Re: [pinhole-discussion] 4 x 5 questions
Jeff Dilcher wrote: you might be able to block out enough light to see a faint image on the glass. Actually, I manage to see faint images on my 35mm/body cap pinhole camera on sunny days. But you really have to know before hand what composition you want to make and then this can help. I start by looking for the sun in the viewer, then move to the horizon line, then to the frame I want to image. Hopefully there will be a bright spot in the image that will help me aim the camera to the right composition. But on cloudy days, you might as well forget it... Cheers, Guy Peace on earth to goodwill men and women
Re: [pinhole-discussion] 4 x 5 questions
--- Jeff Dilcher r...@hiddenworld.net wrote: I ran into this problems with a Finney 4x5 camera. Basically, you can forget about composing on the ground glasss. Well, supposedly, if you have a large pinhole, you can wrap a black cloth around your head, and you might be able to block out enough light to see a faint image on the glass. If you are looking to do this, I would point you to http://www.darkroom-innovations.com/BTZS_Focus_Cloth/btzs_focus_cloth.html Cheers - george = Handmade Photographic Images http://members.home.net/hmpi/ __ Terrorist Attacks on U.S. - How can you help? Donate cash, emergency relief information http://dailynews.yahoo.com/fc/US/Emergency_Information/
Re: [pinhole-discussion] 4 x 5 questions
I think the BTZS brand dark clothes are the sort you want. there are ads in View camera magazine. - Original Message - From: Gordon J. Holtslander hol...@duke.usask.ca To: pinhole-discussion@p at ??? Sent: Monday, September 17, 2001 2:34 PM Subject: Re: [pinhole-discussion] 4 x 5 questions I did a little fiddling around with ground-glass with pinhole. A dark-cloth was a necessity. The one I have was too small to block all the light. I thought what was really needed was sort of a balaclava type hood. Something that fits over the camera back on one end and tightly around your face on the other end. Would have to make it out of some kind of opaque stretchy fabric. It would be sort of like a bellows that fits onto your head. It would be one look even more bizarre than one usually does when taking pinhole pictures. - Ever tried explaining to someone what you are trying to do with this funny shaped card board box covered with duct tape and computer printouts, when they have never heard of a pinhole camera. They seem to think the pinholes are elsewhere. Gord - Gordon J. Holtslander Dept. of Biology hol...@duke.usask.ca 112 Science Place http://duke.usask.ca/~holtsg University of Saskatchewan Tel (306) 966-4433 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Fax (306) 966-4461 Canada S7N 5E2 - ___ Pinhole-Discussion mailing list Pinhole-Discussion@p at ??? unsubscribe or change your account at http://www.???/discussion/
Re: [pinhole-discussion] 4 x 5 questions
I did a little fiddling around with ground-glass with pinhole. A dark-cloth was a necessity. The one I have was too small to block all the light. I thought what was really needed was sort of a balaclava type hood. Something that fits over the camera back on one end and tightly around your face on the other end. Would have to make it out of some kind of opaque stretchy fabric. It would be sort of like a bellows that fits onto your head. It would be one look even more bizarre than one usually does when taking pinhole pictures. - Ever tried explaining to someone what you are trying to do with this funny shaped card board box covered with duct tape and computer printouts, when they have never heard of a pinhole camera. They seem to think the pinholes are elsewhere. Gord - Gordon J. Holtslander Dept. of Biology hol...@duke.usask.ca112 Science Place http://duke.usask.ca/~holtsgUniversity of Saskatchewan Tel (306) 966-4433 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Fax (306) 966-4461 Canada S7N 5E2 -
Re: [pinhole-discussion] 4 x 5 questions
wow, nice ascii art indeed! :) since I've seen a few people ask about this and some people suggest drawing lines on the camera itself, I figured I'd take a picture of one of my cameras that I did that with. It helps to do what Jeff is describing when you actually have the lines drawn on the camera. You can get your eyes right down at the eye-level of the camera and follow each line out to where the edge of the image. http://www.rahji.com/images/composinglines.jpg This camera is made of black foamcore and the lines were drawn with one of those flourescent yellow gel pens that they sell at cash registers in stores. That patch in the middle is where the pinhole is. If you do this, don't forget to take into account the thickness of the camera wall .. in this case, the camera was made of .5 cm thick foamcore so the lines in the upper left of the picture, for example, don't actually touch since they're each started .5 cm in from the end of the camera. I hope this helps! Rob Top view looking down on camera. F line is the plane. B is area inside your bellows. P is pinhole, with lines extending in the space. Stick man is your beautiful model (I have to much time on my hands today). F / |\ / | \ / |\ / O | B}P \+/ |/ \ ^ | / \ / \ |/ \ \ F
Re: [pinhole-discussion] 4 x 5 questions
- Original Message - From: Chris Harris cpharrisph...@hotmail.com First, I can't see the image without a lupe. This makes composing on the ground glass impossible. What f/stop is your zoneplate? if it were f/90 or f/64 (better) you shouldn't have problems composing your image, you must use a dark cloth though. You mentioned fresnel, that would also help, to see its effect before you buy an expensive one, buy one of those plastics reading fresnel lens you can buy at bus.depot, office depot, etc, they are just few bucks each. cut it to fit the back of your ground glass. I should mention that I'm used to pinhole cameras without viewfinders, but I thought I'd have the luxury of seeing an image on the 4 x 5 ground glass. If you want to see an image on the GG with a pinhole lens, have two pinholes, actually, 1 pinhole and one nailhole, use the latter to compose and the pinhole to make the exposure. The second problem is that the camera seems to be in focus through a wide range of focal lengths. I can't see any difference between the focus quality at 150mm (which the zone plate is designed for) and, say, 170mm. The magnification changes, but the focus stays the same. I can set the focus at infinity by measuring the distance from the film plane to the zone plate. However, the fine adjustments of focusing with tilts and swings seem at this point impossible. My suggestion is that you find the actual focal length of your zoneplate once and then use that distance everytime after. If you want to focus a zoneplate, is almost a must to do it viewing the aerial image and not the GG. BTW, you'll probably be amazed at how nice the aerial image projected by a zoneplate looks. Guillermo
Re: [pinhole-discussion] 4 x 5 questions
- Original Message - From: Jeff Dilcher r...@hiddenworld.net Stick man is your beautiful model (I have to much time on my hands today). F / |\ / | \ / |\ / O | B}P \+/ |/ \ ^ | / \ / \ |/ \ \ F One of the best ASCII art I ever seen! undoubtedly has Cubism influence. :-) Guillermo
[pinhole-discussion] 4 x 5 questions
I recently bought a 4 x 5 Tachihara camera and fitted it with a zone plate. I've been using zone plates on hand built cameras for several years. Large format photography is new to me. So far I've been fiddling with the camera and reading a considerable amount of literature on how to use it (for example, Steve Simon's book). I have quickly encountered two troubling aspects of the using the camera. First, I can't see the image without a lupe. This makes composing on the ground glass impossible. The ground glass is whatever ships as standard equipment with the camera. Must I 1) upgrade the ground glass to a Fresnel (will this solve the problem?), 2) buy and use a comparable real lens to compose (a very expensive choice), 3) check my composition with Polaroids (an expensive alternative)? I should mention that I'm used to pinhole cameras without viewfinders, but I thought I'd have the luxury of seeing an image on the 4 x 5 ground glass. The second problem is that the camera seems to be in focus through a wide range of focal lengths. I can't see any difference between the focus quality at 150mm (which the zone plate is designed for) and, say, 170mm. The magnification changes, but the focus stays the same. I can set the focus at infinity by measuring the distance from the film plane to the zone plate. However, the fine adjustments of focusing with tilts and swings seem at this point impossible. I'd appreciate your help. Chris _ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp
