potholder makes good as pinhole camera

this is quite a hack from david. a pinhole camera ingeniously crafted from an ikea bjuron plant pot holder and a coke can. besides being dirt cheap, the picture quality is not bad. not bad at all.

the pinhole camera is "made from a bjurön, which is a 14cm x 14cm wooden box with a galvanised tray loose inside intended just to hold pot plants. i cut the height down to get the focal length / field of view i wanted. then i used the bit i cut off plus a scrap piece of pine as the back.

a 2" hole was cut into the bottom, and a smaller hole drilled in the the tray which was then screwed to the inside of the box. the pinhole itself (a section cut from a coke can) was taped to the tray. i found some matte black paint for the inside and varnish for the outside in the garage. the toggle catches came from a local hardware store and were the most expensive parts!

it uses 5"x4" sheet film which has to be loaded and unloaded in complete darkness. the design has evolved since the initial build with light baffles and film holder made from black card."

i'd say, the results (pics above) are simply beautiful. link to david's gallery. (link updated 9/6/07)