Pinhole Matchbox Camera #1, photo taken with Pinhole Matchbox Camera #2.

  Pinhole Matchbox Camera Experimentation
Durham, NC
February 18-19, 2006

Last week, an online buddy pointed out a link on pinhole matchbox cameras.  I hadn't
made a pinhole camera since high school, but the pinhole matchbox idea appealed because
it solved the major hassle of the pinhole cameras I'd made in the past: those were all single
shot, large negative cameras so I needed to use a darkroom in between each shot.  But this
design uses 35mm film, allowing multiple shots and developing at a one-hour lab...fantastic!

I made two cameras this weekend.  I made the first on Friday, following the online design here. 
That design results in a really wide angle camera (about 12mm) and I think I made the pinhole
too big, resulting in fuzzy photos.  The negs were also overexposed...I guessed f/90, but that was
2-3 stops off.  Nevertheless, I got a few shots I liked (first three below).  On Saturday I made
a second camera, this time attaching two matchboxes together to make a less extreme wide
angle (about 24mm) and I made a smaller pinhole.  This one was sharper, easier to compose,
and the negs were well exposed at f/90.  The last 8 photos are from the second camera.