Pinhole Zeiss Novarless

[jake]

I took a wrecked Zeiss (Pentacon Tempor shutter strong enough to cut cheese but the lens was bad bad bad) and beat it into a pinhole. Simply, I removed everything except the door, which I fastened permanently closed, taped with six layers of artfully applied Gorilla tape, drilled a hole in the face and attached a pinhole (like .23mm and a 43mm focal length) and a sliding paper shutter. Mainly I wanted the film advance and the 6x9 frame size - which I got, astonishingly. Anyway, first role shot and done, mostly of office girls smoking their way to quiting time outside an office building, and then a couple shots of 42nd St. rush hour traffic. I promise more excitement later.

Pinhole Zeiss





Thanks for looking!

J Ake :twisted:

[Glenn Thoreson]

Cool! These things can be habit forming, you know.

[connealy]

Super results from that pinhole.  Interesting how a clunky camera that only works with lengthy exposures can capture such dynamic and timeless images.  You are in a great place to shoot such a camera, so hope you will show us some more.  Bryant Park has a special magic all its own that seems particularly suited to this approach.

[sandeha]

Excellent Jorn.

Must dig out my 6x7 again.

[jake]

Thanks - actually Mike Connealy is my inspiration for this camera. I saw his pinhole camera mod of an Agfa (correct? It was a Record or something, right?) a ways back and thought, Hey - I have a beater I could drill on too! Got my pinhole commercially from Calumet. Another one is going in my 4x5 pinhole box in preparation for spring shooting in Central Park as my efforts are too cludgy.

J Ake

[SLIU]

Wish I had my pinHolga then to take the picture of you pinhole camera working.

You should show them a picture of your little elegant camera. I would say it is more portable than a Leica. And it is not hard to shoot either as long as you can find a flat surface to put the camera on.

I am surprised by the quality of your images. They are sharper than my pinHolga. Perhaps I should go and by some pinholes for my Crown Graphic and my future 30D.

[connealy]

Mine was made from a Billy Record.  Did pretty much what you did, but I mounted the shutter on the front plate.  That is convenient in shooting but I still get a little vignette at the corners from the lens tube.  
    You really got cleaner results: little light falloff, no corner clipping and super-sharp images inspite of not using a tripod.  Your longer focal length seems to have worked out well for the 6x9 format.  I'd be interested in some more details on the pinhole, film and processing.

[Mike Kovacs]

Which Zeiss?  Is it an Ercona?

[jake]

Yep, Ercona. Pinhole is .0102" or .259mm, which works optimally with a 48.05mm focal lenght. I think my focal length is right around 45mm. I went over rather than under as I found that error works better from the wrestling I did with the 4x5. Gives you an exposure time of f16x139 - or in my case, I just carry S. Liu around with me  (Sam has an amazing ability to predict aperture and shutter settings without any meter. Not many people know this but he shoots everything without a meter. No lie.) Most of the shots were between 15 sec and 30 sec exposures on TriX400 in late evening light. The pinholes were made by Christiansen Gallery Minute Aperture Imaging, 7586 County H, Maplewood, WI 54226, 920-856-6842, pinhole@doorpi.net. I bought them as a set of 12, ranging from 16mm to 472mm focal length. About $40 at Calumet.

Here are a few shots of the camera: Novarless



Lots of fun, I must admit.

J Ake :twisted:

[jake]

Oh and my darkroom isn't set up yet after the move, so these were developed by ModernAge Lab in NYC - http://www.modernage.com/ This lab did a tremendous job. The only lab I have used in NYC that put my negatives in paper sleeves and not those irritating Print-File sleeves that attract static, dust, hair, etc. Duggal is good, but lately their work has been very dusty. ModernAge was great. I'm-a-swithin'.

J Ake :twisted:

[Wayne]

Jorn

Inspiring, dynamic images! I've just gotta have a go at this pinhole caper soon...

Mike C: I had a look at your pinhole gallery - wow. An outstanding series; the cow on the horizon blows me away.

Thanks to you both,
Wayne