images from the super pinhole

[mysteryscribe]

yes some creature about to rise up and murder poor photographers.

 

[mysteryscribe]

Okay this is a shot I make with different cameras to test the lens and exposure so no big deal but......

It is the kodak brownie meniscus (sp)lens and the pin hole aperture. Set on the end of a paint can. I have been ready to junk this camera for days now. Something kept stopping me, I never was quite sure what.

On a whim I decided to see if it was typical of camera from any period. First of all let me say this, almost all shots from the 1850s were from studio photographers. That being the case you would expect them to have state of the art equipment. I went back to the 1850 and 60's to find camera's routinely as soft and flat as this camera, when shot with a paper negative. The perfect shot and the perfect exposure and the perfect set up yeilded this image with that single element type lens. It is pretty similar to the quality of the typical studio type shot of the time.

Then I compared a later 1800 shot with the paper portrait I shot of my grand daughter and it was very similier.

My guess (it is only a guess) is that cameras went from pinhole to a single lens maybe then to the more modern multi element lenses. After that the improvements seem to be less dramatic.

The point I am making, I think, is that the brownie shoots pretty much like a good camera from 1850. This quality image shows up later in the snapshot type pictures of the turn of the century, but the studio ones are much much better. A lot of the outdoor stuff was made with quality cameras beginning at that time as well.

So I guess, I'm asking myself, "How retro do you wanna go Punk?"

 

[mysteryscribe]

As a side note... I found that I had to weigh the paint can cam down. It has terrible balance when sitting flat. So I used my handy dandy bean bag sock. I usually use it to mould over misshaped objects to have a place to sit a camera. Today I put it on TOP of the brownie paint can to hold it steady while I tripped the lens.

Also found out ev is the way to go to set up your exposure chart for primative and pin hole cameras. Just things in passing.

 

[mysteryscribe]

I have decided to await at least until I get my new scanner in before deciding the fate of the brownie paint can cam... This is what made me decide to wait. I shot two images the same one with a close up lens and one without to see if there was any difference with the f90 camera. As you can see not much if any at all.

 

[terri]

I have decided to await at least until I get my new scanner in before deciding the fate of the brownie paint can cam... This is what made me decide to wait. I shot two images the same one with a close up lens and one without to see if there was any difference with the f90 camera. As you can see not much if any at all.

The one on the left appears much sharper, with fewer blown areas.

 

[mysteryscribe]

it is the one without the close up lens. strange i was at the very end of the camera close focus area. That was when it had an f11 lens though. I'm seriously losing my eyesight so they both look fuzzy to me. I have constant double vision, so I really cant tell when a camera is borderline sharp or not

 

[mysteryscribe]

Shot this with a really good primative camera a few days ago. Ran it up with the terrible scanner. So the brownie paint can cam might not be as bad as I think. I need to wait for the new scanner to be sure.

 

[terri]

Oh, I like this one a lot, too. Here's another that certainly has that 'turn of the century' feel to it. Since I know that's what you're after, I'd have to say this one is a success.

 

[mysteryscribe]

Thank you Terri. It was sharper on the other scanner and I didn't like it then at all. Something about the sharp camera and the soft scanner made it much better.

And I have learned how to handle that aged photo tint now...