A couple weeks ago, all the camera makers gathered in Las Vegas to strut their latest. Amidst the bright lights, big screens, buttons, and megapixels, it was easy to forget that photography can be a very simple art form.
There’s no better way to remind yourself than to make your own camera. Out of paper, a tin of mints, or a can of spam.
You won’t get optical image stabilization or face-tracking focusing when you make a pinhole camera, but you will get dreamy, surreal, and ghostly photographs from a camera you made with your very own hands. And, we hope, fresh perspective on a favorite hobby.
The Dirkon — Communist Czech Paper Pinhole Camera [thx Youngna!]
See also: Linatree variation on the above [thx John Tan!]
DIY Altoids Tin Pinhole Camera
Spam Can Pinhole Camera
p.s. Our favorite SD memory card, the fold-it-up-and-stick-it-right-in-your-USB-port Sandisk 2GB, is now at an absurdly low $37 on Amazon. Get it while it’s hot, it used to be $90!
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Pingback by photography : pinhole camera « crookedsquare — March 21, 2007 @ 10:28 am
[...] I am soooo going to make this pinhole camera out of an altoids tin. [...]
Pingback by bohemiancreations.ca » Bohemian Boy is Online — March 21, 2007 @ 4:15 pm
[...] SPAMera are posted. Build your own and share the images in Photojojo’s Flickr group. Trackback | Bookmark inDel.icio.us [...]
Pingback by Photojojo Blog » Crazy Tasty SPAMera — March 26, 2007 @ 12:41 am
[...] Eric wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptYou won’t get optical image stabilization or face-tracking focusing when you make a pinhole camera, but you will get dreamy, surreal, and ghostly photographs from a camera you made with your very own hands. … [...]
Pingback by camera » Make Yourself a Camera Out of Paper, Mint Tins, or Spam — Pinhole … — April 1, 2007 @ 9:44 am
[...] Next we’re going to make cameras out of Altoid containers or make a book. [...]
Pingback by leahpeah : Blog Archive » Tony Makes A Stool (and don’t think we didn’t say that about a million times…) — April 2, 2007 @ 4:03 pm
[...] The reality is: you can take a good picture with almost any camera. Even that digicam on your mobile phone. Photojojo even demonstrates that a pin-hole camera can take dreamy, surreal, and ghostly pics. Dave Johnson of PC World also advises that: It isn’t the camera that makes eye-popping photos possible; it’s the person behind the lens. It’s comforting to think that “if only I had that new camera, I’d be able to take that awesome photo,†but the reality is that Ansel Adams could take that awesome photo with the camera you have right now. One more feature won’t make a difference; you take better pictures by studying photographic technique and practicing what you learn. [...]
Pingback by Techno Pinoy » Which digicam manufacturer is the best? — May 8, 2007 @ 8:19 pm
[...] Taking photos is one of my favorite things to do. I shoot with mostly digital but I still like to play with older toy cameras like a Brownie, which uses film. Toy cameras are fun because they don’t take a perfect picture like a digital camera does. You can see some examples of toy camera images here. I think I love photography so much because even when you make mistakes taking the image, it can still turn out beautiful or interesting. It’s like an entire story that fits into one frame. My all-time favorite photos that I’ve taken are on this page. My son Tony and I are going to make one of these cameras in a few weeks. [...]
Pingback by My Interview with LeahPeah « In the Air — May 22, 2007 @ 4:30 am
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