A pinhole camera, a pinhole camera, is a prototype of a camera that has been known to mankind for several hundred years. In this article, we will not only get to know more closely its history and principle of action, but also analyze how to make a camera obscura with your own hands from improvised materials in several ways.
What is a pinhole camera
The camera obscura (lat. Camera - " room", obscura - " darkened, dark") - the simplest optical device, the prototype of the camera. It can be either a box or a chest, on one of the walls of which a small eye-hole is cut out, and instead of the other a screen made of translucent material is pulled, or a dark room with the same small eye and screen.
Another name for this device is a pinhole camera (eng. Pinhole camera - "camera with a hole").
The principle of the pinhole camera
Before you make a pinhole camera with your own hands, you need to figure out how it works. Her work is based on the well-known from school law of the direct propagation of light rays. Many narrow light beams pass through the camera’s eye hole. Each of them leaves a light spot on the screen of the opposite wall, equal in size to the eye. Such spots from a multitude of rays are superimposed on each other on the screen surface of the pinhole camera, thereby creating an optical reflection on it — a copy of an object or panorama in front of this peculiar apparatus.
Human eye and pinhole camera
The camera obscura, by the way, resembles the principle of the action of the human eye - the image on its screen also gets through a small hole and upside down. This happens because light enters the eye and into the apparatus at an angle - the rays reflected from the top of the objects are directed downward, and the rays reflecting objects close to the ground are directed upward. Inside the camera they intersect, so the image on the camera screen turns upside down. In our body, the brain returns the picture to the correct position, and in the camera - the mirror.
Pinhole Camera History
How to make a camera obscura with your own hands, our distant ancestors also thought about - for the first time this phenomenon was noticed by Aristotle back in the 4th century. BC.
The legendary Leonardo da Vinci was the first to describe the algorithm and the mechanism of its operation. In the Middle Ages, artists used his invention - the camera obscura helped them make paintings, copies of various objects.
Scientists also thought about how to make a do-it-yourself camera obscura in a more "advanced" version. In 1568, the principle of operation of the pinhole camera was improved - the Venetian inventor De Barbaro replaced the screen with a flat-convex lens. This innovation significantly improved the clarity and saturation of the image. The device was called a stenop camera. It has become a stepping stone to a modern camera.
How to make a pinhole camera with your own hands out of the box
To make your own pinhole camera you will need:
- a cardboard box of tea or juice;
- thin translucent paper - tracing paper or parchment is perfect;
- scissors;
- glue;
- Scotch.
So, how to make a camera obscura with your own hands from a box of tea, juice, etc.:
- Cut a small window on one of the box walls.
- Use glue or tape to seal the hole with a suitable piece of paper, turning it into the screen of the future camera.
- In the middle of the opposite wall, make a hole no larger than 1 mm in diameter. Use a needle, pin, pushpin for this.
That's the whole instruction that tells you how to make a camera obscura with your own hands out of the box. Use your invention in a darkened room - point it at a bright and contrasting light source - for example, a burning candle. Its inverted image should be reflected on a paper screen.
How to make a pinhole camera with your own hands: a camera
In this life hack we will analyze the creation of a more complex, but also more interesting pinhole camera, with which you can get real photos. To get started, collect the necessary materials:
- aluminum jar;
- a piece of plastic;
- Matchbox;
- 2 "barrels" for a film;
- 35 mm film itself;
- black paint, brush;
- stationery knife;
- insulating tape;
- needle;
- scissors;
- ruler;
- pencil.
How to make a pinhole camera with your own hands, read on:
- Cut a window in the inside of the box. Its recommended size is 36x24 mm. Its edges can be both left carelessly torn (this will give an unusual effect to the future picture), and can be smoothed out with a nail file or clerical knife.
- Fully paint the inside of the box with black paint. Use matte rather than glossy dyes.
- Take a piece of plastic, sharpen its end. Glue electrical tape to the “barrel”, as in the photo, and with a sharp tip, hook the hole of the film previously inserted into this container. When rewinding, clicks will be heard - to create a new frame you need to scroll the film for 8-9 clicks.
- Go back to the outside of the box - strictly cut an 8x5 mm rectangle in the middle of the box.
- From an aluminum can cut a 15x15 mm square. Make a hole in the middle of the needle - the smaller it is, the better.
- Now paint black the outside of the box and the aluminum box.
- Glue the aluminum part to the eye of the outer part of the box with electrical tape.
- Make a shutter - cut out a cardboard, make a hole in it for the “lens”, stick it to the “camera”. Take a strip of cardboard 10x30 mm, completely paint it black, insert this makeshift shutter into the device, as in the example.
- To rewind the film inside the "barrel", make such a pen from cardboard and electrical tape.
- How to make a pinhole camera do it yourself from cardboard? Here, finally, is the final point. Insert the film between the outer and inner part of the hole for the screen of the matchbox. To prevent the used film from hanging out, you can attach a second “barrel” to the other side of the camera to wind it. Tape all parts securely.
So we sorted out two ways that suggest how to make a camera obscura with your own hands. In the latter case, it is better to use a tripod for shooting, and open the shutter for a strictly defined time - in sunny weather for 6 seconds, in cloudy - for 7-8 seconds.