Zero pinhole camera

Pinhole cameras have been with us for a long time in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Aristotle wrote about this naturally occurring in the fourth century. It was not until the 1850 s when the Scottish scientist Sir David Brewster used a pinhole camera to produce the first photograph. It has taken on many forms ever since!

Over recent years the pinhole camera has come to the fore as a desired method of producing a different style of photograph. This popularity has been helped by the zero image company, making some wonderfully crafted boxes for the pinhole photographer. They are not just great looking collectibles but are fully working cameras that take some excellent photographs. They come in the three main formats of 35 millimetres, 120 medium format and 5 x 4 large format.

This camera has not been an easy acquisition for me, with several false starts I have had to compromise to get a deluxe model but it is in my format of choice if not the camera I really wanted for the project. Having said that I am not disappointed with the multi format camera. On hindsight this could be a good thing, as it allows me to play with the different sizes that make up the 120 family at a later date.

So whats in the box apart from a well crafted wooden camera that some quarters think would make a good jewelry box. Thinking about it, I can see what they mean with the multi format version!

• A plastic view finder marked out in the different 120 formats.
• A very nicely presented instruction manual that needs to be read if you are serious about getting the most from your camera.
• A grey cord? Not sure why this in the box.
• A certificate telling you who hand crafted your camera.

There are some other bits of kit you need to gather before you stroll down the road with your camera.

• You will not get far without a spare spool to wind the film on to.
• A light meter unless you are going to use sun rule 16.
• A cable release is a good idea if you have the deluxe version as it removes any chance of camera shake.
• Tripod.
• A note-book and pencil is a good idea for recording frame numbers and exposure times. That then can be checked against the negatives once they have been developed. Giving you an indication as to whether you are over or under exposing.

Reciprocity How it may affect monochrome film

The use of a Zero pinhole camera means that long exposures are the norm. It might be a good idea to give an insight into how reciprocity affects the negatives. It is a wide-ranging subject that afflicts colour and black and white materials in different ways at long exposures, extremely short exposures and with flash. Because of this I am limiting this post to long exposure times with black and white film.

The Law:

The formula E=IxT expresses reciprocal relationship between the intensity of light reaching the film and the time allowed to act on the film. If one increases the other decreases proportionally, no net change in exposure occurs.

Ansel Adams The Negative.

At long exposures this law breaks down, known as reciprocity failure. It is where a seconds worth of light is not enough to satisfactorily produce the required densities in the negative. So the longer the exposure the greater the compensation needs to be. With these exaggerated times comes a side effect in that the lower values recorded become under exposed more than the higher ones causing the contrast of the negative to increase. You can make adjustment for this when developing the film by a reduction of ten percent for up to ten seconds, from ten seconds by twenty percent and from a hundred seconds by thirty percent. These changes are easy to control for single frame exposure made with large format cameras but a little difficult to achieve with roll film. If all the frames on the film are exposed for no longer than ten seconds then the ten percent reduction will control the increase in contrast across the whole film, but in practice this is not always the case with exposure times being all over the place. I would suggest that a reduction of ten percent be the starting point and that with experimentation will find what works best for you. Having said all this the side effect of higher contrast maybe to your liking in which case where's the problem.

Further reading

The picture included in this post shows a slight increase in contrast. The negatives Ilford FP4+ were processed in PMK Pyro without an adjustment for increased contrast. Printed on grade two multi grade paper developed using Moersch 6 blue.

The following images and those above were all made using a Zero multi format Pinhole camera. The pictures below are from negatives using Fomapan 100 at box speed developed in studional for 11 minutes. scanned from photographs printed on Ilford multigrade 4 developed in souped ilford multigrade. 

Sinkings in the Orkneys

German Fleet at Scapa flow

It is a grey day as a young lad stands near the cliff edge on Hay one of the Orkney islands. He looks out over Scapa flow that is crowded with ships. The German fleet has been interned. He has heard that the war is over and that is why they are all here at the Navy’s most northerly base and guard to the North Sea.

While the boy is sat a top the cliff eating a bread and dripping sandwich, his eyes are drawn to some flashing lights, it looks like all the ships are winking at each other, little does he know that this is the order from rear admiral Von Reuter to his commanders confirming orders to scuttle the fleet. He looks on day dreaming about what life may be like now that the war has ended. He suddenly notices that all the ships he can see are flying the Imperial German Ensign from their main masts. While he looks on there are lots of small boats moving between the ships, if only he had a telescope he would be able to see what is going on in more detail but he still hasn’t got enough pocket money saved.

Whaling boat stranded on Battle Cruiser Moltke

The German sailors had been preparing for the scuttling for some days by  drilling holes in the bulk heads to help the passage of water through the ships. Once the order was given sea cocks and flood valves were opened, internal water pipes were smashed and all water tight doors and portholes left open. It was not until midday that  the scuttling was noticed.  Friedrich der Grosse was seen listing heavily to starboard. What remained of British naval forces at Scapa flow navel base sprang into action, but they were limited in the force they could take since the leaving of the fleet the day before . It was not until twenty minuets after midday that Admiral Fremantle on manoeuvres with the fleet  received a message that the German fleet was sinking. He immediate turned round and steamed back at full speed to Orkney. He radioed ahead to order all available boats to try and stop as many ships sinking as possible. By the time Admiral Fremantle returned it was only the large battle ships that were still partly afloat. The last ship to sink was the battle-cruiser Hindenburg at five o'clock.

Battle cruiser Seydlitz

The young boy up on the cliff had lost all track of time it was getting late, he would be 'for it' by the time he got home, with a clip round the ear from his mum. He had resigned himself to it but had a great story to tell his friends when he got to school the next day. On his way home he wondered what those faint popping sounds were. The tragedy of those sounds were that nine Germans were killed and sixteen wounded when the British boarded their ships to stop the sinking's. 

Battleship Bayern listing heavily

I know you are probably thinking what has this got to do with photography. The funny thing is this was all sparked off by an article in Black and white Photography magazine about post cards. Which lead me to a box of  cards that was given to me by my Gran. In among them are a collection of twenty pictures of ships, of these fourteen show the sinking of the German fleet at scapa flow at the end of the Great War. The photographer who took these shots probably used 127 or 120 format film in a box Browne or fold out camera of the time.

For more information on the Sinking of the fleet.

Keeping your negatives safe.

Is important! You need to make sure that the method you choose will keep your negatives flat and safe from damage. The cheapest way may not be the best course to take in the long run.

You can buy loose leaf pages in plastic or paper divided into six for 35mm film which will hold thirty-six frames cut into lengths of six. They have a white edge with ring binder holes that allow you to store the pages in albums/ folders or box folders. (I think the latter is the better solution from experience.) The white edge also means that you can write details on it like the method of development and/or a serial number, this will help you together with a contents list at the front of the album/folder to give you access to your negatives instantly.

The same type of leaves are used for medium format negatives 6x4.5 and 6x6. They are divided into four and the negatives are cut into lengths of four and three respectively.

It is important that the negatives are completely dry, before you load them into the storage leaf otherwise they will stick making it impossible to slide them in. If you still have trouble inserting them when they are dry you can snip off the corners of the leading frame of each strip.