digital pinhole

[Seldom Scene]

Many years ago, in the era of analog and film, I enjoyed pinhole photography using everything from my 4x5 view camera to oatmeal boxes. Fast forward to this digital era. Recently the appeal of pinhole photography has reared its head again primarily due to the potential of not having to use chemicals. So, I bought a used Nikon d3000 at local camera store. Have now made a pinhole lens using the camera body cap and the usual aluminum can, etc. However the camera will not operate with the warning "no lens attached." What to do to overcome this obstacle. Thank you for any suggestions.

 

[webestang64]

Here are 2 articles on the subject.

f/256: Tips for Digital Pinhole Photographs

Pinhole photography with a digital camera - DIY Photography

 

[Tropicalmemories]

That sounds like fun - think I'll have a go with my Fuji. Deep in the Fuji menu system there's an option for 'Shoot without lens' which needs to be set to use old, manual focus lenses - is there something similar with Nikon?

 

[480sparky]

Per page 53 of the manual, try shooting in full manual mode.

 

[photoflyer]

Post some results here.

 

[Seldom Scene]

Thank you! for the helpful and informative replies. Got it figured out.

 

[petrochemist]

Sounds like a standard issue when adapting lenses. If the body can't communicate with the lens it gives an error message, unless the menu setting along the lines of 'shoot without lens' is enabled.
This is usually the first thing I change when I get a new camera!

Unfortunately pinholes don't work as well on digital as they do on large format film systems. To avoid diffraction softening sensor size needs to be big with pinholes. Images are formed but they will be very soft.

 

[Quassaw]

I find messing with pinholes a great way of getting away from the mainstream of digital photography. I tend to use an old Nikon D70s for playing with - a bodycap with a small hole (say 0.3mm diameter) will produce pictures.

 

[Grandpa Ron]

I switched my Canon to Manual, added a short (2") black paper tube with a .016 pinhole at the end. The PH to sensor is about 4" making an f240.

These shots look okay on the small camera screen but when viewed on the monitor the small format becomes an issue. As you mentioned a 4x5 or any large format really works well.

Truck in drive. Martin bird house

 

[Quassaw]

As our images demonstrate, pinholes are really good at showing up sensor spots!

 

[Tropicalmemories]

This thread got me thinking - how about a hybrid pin-hole digital camera?

Pin hole projecting a large image on a ground glass screen, macro lens to photograph the screen from the back. You'd get the huge depth of field plus better quality?

 

[petrochemist]

This thread got me thinking - how about a hybrid pin-hole digital camera?

Pin hole projecting a large image on a ground glass screen, macro lens to photograph the screen from the back. You'd get the huge depth of field plus better quality?

Through the viewfinder approaches like this are certainly possible. Exposures will be longer than directly on digital, but I'm makeing a digital camera support for my 5x4 monorail specifically for this sort of thing.

 

[Grandpa Ron]

Pinhole to 4x5 ground glass to digital. Now that sound really exciting. Please post the results.

I have had very nice 4x5 pinhole film photos with the bellow extension set to give an f360 aperture.