras : http://www.flickr.com/photos/effixe/sets/72157615299730872/

for information, it’s a laser paper transfer eatching.

Effixe
Posted by Link Roundup 05-23-2009 on May 25th, 2009, 05:57 (Reply to this comment)
[...] The Top 20 Strangests/Coolest/Most Beautiful Pinhole Cameras Holga Blog You like making your own cameras, right? Of course! So here are 20 examples of awesome pinhole cameras! [...]
Posted by Тут Хумора.NET — Фотоссылки on May 26th, 2009, 19:42 (Reply to this comment)
[...] the ambient altogether, the knowledge of what the image should look like will help you decide.The Top 20 Strangests/Coolest/Most Beautiful Pinhole Cameras. Из чего только не мастерят пинхолы рукастые [...]
Posted by Dror Eyal on May 30th, 2009, 13:34 (Reply to this comment)
When I grow up I want a Wayne Martin Belger pinhole. He has some seriously bizarre pinholes made from skulls and other bits and bobs.
Posted by Architecture|Photography| Link Roundup 05-23-2009 » Architecture and Photography | Architecture and Photography on June 11th, 2009, 17:10 (Reply to this comment)
[...] The Top 20 Strangests/Coolest/Most Beautiful Pinhole Cameras Holga Blog You like making your own cameras, right? Of course! So here are 20 examples of awesome pinhole cameras! [...]
Posted by Link Roundup 05-23-2009 | The Photo Blog on June 12th, 2009, 20:22 (Reply to this comment)
[...] The Top 20 Strangests/Coolest/Most Beautiful Pinhole Cameras Holga Blog You like making your own cameras, right? Of course! So here are 20 examples of awesome pinhole cameras! [...]
Posted by Link Roundup 05-23-2009 | Free Info Technology on June 16th, 2009, 11:21 (Reply to this comment)
[...] The Top 20 Strangests/Coolest/Most Beautiful Pinhole Cameras Holga Blog You like making your own cameras, right? Of course! So here are 20 examples of awesome pinhole cameras! [...]
Posted by Link Roundup 05-23-2009 | The Large Format Photography Blog on June 18th, 2009, 20:16 (Reply to this comment)
[...] The Top 20 Strangests/Coolest/Most Beautiful Pinhole Cameras Holga Blog You like making your own cameras, right? Of course! So here are 20 examples of awesome pinhole cameras! [...]
Posted by Pinhole « ArteAto 09 on July 4th, 2009, 00:35 (Reply to this comment)
[...] http://www.holgablog.com/2009/04/20/the-top-20-strangestscoolestmost-beautiful-pinhole-cameras/ [...]
Posted by Top 20 Pinhole Cameras. | thepinholer.co.uk on November 9th, 2009, 19:29 (Reply to this comment)
[...] http://www.holgablog.com/2009/04/20/the-top-20-strangestscoolestmost-beautiful-pinhole-cameras/ [...]
Posted by Marcos Campos on November 10th, 2009, 11:16 (Reply to this comment)
Excelente coletânea de câmeras.
Sempre bom ver a criatividade das pessoas.
Parabéns!
Posted by uberVU - social comments on December 4th, 2009, 23:49 (Reply to this comment)
Social comments and analytics for this post…

This post was mentioned on Twitter by jainlemos: Do you have a cool pinhole camera? http://tinyurl.com/c46gn6...
Posted by Ian on February 7th, 2010, 20:44 (Reply to this comment)
Brilliant post! Very unique cameras there. Keep up the great blog!
Posted by espaifotografic.cat - tot fotografia on April 23rd, 2010, 06:04 (Reply to this comment)
[...] sel·lecció de càmeres estenopèiques ben curioses, feu un cop d’ull a aquesta entrada del holga blog. Si us atreu més l’estil gòtic o gore, sempre us podeu inspirar en les creacions de’n [...]
Posted by Are You Ready for Worldwide Pinhole Day? on April 23rd, 2010, 14:31 (Reply to this comment)
[...] The Top 20 Strangests/Coolest/Most Beautiful Pinhole Cameras [...]
Posted by World Pinhole Day 2010: April 25th « Holga Blog on April 28th, 2010, 11:23 (Reply to this comment)
[...] The top 20 strangest Pinhole cameras [...]
Posted by Pinhole strange world « Carollainy's Blog on May 1st, 2010, 19:02 (Reply to this comment)
[...] strange world 1 05 2010 Today’s post is about a cool post from Holga Blog. It’ss the top 20 strangest/coolest/most beautiful pinhole [...]
Posted by The Showcase of Beautiful Pinhole Photography - Smashing Magazine on July 25th, 2010, 14:39 (Reply to this comment)
[...] Camera.Exposure Times for Pinhole PhotographyPhotography 101 – Light and the Pinhole Camera20 Strange Beautiful Pinhole CamerasTurn Your DSLR into a Pinhole CameraTurn Your Holga into a Pinhole CameraDIY: Pinhole Lego [...]
Posted by The Showcase of Beautiful Pinhole Photography | Web Design Cool on July 25th, 2010, 15:19 (Reply to this comment)
[...] 20 Strange Beautiful Pinhole Cameras [...]
Posted by The Showcase of Beautiful Pinhole Photography | ThemesDen on July 26th, 2010, 07:28 (Reply to this comment)
[...] 20 Strange Beautiful Pinhole Cameras [...]
Posted by ben on July 28th, 2010, 03:45 (Reply to this comment)
impossible!!
Posted by The Showcase of Beautiful Pinhole Photography | i know idea on August 3rd, 2010, 16:52 (Reply to this comment)
[...] 20 Strange Beautiful Pinhole Cameras [...]