Needing some help (pinhole camera)

So I was reading through a magazine and saw some neat shots with a pinhole so I just had to make one. then after looking on here, I found that you could make one for a dslr.

So I bought a ebay body cap, drilled my 1/4in hole, put my foil on the back, poked my whole with a needle and when I went to go play around with it all my shots came out really blurry. Anyone know if I missed something or if I'm doing something wrong?

thanks in advance

A 1/4" hole is far too big, pinhole means exactly that pinhole. Take some thick aluminium foil and use a pin, then stick that over your 1/4 hole, making sure to keep it centred.

artyman wrote in post #11198150
A 1/4" hole is far too big, pinhole means exactly that pinhole. Take some thick aluminium foil and use a pin, then stick that over your 1/4 hole, making sure to keep it centred.

Yeah thats what I did. Sorry if I didn't say that. I drilled a 1/4 in hole in my cap and then covered that with foil and used a pin to make the hole. Would the pinhole affect the focus? Maybe I need to redo it with a even smaller pin.

It needs to be a perfectly round hole, no jaggy bits

99sil-teg wrote in post #11198189
Yeah thats what I did. Sorry if I didn't say that. I drilled a 1/4 in hole in my cap and then covered that with foil and used a pin to make the hole. Would the pinhole affect the focus? Maybe I need to redo it with a even smaller pin.

I did this back in high school. Use the smallest pin you can find. Make the smallest hole, but as suggested above make sure you leave it round with NO aluminum pushed through to the face or back. If you use really heavy foil, it's a lot easier.

artyman wrote in post #11198548
It needs to be a perfectly round hole, no jaggy bits

That's what happened to me on my first attempt. Standard aluminum foil is too thin. I used some sdhesive backed heavy foil used for auto body repair, and that seems to work fine IF you use a sharp needle. Many needles today are ball-points intended to sew knit fabrics. Those will make a lousy hole for a pinhole camera.

I believe a pinhole is going to be fairly soft as is due to the difraction. what is it using something like a 50mm lens at around f/100+ or something like that?

Pinhole shots are supposed to be really soft. Are you using a tripod and mirror lockup?

That would be a no on both of those, I just ran out front and snapped a quick shot of my car just to play. I haven't actually gone out and shot with it yet though. What are some good subjects for a pinhole? Maybe its my subject that would make the difference.

What kind of shutter speeds are you getting? AS I said, pinhole images will be soft, but I want to make sure you aren't seeing shutter speed blur. The aperture on the pinhole camera is so small, you'd likey have to worry about shutter speed even in bright sun.

About what speeds should I be using probably? I say this because I only shot once so if I need to use a certain speed, I can go out and try it with those speeds and see if they are a little better.

I know they will be a little soft, this is more of a new experience than anything. I thank you all your help.

If you shutter speeds are below about 1/100 I would grab a tripod or set it on something steady

The best shots for pinhole cameras are those that make use of the almost infinite depth of field you get. There is an optimum size of hole for sharpness, but it will never be as sharp as a lens. If you get hand-holdable shutter speeds, your hole is almost certainly too big.

Another thing you'll notice is that it's the ultimate in showing the dust on your sensor.

99sil-teg wrote in post #11199533
About what speeds should I be using probably? I say this because I only shot once so if I need to use a certain speed, I can go out and try it with those speeds and see if they are a little better.

I know they will be a little soft, this is more of a new experience than anything. I thank you all your help.

hey there is nothing wrong at all with doing this for fun and getting a new experience out of it. hell I've been tempted to do it myself

another thing though you might want to think about doing also though is paint the back of the aluminum black to minimize reflections as small as the reflection might be with those long shutter speeds it's a possibility that it could lead to some softening of the image with flare.

as far as shutter speed chances are I wouldn't be shocked if you went into the seconds rather then fraction of seconds.

I think I'm goin to play with it a little tonight so I'll try using a tripod and I have some black paint so I'll just shoot some on it real quick.