Based on Kate Mellor? pinhole

I love the feel of these images, the dream like blur on them. Kate Mellor used a pinhole camera for this collection and i think im going to have to invest in making or buying a kit to give my images this sort of look, rather then digitally. I mean the feel u get with film is so much nicer, you can get some great effects which i love. The idea of using a pinhole to create that dreamlike quality is good but i need to do some reserch into it. As i dont have alot of money and doing pinholes can be rather expencive i want to see what would be the most cost effective for me. I also have an old 1980's pentax film camera i used last year on one of my projects and it just gave the images this great vintage film. I shot on colour for that and it looked as if it was done on out of date film when infact it was just the camera. To beguin i want to shoot black and white because its cheaper, but may later develop into using some colour film. I think 35mm is my choice of film as its cheaper, and its what im more experienced with however later i may experiment abit more with 120mm.

Pinhole basics

Pinhole are the basic of all cameras, lensless all u normally need is  a tin or box, a way of blacking it out, and a shutter. You can expose onto film or paper. The exposure time is very hit and miss, which would mean alot of experimentation to get it write, and keeping notes will help with this.  The only way to get used to it is to go out and experiment, hit and miss is the only way to determin the output. Although the exposure is normally in mins.

You can make a pinhole camera out of almost anything. you can buy kits for creating them or even just adaptor for your camera, how you do it is up to you.

As it something ive never tried,  so i want to know abit more about making my own camera, but as its starting to get to the time i need to get something sorted i need to make a choice of what kind of approach im going to take to this pinhole camera idea, make, buy ect. 

Making:

You can use pretty much anything light tight to make a pinhole camera: biscuit tin, breakfast cerial packet, 20 litre oil drum, golden syrup tin, jam tin, match box, black ice cream container etc. etc. Would you believe you can even use your mouth?

Yes, in the darkroom put a short piece of 35mm film in your mouth and close it. Go outside and press the aluminium with the pinhole firmly against your lips, then open your lips for about 10 seconds keeping your head still. Reverse the procedure. You can work out the rest for yourself.

Consider whether it will be better/easier to use the end or side of your tin/box.

If you use a jam tin you can use alfoil and a rubber band for a lid.

Use black paint inside a shiny tin if you have some handy.

Invent a shutter. Black plastic and masking tape will do.

If you decide on a jam tin or golden syrup tin with the pinhole in the side, consider using a baffle that springs tight against the sides of the tin to fasten your film too. A piece of plastic milk bottle will do.

Handy items to have around are: breakfast cerial packet, masking tape, blue tack, plastic milk bottles, rubber bands, alfoil, scissors, knife, glue.

Your pinhole camera will give a negative image on your photographic paper. In this modern, computer age it will be possible to scan, change to a positive and computer print.

An SLR camera can be used for a pinhole camera simply by removing the lens and attaching a pinhole with black sticky tape.

If you are making a pinhole, look for the smallest needle in the set.

Its important to have a smooth, burr free pinhole for the sharpest possible image. Ideally, push the tapered section of the needle through in several stages, gently removing the burr with fine wet and dry paper between actions. Rest the foil on cardboard as you push the needle through so you dont stretch the foil.

I really like this idea, however the only downside would need to be near a darkroom or have a dark bag with me to change the film or paper as to avoid leaks and spoiling of the film.  Which is not going to be practical as if im on location thats out of the way, and i dont own a blackbag for doing that. 

As ive enjoyed using toy cameras in the past, and how they effect film anyway i wonder if its at all possible that there are plastic toy cameras that are pinholes?

Ive found that leader in toy cameras and lomography Holga do a 120mm and a 35mm pinhole plastic camera, while im not making the camera myself, is this any different then buying a kit? and it will allow me to get alot of images quicky (a roll of film) as well as allowing me to be quicker with my experimentations with pinhole and the exposures.

However as im getting to the point where i need to start taking photos quickly, until i get a pinhole sorted im going to start shooting digitally on my SLR. Im also gonna take out my fisheye lomography camera to experiment with that as im a big fan of the effect and flexability of toy cameras and some of the results you can get from them.