A few months ago, after a bit of thinking, I bought a 3d printer. I say, “after a bit of thinking” because I did not want to spend my free time still in front of a monitor to design stuff. But, in the end, I gave in and went for a used/cheap 3d printer in order to see if it would be interesting for me. After a few months I got bored of tweaking and adjusting the old printer and I went for a brand new one… and everything changed.
My name is Oliver, I am 34 years old and have been a keen photographer and inventor my life so far, taking after my Dad Harry New who invented the Nova Vertical slot processor back in the 1980’s which our company Novacrylics Engineering continued to manufacture for 40 years.
I have now invented a product of my own: Pinsta, pinhole camera and mini-enlarger which develops prints internally meaning prints can be made, at home, out camping, on the bus and without any further investment in darkroom equipment… But before I get to that, a little bit of background as to why I am so happy to bringing a product like Pinsta to market.
Two main factors determine how a pinhole camera “sees” – that is, whether its angle of view is wide, normal or tele. The first is the sensor size (throughout this post I’ll use ‘sensor’ as a general term for any photosensitive surface, including film, paper or digital sensor). The second is the focal distance (the …
A Calculator for Pinhole Camera Design – by Sroyon Read More
I started making pinhole cameras for the same reason I imagine many people do – because I could! They are deceptively simple objects – after all it’s just a box with a hole in it, right! Regardless, they are capable of producing beautifully complex images.
In my early experiments I used what I could find around me – matchboxes, bits of ducting and even felted sheep’s wool. Alongside this, and armed with my trusty Ondu 135, I was learning how to produce the kind of images I wanted using pinhole cameras. I began to understand that I wanted more flexibility to shape my camera to my ideas.
After a brief diversion into creating an underwater pinhole camera (that’s another story) I set to work designing a camera which could change and adapt to new ideas.
Today – April 25 – is Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day (WPPD for short), when anyone, anywhere in the world, who makes a pinhole photograph can upload it to the WPPD online gallery (you can also view past galleries here).
