Thursday, June 20, 2013

Pinhole Camera, Mark 3

The underside of a limpet.
I pulled a couple more of my pinhole cameras from Magnolia Park the other day.  I've gotten better at hiding them!  This time two of three were still where I left them, and one was so well hidden that even when three of us were standing with our heads less than two feet from it we still took five minutes to find it.

These pictures were plagued by a problem from my original design:  the pinhole was simply too large.  The results were a little bit fuzzy, and the effects of condensation and mist rolling in from the Puget Sound are apparent.  Further, the summer sun was cut off at the bottom of the can.  These are problems that I hope to fix in my future pinhole camera projects.  In addition to using a smaller hole perhaps half a millimeter in diameter, I will place the hole higher up in the can.  In this manner, the can mounted vertically with the hole near the top will be less prone to cutting off the sun trails in the summer.  Further, I will include some silica gel inside the can to try to absorb some moisture before it can condense.  I will also experiment with a small amount of saran wrap or clear plastic over the pinhole to try to keep any moist air out.

Pinhole camera mounted among some trees and overlooking Puget Sound at Magnolia Park facing roughly Southwest.  Black and white satin finish paper, 1mm diameter pinhole, exposed from March 3 - June 17 2013.

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