A pinhole camera is a camera obscura with a pinhole instead of a lens. It is probably the most straightforward type of camera, made up of a light-proof box with either a single or multiple pinholes and some film.
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Pinhole cameras can be made from almost anything, from shoeboxes to a room to Lego.
Light outside the box projects an image onto the film inside, flipped like images on retinas. The pictures aren't as sharp and the film needs to be exposed for longer than with other cameras as it gets no light in the box.
Example of an underexposed pinhole photograph
The idea of a pinhole camera was first explored in the 4th century BC by Aristotle and in the fifth century by Chinese philosophers. Later it was used by astronomers in the Renaissance, but it was a Scottish scientist named David Brewster who is credited with creating the first pinhole photograph at the end of the 19th century. He also thought up the term "pinhole" for the camera, which became popular and widely used.
By the early twentieth century the use of the pinhole camera in art had all but died out due to the mass production of cameras, with pinholes not making a comeback in personal use until the 60s and 70s. However, in the 1940/50s nuclear physicists took photographs of x-rays and gamma rays with pinhole cameras, some in space. They are still used on space shuttles today, along with the current revival of pinhole photography. Contemporary photographers such as Barbara Ess, Jesse Richards and Eric Renner also make use of pinhole cameras.
World Pinhole Day is celebrated on the last Sunday of April, with increasing numbers of people taking part every year, showing how popular pinhole photography still is.
World Pinhole Day 2015 will be held on the 26th of April
This year on Pinhole Day there will be a free photowalk in Edinburgh starting at 10am.For more details visit: http://www.edinburghlofi.com/events/photowalks/20150426.php
Examples of pinhole cameras
(Corbis Readymech), (Ina Marie Schmidt), (Found Photography)
Apparently when I was homeschooled we made a pinhole camera when we studied Greece but it was so long ago that I have no memory of it. I'd really like to have another go and see what kind of photographs I could take, using what I've learned so far. I really fancy the idea of the LEGO pinhole camera, so I'll have to try to coax my brother away from his LEGO collection and attempt to make one. I like the idea of using a pinhole camera to create underexposed photos with a negative feel, even though the same effect can be made with editing tools.
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