Jump to content

Pinhole discussion


marcg

Recommended Posts

Certainly Marc....I used SKINK pinholes bought off of Ebay, a regular one for the Leica M mount that gives what I guess to be roughly a 21mm FL and if you use the pinhole for a Nikon, ( Canon too perhaps ?? ), and a Nikon-Leica M mount adapter you will get a longer FL, around 40mm.......... but my "guru" on all things Leica M10 Pinhole is our fellow member Likaleica..............See his wonderful posts on this forum......Good luck!

 

 

Edited by petermullett
Link to post
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, marcg said:

How about posting up pinhole images on a separate thread. I think a lot of people would be very interested and it would be much easier to follow

If no one else does it, I'll be glad to give it a go in Photo Forum: Other

It might be a couple of weeks before I get things together... unless I tape my Nikon pinhole to the camera!

I was looking on B&H, they list a KIPON Macro Lens Mount Adapter with Helicoid for Nikon F-Mount Lens to Leica M-Mount Camera... which is quite expensive at $216 US, BUT, it would act like a zoom lens with a pinhole installed!!! Very tempting for a new toy...

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Gerbs said:

If no one else does it, I'll be glad to give it a go in Photo Forum: Other

It might be a couple of weeks before I get things together... unless I tape my Nikon pinhole to the camera!

I was looking on B&H, they list a KIPON Macro Lens Mount Adapter with Helicoid for Nikon F-Mount Lens to Leica M-Mount Camera... which is quite expensive at $216 US, BUT, it would act like a zoom lens with a pinhole installed!!! Very tempting for a new toy...

 

11 hours ago, marcg said:

@petermullett would you mind providing a link to your source of this pinhole lens information please. It's very interesting

I am assuming that you are both in the US so here's an Ebay.com link to SKINK pinholes, if you are in Europe most EU Ebay sites list them too. They are made in Portugal I think but designed in Germany. I've had other pinhole "lenses" for Leica's but these are the best made so far. Hope this helps.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2334524.m570.l1313&_nkw=skink+pinhole+leica+m&_sacat=0&LH_TitleDesc=0&_osacat=0&_odkw=skink+pinhole

Edited by petermullett
Link to post
Share on other sites

Advertisement (gone after registration)

14 hours ago, marcg said:

How about posting up pinhole images on a separate thread. I think a lot of people would be very interested and it would be much easier to follow

Great idea.  By the way, I bought a Rising pinhole through B&H, but I bought the R lens version then used it with the R-M adapter.  Reason for that was to increase the focal length (which decreased the aperture) because I did not want the wide angle of view.  With the R adapter I think it was close to a 40mm lens field of view.

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

I'm going to ask the site team to move these pinhole discussion threads to a new thread on the photo/other subforum.  Is that OK with everyone?

Apart from anything else, pinhole photography is not specifically monochrome and so a more general thread where they can be a discussion and also images in colour or in black and white would be more appropriate

 

 

I sent a message to the site team and started a new thread here

 

I'm afraid I don't know much about the subject so I had nothing to contribute to this new thread. I simply set it up as a place-marker

Edited by marcg
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

I've just received a Skink pinhole lens – if that's what you can call it.

It looks beautifully made – but I have some comments to make which I will make later on.

I think I saw someone on this thread or the other pinhole thread say that delivery took rather a long time. I can confirm this. Although I think the orders are taken in Germany, they are sent from Portugal. Although the moment they leave Portugal, the delivery processes to be pretty quick – and only took about four days days within Europe. However, the time it took before placing the order and paying the money – as well as the complete silence, from Skink about it until the lens was sent was quite disconcerting and not at all with a kind of service and communication that one expects nowadays from reputable online sales. This was a shame.

It was only when eventually I emailed Skink and asked them if there was any news and if there was a tracking number that they then informed me that the item would be dispatched soon and that I would then receive a dispatch confirmation and tracking number. A few days after that, I did receive this. However, until I actually asked information I was rather left in limbo.

This bright doesn't touch upon the quality of the pinhole lens – which I as I said, seems to be pretty good but with one or two reservations.

 

Link to post
Share on other sites

 

I haven't particularly used this pinhole lens yet. I really been trying to examine it and to understand how it works.

It's well made. But what concerns me is first of all that the zone plates don't seem to be marked at all so you can't tell which is which.

They are tiny and it's not possible to discern the differences. This means that if you order them, you will receive them in sealed envelopes with a reference number on and you should take care to open one at a time and using a tiny little pin scratch some meaningful symbol or code or reference number so that you know which one you are using.

If you think that I have missed something then please let me know.

It seems to me that if you scratch on the black area surrounding the aperture, then there is no damage done which will affect any function of the pinhole.

Once you mix them up without any reference number then you will be hard-pressed to know which one you are using.

The second thing is that when you replace zone plate with one for a different effect, instead of fitting snugly into the zone plate recess in the lens unit, there is a good millimetre around – and maybe a bit more. This means that it is very easy to place the new zone plate in off centre. You then have to try and centre it by eye.

I don't know how critical this is but all you can do is do your best – and it seems to work. As far as I've seen so far on the skink website, there has been no explanation about this but maybe somebody else will find something that I have missed.

For about 70 quid, it is well worth it even if it is simply to do something a bit different and to experiment for a while.

Whereas with with film cameras or older digital cameras that have very poor ISO ratings, with the modern cameras that we are dealing with now, the ISO is so good that is possible to take pictures without having extended exposure times.

Of course extended exposures may well be what you're looking for because there are lots of interesting effects there as well – but if you have a modern digital camera, then you have the choice.
And of course with F numbers reaching into the hundreds, you never have to worry about focus and I expect it is perfect for people who want to do Street photography and shoot from the hip as well as, I expect, catching a kind of grainy "movement" quality that one might expect of that genre.
 

 

  

Quote

 

Here is a pic of the Skink as received - Pancake Retro Pro kit with two zone plates

https://skinkpinhole.com/wp/webshop/shop/fur-sucherkameras-for-rangefinders/fur-leica/skink-pinhole-pancake-pro-kit-retro-leica/

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

Simple pinhole zone plate already fitted

 

 

Quote

 

Plus 2 Pinhole disks - zone plates - each in a foil envelope wioth a reference no printed on each one.

 

Quote

 

The Zone plates look identical - no distinguishing markings so unless you mark them up by scratching something into it, there is no way of knowing which is which

I've only posted an image of one of them because they all look alike and they are identical back and front.

 

You access the zone plate by unscrewing the lock ring.  You have to use a pin or some other fine pointed instrument.  Skin says you should avoid pins in order to avoid scratches.


 

Quote

 

Here you can see the unit with the lockring in place and the tiny indents which allow you to get a purchase with a fine pint and loosen or tighten it

 


 

Quote

 

Here with the lockring removed  an no zone plate in place

 


 

Quote

 

And the lockring

 

Quote

 

Here you can see a zone plate in place waiting to be secured by the lockring

Notice that the zone plate is off-centre and there is no way of accurately centring other than by eye.

 

Quote

 

And here you see that the lockring has been replaced and tightened and the zone plate has moved out of centre during the tightening.

So loosen, re-centre and gently tighten again

 

 

And of course with this pinhole lens fitted – which is really scarcely prouder than a body cap, your Leica camera becomes a really excellent portable, concealable and versatile Street shooters camera

Edited by marcg
Link to post
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Likaleica said:

One thing I've noticed is that my sensor has a ton of dirt on it after using the pinhole for a day.  Wondering if those particles are getting in through the hole?  Maybe drawn in by the electronegative charge?

Well I'm amazed – but also relieved that it's not only me. I fitted the skink to my camera and after a few photos I noticed there were marks on the image which looked suspiciously like sensor corrosion.

I then had a good look through a sensor loupe and found that there was a load of bits of dirt on it. Does it really comes to the hole in the sensor?

This is a real disadvantage of pinhole cameras if this is what is happening

Link to post
Share on other sites

The pinhole corresponds to a really small aperture. Any dust or dirt already on the sensor will become much more visible than with a lens.

I think it quite unlikely that a large amount of dust finds its way into the camera through the pinhole, unless the hole holder itself is dusty. However, I think some of the pinhole "lenses" come with a protective transparent sheet that you can put over the hole if you are bothered by the dust.

  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

I put a rear lens cap on it and put the whole thing in a plastic bag in a closet.  I'm convinced the dirt gets in through the pinhole, because I've cleaned my sensor lots of times and then I get a whole new crop of dirt.  They're not big clumps of dirt, just tiny, very dark marks.  I'll try to post an example.

It's plausible when you think about it.  The particles will show up when they are larger than a few pixels, which means the particles are much smaller than the pinhole.  

Link to post
Share on other sites

You have infinite DOF with a pinhole lens which will show up any dust at all. If in doubt ask yourself why when testing for dust with a normal lens is it necessary to stop the lens down? So instead of f/16 you now have f/250 or whatever, so of course you will see dust you'd never even know about before.

  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...