Robert Frank: The Complete Film Works: Volume 1, 2, 3 & 4

The Complete Film Works. Vol 1
Robert Frank’s significant contribution to photography in the mid-twentieth century is unquestionable. His book, The Americans, is arguably the most important American photography publication of the post-World War II period, and his photography has spawned numerous disciples, as well as a rich critical literature. However, at the very moment Frank achieved the status of a “star” at the end of the 1950s, he abandoned traditional still photography to become a filmmaker. He eventually returned to photography in the 1970s, but Frank, as a filmmaker, has remained a well-kept secret for almost four decades. Robert Frank The Complete Film Works fills a long overdue gap by presenting every one of Frank's more than 25 films and videos, some of them classics of the New American Cinema of the 1950s and 60s.
Robert Frank The Complete Film Works Volume 1: Pull My Daisy is a 1959 short film that typifies the Beat Generation. Directed by Robert Frank and Alfred Leslie, Daisy was adapted by Jack Kerouac from the third act of a stage play he never finished entitled Beat Generation. Kerouac also provided improvised narration. It starred Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, Larry Rivers, Peter Orlovsky, David Amram, Richard Bellamy, Alice Neel, Sally Gross and Pablo, Frank’s then-infant son. Based on an incident in the life of Neal Cassady and his wife Carolyn, Daisy tells the story of a railway brakeman whose painter wife invites a respectable bishop over for dinner. However, the brakeman’s bohemian friends crash the party, with comic results. Pull My Daisy was praised for years as an improvisational masterpiece, until Leslie revealed in 1968 that the film was actually carefully planned, rehearsed, and directed by him and Frank
The Sin of Jesus was based on the story of Isaac Babel, a woman on a chicken farm who spends her days working at an egg-sorting machine. “I’m the only woman here.” She is pregnant, her husband spends his days lying in bed, and his friends encourage him to go out on the town with them. The woman talks to herself as she works, lost in the monotony of human existence. She counts the passing days in the same way she counts eggs. Even extraordinary events, such as the appearance of Jesus Christ in the barn, go under the stream of this melancholy solipsism.
Me and My Brother seems to be a rather artless-film-within-a-film being shown at a rundown movie theater. The story contains bizarre twists and turns: skillfully weaving together opposites, playing counterfeits against the authentic, pornography against poetry, acting against being, Beat cynicism against hippie romanticism, monochrome against colored. This was Frank’s first feature-length film work and it celebrates the return of the poetic essay as assemblage, the affirmation of the underground as a wild cinematic analysis in the form of a collage. There is a method to this film’s madness: It is so rich in text, quotes, music, and associations that keeping up with it through the underbrush of psyche, film, and urbanity is barely possible.
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Three jewel cases in a sleeve
Pull My Daisy – 28 minutes – 1959
The Sin of Jesus – 40 minutes – 1961
Me and My Brother – 85 minutes – 1968
13 cm x 21 cm
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Robert Frank The Complete Film Works Vol. 2
Robert Frank’s significant contribution to photography in the mid-twentieth century is unquestionable. His book, The Americans, is arguably the most important American photography publication of the post-World War II period, and his photography has spawned numerous disciples, as well as a rich critical literature. However, at the very moment Frank achieved the status of a ‘star’ at the end of the 1950s, he abandoned traditional still photography to become a filmmaker. He eventually returned to photography in the 1970s, but Frank, as a filmmaker, has remained a well-keptsecret for almost four decades. Robert Frank The Complete Film Works fills a long overdue gap by presenting every one of Frank's more than 25 films and videos, some of them classics of the New American Cinema of the 1950s and 1960s.
OK End Here is Frank’s 1963 short film about inertia in a modern relationship. The film alternates between semidocumentary scenes and shots composed with rigid formality, and appears to have been directly influenced by the French Nouvelle Vague and Michelangelo Antonioni’s films. The characters are often only partially visible or physically separated by walls, doors, reflections, or furniture, and the camera relays the story with little rhyme nor reason, a roaming gaze, which seems to lose itself in things of little importance, while at the same time capturing the dominant atmosphere of routine, alienation, and apathy.Conversations in Vermont“This film is about the past … when Mary and I got married…. the past and the present … Maybe this film is aboutgrowing older … some kind of a family album.” Robert Frank in the Prologue.Produced in 1969, this was Frank’s first autobiographical film, telling the story of a father’s relationship with his two teenaged children, and his fragile attempts to communicate with them by means of a shared story. The shared story is partly told through Frank’s narration over filmed images of his photographs, family photographs and world famous images.
Liferaft Earth begins with a newspaper report from Hayward, California: “Sandwiched between a restaurant and supermarket, 100 anti-population protesters spent their second starving day in a plastic enclosure…. The so-called Hunger Show, a week-long starve-in aimed at dramatizing man’s future in an overpopulated, underfed world….” This film accompanies the people on this “life raft” from 11 to 18 October 1969, and was made by Robert Frank for Stewart Brand, the visionary founder of the international ecological movement and publisher of the bestselling Whole Earth Catalog (1968-85).
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Three DVD’s in a film-roll box, slipcased
OK End Here - 32 minutes - 1963
Conversations in Vermont - 26 minutes - 1969
Liferaft Earth - 37 minutes - 1969
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The Complete Film Works. Vol 3
Robert Frank’s significant contribution to photography in the mid-twentieth century is unquestionable. His book, The Americans, is arguably the most important American photography publication of the post-World War II period, and his photography has spawned numerous disciples, as well as a rich critical literature. However, at the very moment Frank achieved the status of a “star” at the end of the 1950s, he abandoned traditional still photography to become a filmmaker. He eventually returned to photography in the 1970s, but Frank, as a filmmaker, has remained a well-kept secret for almost four decades. Robert Frank The Complete Film Works fills a long overdue gap by presenting every one of Frank's more than 25 films and videos, some of them classics of the New American Cinema of the 1950s and 60s.
Keep Busy "I am filming the outside in order to look inside," Robert Frank once said about his aesthetics. In Keep Busy his chosen home of Nova Scotia serves for the first time as the “outside” in an examination of the “inside.” The protagonists’ astounding verbal gymnastics and often incomprehensible interactions tend to descend into nonsense, and with the syncopated rhythm of its action and dialogue, this film is reminiscent of the playful and parodying elements of the Beat fantasy Pull My Daisy. The interweaving of documentary and fiction with the syncopated rhythm of its action and dialogue presents an absurd buzz of activity reminiscent of Beckett’s abstract comic grotesque.
About Me: A Musical “My project was to make a film about music in America…. Well, fuck the music. I just decided to make a film about myself.” Robert Frank’s self-portrait is a film about music that repeatedly poses questions concerning artistic expression and the function of memory. Frank himself introduces an actress as “the young lady that is playing me.” She throws a stack of photographs onto the bed and says with disgust, “That’s my past.” Despite the apparently autobiographical nature of the film, Frank, the immigrant, regards his story as a collective one. The film teaches temple musicians in Benares, India, “hope freaks” in New Mexico and inmates in a Texas prison. “That’s me,” Frank says when an old-fashioned film projector shows him as a small child. An interview of passers-by completes the circle: “If you had a camera and some film, what would you shoot?” A street musician answers, “About myself,” and starts playing a classic number. “Those were the days, my friend.”
S-8 Stones Footage from Exile on Main St. Filmed during the making of the Exile on Main St., Rolling Stones album cover.
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Three DVDs in a film-roll box, slipcased
Keep Busy – 38 minutes – 1975
About Me: A Musical - 35 minutes - 1971
S-8 Stones Footage from Exile on Main St. - 5 minutes - 1972
13 cm x 21 cm
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The Complete Film Works / Volume 4
Even though Robert Frank was already a renowned photographer when he started his work as a film maker at the end of the 1950s, he remained a well-kept secret within the film community for almost four decades. Robert Frank The Complete Film Works fills a long overdue gap by presenting every one of Frank’s more than 25 films and videos, some of them classics of the New American Cinema of the 1950s and 60s.
The Complete Film Works Volume 4: Life Dances On… is dedicated to Frank’s deceased daughter and the memory of his friend. Though it makes use of outtakes and footage from earlier works, the purpose is not to convey mourning in narrative form. Frank’s fragmentary and associative representational style has more in common with self-portraiture than autobiography. This is demonstrated by the apparently casual nature of the events captured on film. For example, in a black-and-white image taken from the filmmaker’s personal archive, the camera pans suddenly from a static self-portrait in a mirror on the wall to Frank’s sleeping wife, then zooms back briefly and traverses the apartment. A boiling kettle on the stove, a view out a window in New York, a radio program, then the woman again: “Why are you filming this?” Frank fails to offer the answer, which can be found in the way the film brings a motionless image to life.
Home Improvements is a kind of film diary. Sequences resembling home movies tell the story of how Frank’s wife becomes ill. Frank sets off to visit his son in a psychiatric clinic. His thoughts and actions all revolve around the past and his attempts to free himself of its remnants. These events are shot through with associations and objets trouvés such as a photograph taken in a subway car. It combines a detail of a poster and graffitis to form a puzzling statement.
The original idea of Energy and How to Get It was to make a documentary about the somewhat tragic existence of inventor Robert Golka, who experimented with ball lighting in an abandoned hangar, intending to use it as a practical source of energy. Frank, who had made photographic portraits of Golka in the late 1970s, Gary Hill, and the screenwriter Rudy Wurlitzer took off with the real story of Golka’s life, creating a fake documentary about a man who faced numerous obstacle presented by the American authorities.
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Three DVDs in a film-roll box housed in a slipcase
Life Dances On… – 30 minutes – 1980
Home Improvements – 29 minutes – 1985
Energy and How to Get It – 30 minutes – 1981

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Paris de Nuit - Brassaï

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TITLE: Paris de Nuit

BY: Brassaï (Gyula Halász)

PUBLISHED: 1933, Arts et M’tiers Graaphiques,Paris

SIZE: 250×190 mm

PHOTOGRAPHS: 62 b&w

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Paris de Nuit
Printed in sublime gravure in Paris de Nuit Brassaï‘s photographs chronicling the nochturnal milieu of Paris in the 1930s remain some of the most influential images for photographers venturing out into the urban night.
A child of Hungarian Transylvania, Brassaï (b. Gyula Halász, 1899-1984) was an abstract painter turned journalist, who under the influence of Eugène Atget and André Kertész became a photographer on his way to becoming a sculptor.
“I was inspired to become a photographer by my desire to translate all things that enchanted me in the nocturnal Paris I was experiencing” Brassaï later wrote.
Beginning and ending with the cobble stones that paved the boulevards and alleys of the French capital Paris de Nuit takes the reader through a performance where the architecture and street lights are stage sets, and an exotic array of idle and industrious Parisians are the players.
Working on a folding 6×9cm Voigtländer Bergheil plate camera Brassaï used time exposures to reveal dream like scenes of the River Seine and views from Notre Dame. For his real life actors he employed the harsher light of the newly available flash bulb which had to be fired independently from the camera, something Brassaï turned to his advantage in creating dramatic side-lit portraits of prostitutes and street gangs.
To record life in the city’s less penetrable clubs and societies Brassaï first secured an entrée with an introduction from a friend or acquaintance and then hung around until his face became familiar. Once accepted he could begin his work.
When photographing on the streets he carried a number of prints in his pocket to prove to the disbelieving that photography in the dark was possible. In the early 1930s no one had heard of the concept of night photography, and the police needed convincing that what he was up to by the canal at three a.m. was not dumping a body into it’s murky green waters.
Brassaï found a more comfortable working environment in the formalised institution of the upmarket brothels, which were often owned by respectable families (and remained a vestige of the belle époque of Toulouse-Lautrec until they were all closed down in a fervour of post-war piety in 1946).
In the rough volatile underworld of dives and back streets Brassaï had a tougher time, suffering two broken cameras, a lifted wallet and some 23 stolen plates. Yet in spite of the hazards his images of hoods, pimps and gangsters are as direct and clear as those taken in the brothels, the Folies-Bergères or on the banks of the Seine.
Paul Morand’s introduction to Paris De Nuit begins with the words “La nuit n’est pas le négatif du jour – the night is not the the negative of the day,” meaning that it is something other.
For the Brassaï the Transilvanian, the Parisian night revealed not just another facet of the city but another world, a enthralling world closer to Dostoevsky and Nietzche than to French writers Hugo and Baudelaire, a world of outsiders living outside of convention, convicts who created their own laws, a world different and a world that was to be lost for good within a few short years.
Like all great books Paris de Nuit succeeds on many levels. It is not just a record of a lost and sometimes dangerous way of life, the photographs dignify who or what is documented into types and so never appear dated. And at the same time it presents the romance of a city that has a special place in the hearts of most who know Paris, a city loved by photographers, and haunted by photographer’s ghosts.

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About Brassai

Brassaï (Gyula Halász)French, 1899-1984
Brassaï was the pseudonym of Gyula Halász (1899-1984), a Parisian photographer.
Gyula Halász was born on September 9, 1899, in Brassó (Brasov), in SE Transylvania - which today belongs to Romania but then it was part of Hungary. At age three, his family moved to live in Paris, France for a year while his father, a Professor of Literature, taught at the Sorbonne. As a young man, Gyula Halász studied painting and sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Budapest before joining a cavalry regiment of the Austro-Hungarian army, serving until the end of the First World War. In 1920 Halász went to Berlin where he worked as a journalist and studied at the Berlin-Charlottenburg Academy of Fine Arts.
In 1924 he moved to Paris where he would live the rest of his life. In order to learn the French language, he began teaching himself by reading the works of Marcel Proust. Living amongst the huge gathering of artists in the Montparnasse Quarter, he took a job as a journalist. He soon became friends with Henry Miller, Léon-Paul Fargue, and the poet Jacques Prévert.
Gyula Halász's job and his love of the city, whose streets he often wandered late at night, led to photography. He later wrote that photography allowed him to seize the Paris night and the beauty of the streets and gardens, in rain and mist. Using the name of his birthplace, Gyula Halász went by the pseudonym "Brassaï," which means "from Brasso." As Brassaï, he captured the essence of the city in his photographs, publishing his first book of photographs in 1933 titled "Paris de nuit" ("Paris by Night"). His efforts met with great success, resulting in his being called "the eye of Paris" in an essay by his friend Henry Miller. In addition to photos of the seedier side of Paris, he also provided scenes from the life of the city's high society, its intellectuals, its ballet, and the grand operas. He photographed many of his great artist friends, including Salvador Dalí, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Alberto Giacometti, plus many of the prominent writers of his time such as Jean Genet, Henri Michaux and others.
Brassaï's photographs brought him international fame leading to a one-man show in the United States at the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York, the Art Institute in Chicago, Illinois, and at New York City's Museum of Modern Art.
In 1956, his film, Tant qu'il y aura des bêtes, won the "Most Original Film" award at the Cannes Film Festival and in 1974 he was made Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters and given the Legion of Honor in 1976. Two years later, in 1978, he won the first "Grand Prix National de la Photographie" in Paris.
As well as a photographer, Brassaï was the author of seventeen books and numerous articles, including the 1948 novel Histoire de Marie, which was published with an introduction by Henry Miller. His Letters to My Parents and Conversations with Picasso, have been translated into English and published by the University of Chicago Press.
Considered by all as one of the great photographers of the 20th century, Gyula Halász died on July 8, 1984 in Eze, Alpes-Maritimes, in the south of France and was interred in the Cimetière du Montparnasse in Paris.
In 2000, an exhibition of some 450 works by Brassaï was organized with the help of his widow, Gilberte at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.

Changing New York - Berenice Abbott

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Author: Abbott, Berenice, 1898-1991, Photographer
Title: Changing New York

Imprint: 1935-1938, printed 1935-ca. 1990

Description: 2240 photographic prints : silver gelatin, b&w ; 19 3/8 x 15 3/4 in. or smaller, bulk 8 x 10 contact prints.
13 negatives : b&w ; 8 x 10 in. or smaller.
Access: Restricted access; Photography Collection; Permit must be requested at the division indicated.
Summary: Views of New York City architecture and street scenes in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and, primarily, Manhattan. Depicted are apartment buildings, homes, churches, hotels, office and commercial buildings, including a few interiors. Street scenes include peddlers, billboards and signs, and architectural details such as doors, porches, fences, fire escapes and store windows. The transportation of the city is shown in images of bridges, the elevated railroad, tugboats and harbor scenes. The collection also includes a series of images of children, including African American children, in art classes at the Harlem Art Center and the Queensboro Community Art Center.
Biography: Between 1935 and 1938 Abbott worked under the auspices of the Works Progress Administration to document New York City.
Finding Aids: Detailed automated finding aid available, partially funded by the National Endowment for the Arts.
Subject
African Americans -- New York (State)
Art -- Study and teaching.
Apartment buildings -- New York (State) -- New York.
Architectural elements.
Bridges -- New York (State) -- New York.
Children.
Churches -- New York (State) -- New York.
Houses -- New York -- New York.
Elevated railroads -- New York -- New York.
Hotels -- New York -- New York.
Interiors -- New York -- New York.
Office buildings -- New York (State) -- New York.
Piers & wharves -- New York -- New York.
Streets -- New York -- New York.
Theaters -- New York -- New York.
Window displays -- New York -- New York.
East River (N.Y.)
Greenwich Village (New York, N.Y.)
Hudson River (N.Y. and N.J.)
Lower East Side (New York, N.Y.)
New York (N.Y.) -- Social life and customs.
Wall Street (New York, N.Y.)
Genre/Form:Architectural photographs, Cityscapes, Negatives, Photographic print
Added Author: National Endowment for the Arts

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About Changing New York

American master photographer Berenice Abbott (1898-1991) is probably best known for Changing New York, her 1935-1938 Federal Art Project documentation of the city's rapidly changing built environment. Abbott became interested in photographing New York in 1929 when, as a fashionable portrait photographer, she visited the city after a nearly a decade in Paris and saw that the nineteenth century city she had once called home was becoming almost overnight a leading metropolis. Allied intellectually with modernist European photography, she was nonetheless eager for a new arena in which to exploit her developing aesthetic. Re- established in New York, her solid international reputation as a classical portraitist generated commercial assignments from Fortune and elsewhere, and in 1932 she took up an 8 x 10 inch view camera, destined to become her standard equipment for nearly the rest of her career.
However, by the mid-1930s the Depression had forced the federal government to include artists and related workers among the recipients of unemployment relief. Abbott successfully applied to the Federal Art Project (FAP) of the Works Progress Administration to carry out Changing New York and in the fall of 1935 began the program that occupied her for the next three years. As ambitious in its scheme as work carried out by the dozen or so photographers of the Farm Security Administration's History Section under Roy Stryker (the other great documentary photography survey of the 1930s) Changing New York is notable for being the creation of one visionary artist. Meeting Abbott's explicit aesthetic goal of creating visually compelling documents, the images of Changing New York reflect her thorough acquaintance with the visual vocabulary of European modernism and at the same time resonate with her philosophical and aesthetic sympathy for the camera's documentary realism. In 1939, Berenice Abbott wrote that Changing New York had been intended
to preserve for the future an accurate and faithful chronicle in photographs of the changing aspect of the world's greatest metropolis, ... a synthesis which shows the sky-scraper in relation to the less colossal edifices which preceded it, ... to produce an expressive result in which moving details must coincide with balance of design and significance of subject.
That same year, E.P. Dutton published Changing New York a book of selected images with commentary by Abbott's friend and FAP consultant, art critic Elizabeth McCausland, and the project drew to a close. It had amassed more than 300 documented negatives and a wealth of supplementary research produced by a small band of out-of-work draftsmen, writers and researchers also employed by the FAP. [The project's research files and Abbott's FAP negatives are owned by the Museum of the City of New York under an agreement made in the 1930s.] Except for images made in 1948 for a book Greenwich Village, Today and Yesterday and some re-photography in the 1950s of favorite sites, Abbott stopped photographing the city.
The New York images are the products of one artist's highly individual vision and complex motivations, Abbott's response to her own observations about the rapidly changing built environment and her concepts of an appropriate formal vocabulary for photographic documentation. In 1992-93, the National Endowment for the Arts funded a thorough inventory of the Changing New York archive held by the Library comprised of more than 2200 mostly vintage 8 x 10 contact prints from about 300 negatives. The principal results are a rationalized collection and an on-site analytical automated catalog of most of Abbott's Changing New York images.
copyright Julia Van Haaften 1996.

PINHOLE

Introduction
Pinhole photography is lensless photography. A tiny hole replaces the lens. Light passes through the hole; an image is formed in the camera.
Pinhole cameras are small or large, improvised or designed with great care. Cameras have been made of sea shells, many have been made of oatmeal boxes, coke cans or cookie containers, at least one has been made of a discarded refrigerator. Cameras have been cast in plaster like a face mask, constructed from beautiful hardwoods, built of metal with bellows and a range of multiple pinholes. Station wagons have been used as pinhole cameras – and rooms in large buildings. Basically a pinhole camera is a box, with a tiny hole at one end and film or photographic paper at the other.
Pinhole cameras are used for fun, for art and for science.
Designing and building the cameras are great fun. Making images with cameras you have made yourself is a great pleasure, too. But in serious photography the pinhole camera is just an imaging device with its advantages and limitations, special characteristics and potentials. By making the best of the camera's potential great images can be produced. Some of the images could not have been produced with a lens.

Characteristics
Pinhole images are softer – less sharp – than pictures made with a lens. The images have nearly infinite depth of field. Wide angle images remain absolutely rectilinear. On the other hand, pinhole images suffer from greater chromatic aberration than pictures made with a simple lens, and they tolerate little enlargement.
Exposures are long, ranging from half a second to several hours. Images are exposed on film or paper – negative or positive; black and white, or color.
Pinhole optics, by the way, are not only used in photography. There is one animal in nature which uses a pinhole for seeing – the mollusk Nautilus. Each eye has an accommodating aperture – the aperture can enlarge or shrink. In this drawing, originally taken from a book published by Arthur Willey in 1900, the eye is the oval opening to the upper right.

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History

Early Observations and Experiments
The basic optical principles of the pinhole are commented on in Chinese texts from the fifth century BC. Chinese writers had discovered by experiments that light travels in straight lines. The philosopher Mo Ti (later Mo Tsu) was the first – to our knowledge – to record the formation of an inverted image with a pinhole or screen. Mo Ti was aware that objects reflect light in all directions, and that rays from the top of an object, when passing through a hole, will produce the lower part of an image (Hammond 1981:1). According to Hammond, there is no further reference to the camera obscura in Chinese texts until the ninth century AD, when Tuan Chheng Shih refers to an image in a pagoda. Shen Kua later corrected his explanation of the image. Yu Chao-Lung in the tenth century used model pagodas to make pinhole images on a screen. However, no geometric theory on image formation resulted from these experiments and observations (Hammond 1981:2).
In the western hemisphere Aristotle (fourth century BC) comments on pinhole image formation in his work Problems. In Book XV, 6, he asks: "Why is it that when the sun passes through quadri-laterals, as for instance in wickerwork, it does not produce a figure rectangular in shape but circular? [...]" In Book XV, 11, he asks further: "Why is it that an eclipse of the sun, if one looks at it through a sieve or through leaves, such as a plane-tree or other broadleaved tree, or if one joins the fingers of one hand over the fingers of the other, the rays are crescent-shaped where they reach the earth? Is it for the same reason as that when light shines through a rectangular peep-hole, it appears circular in the form of a cone? [...]" (Aristotle 1936:333,341). Aristotle found no satisfactory explanation to his observation; the problem remained unresolved until the 16th century (Hammond 1981:5).A photo of the phenomenon observed by Aristotle more than two thousand years ago:
Photo of 1994 solar eclipse projection through foliage
The Arabian physicist and mathematician Ibn al-Haytham, also known as Alhazen, experimented with image formation in the tenth century AD. He arranged three candles in a row and put a screen with a small hole between the candles and the wall. He noted that images were formed only by means of small holes and that the candle to the right made an image to the left on the wall. From his observations he deduced the linearity of light. (Hammond 1981:5).
In the following centuries the pinhole technique was used by optical scientists in various experiments to study sunlight projected from a small aperture.

The Renaissance and Post-Renaissance
In the Renaissance and later centuries the pinhole was mainly used for scientific purposes in astronomy and, fitted with a lens, as a drawing aid for artists and amateur painters.
Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) describes pinhole image formation in his Codex Atlanticus (Vinci, Leonardo, Ambrosian Library, Milan, Italy, Recto A of Folio 337), and Manuscript D (Manuscript D, Vinci, Leonardo, Institut de France, Paris, Folio 8). These descriptions, however, would remain unknown until Venturi deciphered and published them in 1797. The following translation from the Codex Atlanticus, in German, is by Eder (1905:27): "Wenn die Fassade eines Gebäudes, oder ein Platz, oder eine Landschaft von der Sonne beleuchtet wird and man bringt auf der gegenüberliegenden Seite in der Wand einer nicht von der Sonne getroffenen Wohnung ein kleines Löchlein an, so werden alle erleuchteten Gegenstände ihr Bild durch diese Öffnung senden und werden umgekehrt erscheinen". [1] According to Kim H. Veltman there are no less than 270 diagrams of camera obscuras in Leonardo's notebooks.
Kim H. Veltman: Leonardo and the Camera Obscura [pdf]
Leonardo da Vinci: The function of the eye as explained by the camera obscura (Richter, 1880: Notebooks 70)
Leonardo da Vinci: The function of the eye as explained by the camera obscura (Richter, 1880: Notebooks 71)
In 1475 the Renaissance mathematician and astronomer Paolo Toscanelli placed a bronze ring with an aperture in a window in the Cathedral of Florence, still in use today. On sunny days a solar image is projected through the hole onto the cathedral's floor. At noon, the solar image bisects a "noon-mark" on the floor. The image and noon-mark were used for telling time (Renner 1995:6).
Photos of 1999 solar clipse projected by pinhole in Santa Maria degli Angeli in Rome and in other Italian churches
In 1580 papal astronomers used a pinhole and a similar noon-mark in the Vatican Observatory in Rome to prove to Pope Gregory XIII that the spring equinox fell incorrectly on 11 March rather than on 21 March. Two years later, after careful consideration, Pope Gregory XIII corrected the Julian calendar by 10 days, thus creating the Gregorian calendar (Renner 1995:7).
Giovanni Battista della Porta (1538–1615), a scientist from Naples, was long regarded as the inventor of the camera obscura because of his description of the pinhole (lensless) camera obscura in the first edition of his Magia naturalis (1558). His description has received much publicity, as did his camera obscura shows, but he was by no means the inventor.
The first published picture of a pinhole camera obscura is apparently a drawing in Gemma Frisius' De Radio Astronomica et Geometrica (1545). Gemma Frisius, an astronomer, had used the pinhole in his darkened room to study the solar eclipse of 1544. The very term camera obscura ("dark room") was coined by Johannes Kepler (1571–1630). At his time, the term had come to mean a room, tent or box with a lens aperture used by artists to draw a landscape. The lens made the image brighter and focused at a certain distance. (Adding a bi-convex lens to the camera obscura had been suggested by Girolamo Cardano in De subtilitate libri around 1550.) Thus this type of camera differed from the pinhole camera obscura used by Frisius in 1544. In the 1620s Johannes Kepler invented a portable camera obscura. Camera obscuras as drawing aids were soon found in many shapes and sizes. They were used by both artists and amateur painters.
Camera obscura – a basic sketch
Photo of camera obscura, Science Museum, London
Camera obscuras at the Museum of the History of Science, Oxford
Open Digital Library: Camera Obscura (image collection, bibliography, electronic texts)
Sir Joshua Reynolds's collapsable camera obscura (V&A Museums)
Four drawings by Canaletto of Campo San Giovanni e Paolo in Venice, made with the aid of a camera obscura
Canaletto's camera obscura (Open Digital Library)
James D. Southerland, a contemporary artist who uses the camera obscura to produce prints
During the 19th century several large scale camera obscuras were built as places of education and entertainment. The meniscus lens, superior to the bi-convex lens, improved the quality of the the projected images. Some buildings or towers with camera obscuras from this period remain today: The Camera Obscura at the Royal Mile, Edinburgh built in the 1850s; the 1836 camera obscura at Dumfries, Scotland; the Clifton Observatory at Bristol, England from 1828; the camera on the Mount Oybin in Germany, wich dates back to 1852, and others. The camera obscura at Eger, Hungary, was opened around 1780 and is one of the oldest cameras obscuras that can still be visited in Europe. It got new optics in the 1850s and the 1960s, but the original mirror is still in use.
Quite a few room-sized camera obscuras have been built in the 20th century, for instance, the Eastbourne Pier camera obscura in East Sussex, Britain, which dates back to 1901; the Kirriemuir Camera Obscura, Scotland, built in 1929; the Giant Camera at Cliff House, San Francisco, constructed in 1948-49; the camera obscura at Santa Monica, California, established in 1955, with a mechanism from around 1900; the Torre Tavira camera obscura in Cádiz, Spain, which opened in 1994; the camera obscura at Castelo de São Jorge in Lisbon, inaugurated in 1998; the camera obscura at Plaza Vieja in Havana, Cuba, finished about the same time. The camera obscura installed in 1992 in the Broich Watertower in Mühlheim an der Ruhr in Germany claims to be the largest walk-in camera obscura in the world, whereas the camera obscura in Perdika (Aegina island), Greece, installed in a cylindrical WWII gun emplacement in 2003, claims to be the only camera obscura that produces a 360° panorama. The panorama is split up in twelve individual images, upside down and reversed, on a circular, semi-transparent screen, hanging down from the ceiling. One of the most beautiful modern architecture camera obscuras may be the camera obscura at Trondheim, Norway, which was opened in December 2006.
Stephen Berkman's Wondering Eye and other artistic camera obscuras
Nilu Uzadi's walk-in camera obscuras (temporary or permanent)

The First Pinhole Photographs
Sir David Brewster, a Scottish scientist, was one of the first to make pinhole photographs, in the 1850s. He was also one of the first to use the word "pinhole" in this context, or "pin-hole" with a hyphen, which he used in his book The Stereoscope, published in 1856. Joseph Petzval used the term "natural camera" in 1859, whereas Dehors and Deslandres, in the late 1880s, proposed the term "stenopaic photography".
A linguistic sidestep: In French today "sténopé" (from Greek stenos, narrow, and opê, hole) is used for the English "pinhole". The word "stenop" (стеноп) is also used in Russian, as are пинхoл камера ("pinhole kamera") and камера обскура ("kamera obskura"). Czech and Polish use "dírková komora" and "kamera otworkowa" respectively. In Italian a pinhole camera is often called "una macchina stenopeico" or "una fotocamera stenopeica", in Spanish "una cámara estenopéica". In German "Lochkamera" ("Loch" means 'hole') and "Camera obscura" are used. Dutch uses the words "gaatjescamera" ("gaatje" = 'perforation', 'puncture') and "pinhole camera". The Scandinavian languages tend to use the English "pinhole" as a model – "hullkamera"/"holkamera"/"hålkamera", though "camera obscura" is also found, and is the term preferred by myself in Norwegian. ("Camera obscura" may be somewhat misleading, however, since historically camera obscuras were equipped with a lens at an early stage of their development.) Hungarian, a non-Indo-European language, calls a pinhole camera "lyukkamera"; Turkish, another non-Indo-European language, uses "İğne deliği kamera". Leonardo da Vinci, by the way, in his notebooks referred to the pinhole as the "spiraculo" (aperture, hole), a word related to Latin "spiraculum" (air-hole, opening, oulet) and "spiraglio" (chink, crack) in modern Italian.
Sir William Crookes, John Spiller and William de Wiveleslie Abney, all in England, were other early photographers to try the pinhole technique. The oldest extant pinhole photographs were probably made by the English archeologist Flinders Petrie (1853–1942) during his excavations in Egypt in the 1880s. Two of Petrie's photographs are reproduced in Renner (1995:39,40). It should be noted that Petrie's camera had a simple lens in front of the pinhole.

Pictorialism and Popular Pinhole Photography
By the late 1880s the Impressionist movement in painting exherted a certain influence on photography. Different schools or tendencies developed in photography. The "old school" believed in sharp focus and good lenses; the "new school", the "pictorialists", tried to achieve the atmospheric qualities of paintings. Some of the pictorialists experimented with pinhole photography. In 1890, George Davison's pinhole photograph An Old Farmstead (later called The Onion Field) won the first award at the Annual Exhibition of the Photographic Society of London. The award was controversial and led to a schism in the Photographic Society of London (soon to become the Royal Photographic Society) which resulted in the formation of the well-known pictorialist group, the "Linked Ring". George Davison's picture is reproduced in Renner (1995:42), and in several histories of photography, e.g. Michael Langford's The Story of Photography (Oxford: Focal Press 1992. p. 106), The Magic Image. The Genius of Photography, edited by Cecil Beaton and Gail Buckland (London: Pavilion Books Ltd. 1989. p. 79), Naomi Rosenblum's A World History of Photography (New York: Abbeville Press 1984, p. 310). and in A New History of Photography, edited by Michel Frizot (Köln: Könemann 1998. p. 298).
In 1892 the Swedish dramatist August Strindberg started experimenting with pinhole photography. About one hundred of Strindberg's photographs are preserved, of these three or four are pinhole images.
Pinhole photography became popular in the 1890s. Commercial pinhole cameras were sold in Europe, the United States and in Japan. 4000 pinhole cameras ("Photomnibuses") were sold in London alone in 1892. The cameras seem to have had the same status as disposable cameras today – none of the "Photomnibuses" have been preserved for posterity in camera collections. Some years earlier, an American company had actually invented a disposable pinhole camera, the "Ready Photographer", consisting of a dry glass plate, a pinhole in tinfoil and a folding bellows. Another American company sold "the Glen Pinhole Camera", which included six dry plates, chemicals, trays, a print frame and ruby paper for a safelight. The very first commercial pinhole camera was designed by Dehors and Deslandres in France in 1887. Their camera had a rotating disc with six pinholes, three pairs of similar sizes. Pictures of these cameras are found in Renner (1995:43). Here is a picture of a sliding box pinhole camera made by Dehors and Deslandres.
Mass production of cameras and "new realism" in the 20th century soon left little space for pinhole photography. By the 1930s the technique was hardly remembered, or only used in teaching. Frederick Brehm, at what was later to become the Rochester Institute of Technology, was possibly the first college professor to stress the educational value of the pinhole technique. He also designed the Kodak Pinhole Camera around 1940.
Nick Dvoracek's collection of historical articles The Revival of Pinhole Photography
In the mid-1960s several artists, unaware of each other, began experimenting with the pinhole technique – Paolo Gioli in Italy, Gottfried Jäger in Germany, David Lebe, Franco Salmoiraghi, Wiley Sanderson and Eric Renner in the USA. Coincidentally, many of these artists were working with multiple pinholes. Wiley Sanderson was a professor of photography at the University of Georgia and taught pinhole photography from 1953 to 1988. During that period his students built 4356 pinhole cameras (Renner 1995:53).
Two scientists were also working with pinhole photography, Kenneth A. Connors in the USA and Maurice Pirenne in Great Britain. Connors did research on pinhole definition and resolution. His findings were printed in his self-published periodical Interest. Pirenne used the pinhole to study perspective in his book Optics, Painting and Photography (1970).
In 1971 The Time-Life Books published The Art of Photography in the well-known Life Library of Photography and included one of Eric Renner's panoramic pinhole images. The June 1975 issue of Popular Photography published the article "Pinholes for the People", based on Phil Simkin's month-long project with 15,000 hand-assembled and preloaded pinhole cameras in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. (People came into the museum, picked up a camera, made an exposure. The images, developed in a public darkroom in the museum, were continually displayed in the museum.)
In the 1970s pinhole photography gained increasing popularity. Multiple pinholes became rare. Many pinhole photographers experimented with alternative processes. A number of articles and some books were published, among them Jim Shull's The Hole Thing: A Manual of Pinhole Photography. Stan Page of Utah, a leading historian of pinhole photography, collected 450 articles on pinhole photography published after 1850. In the USA, however, critics tended to ignore pinhole photography in art, whereas Paolo Gioli and Dominique Stroobant received more attention in Europe. In Japan Nobuo Yamanaki started making pinhole camera obscuras in the early 1970s. Although pinhole photography gained popularity, few of the artists were aware of the others' images. A diversity of approaches and cameras developed.
In 1985 Lauren Smith published The Visionary Pinhole, the first broad documentation of the diversity of pinhole photography. The first national exhibition of pinhole photography in the USA was organised by Willie Anne Wright, at the The Institute of Contemporary Art of the Virginia Museum in 1982. In 1988 the first international exhibition, "Through a Pinhole Darkly", was organised by the Fine Arts Museum of Long Island. Cameras and images from forty-five artists were exhibited. A second international exhibition was organised in Spain the same year, at The Museum of Contemporary Art of Seville, comprising the work of nine photographers. A third international exhibition followed at the Center for Contemporary Arts of Santa Fe in New Mexico, also in 1988. According to Renner (1995:94), James Hugunin's essay "Notes Toward a Stenopaesthetic", in the catalogue of the Santa Fe exhibition, represents the most thorough analysis of pinhole photography in the 1980s. Eric Renner's book Pinhole Photography – Rediscovering a Historic Technique, published in 1995 (fourth edition 2008), mentions a large number of pinhole artists active in the 1980s and has samples of their work.
According to Renner (1995:90) at least six commercial pinhole cameras were manufactured in the 1980s. In December 2003, according to my own research, there were at least 48 cameras on the market, from 18 manufacturers in the US, Europe, Australia and Asia.
The Pinhole Resource, an international information center and archive for pinhole photography, was founded by Eric Renner in 1984. The first issue of the Pinhole Journal appeared in December 1985. The journal ended publication after 22 years with the December, 2006 issue. Work by many pinhole artists from a number of countries had been published. The archives of the Pinhole Resource now contain more than 4000 images.
With the advent of the World Wide Web pinhole photography went online. One of the first artists to publish his work on the Internet was Harlan Wallach. By January 1995 Richard Vallon of Louisiana had established the Pinhole Resource on the net. Today a search on the net for pinhole photography will return a large number of URLs.
In April 1997 the Pinhole Visions web site was launched to support pinhole photography as both an art form and a learning activity. For years it was the most important pinhole web site, with news and events sections, gallery, links to resources, directory of pinhole photographers, web based discussion forums and a discussion list. In January 2004 it was scaled down and changed its name to The Pinhole News. Later it has changed its name back to Pinhole Visions. It is still the main web site for pinhole news and events, and has useful links to major educational pinhole resources.
In June 2004 the f295 discussion forum was established with a handful of members. By October 2008 the forum had nearly 2000 participants and over 1GB of stored, fully searchable, online information which includes photographs, discussions, detailed plans and diagrams for camera building or modifying, and information on historic processes.
The first Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day (WPPD) was held on 29 April 2001. 291 participants from 24 countries contributed images. On the second WPPD in April 2002 903 images from as many different pinhole photographers from 35 countries were uploaded to the online gallery. On the third WPPD in 2003 the corresponding figures were 1082 images from 43 countries. In 2007 a total 2943 photographs from 68 countries were uploaded to the WPPD web site. Two years later, in 2009, pinhole photographers from 69 countries uploaded 3205 images.

Pinhole Photography in Science
In the late Middle Ages the pinhole was used to study the projection of light through a small aperture. In the 16th century and later it was used in astronomy to study solar eclipses. In the 1940s pinhole cameras found their way into nuclear physics. It was discovered that pinhole cameras could be used to photograph high-energy X-rays and gamma rays. Pinhole cameras were deployed in space craft by the end of the 1950s and beginning of the 60s to photograph X-rays and gamma rays from the sun. The first soft X-ray pinhole of the sun was made on 19 April 1960. The photograph is reproduced in Renner (1995:18). In the 1970s scatter-hole X-ray pinhole cameras were made. Today's pinhole cameras on space vehicles use multiple pinhole optics. The last 20 years the pinhole has also been used widely by nuclear physicists to photograph high energy in laser plasma (Renner 1995:21).
A few links to the use of pinhole cameras in science:
Ariel V: October 1974 – March 1980
The MOnitoring X-ray Experiment (MOXE)
The Polar Ionospheric X-ray Imaging Experiment (PIXIE)
Indiana University Astronomy Department: Solar eclipse 10 June 1994
Astrophotography with a pinhole

Other Uses of the Pinhole
Pinholes are also used in surveillance and spy cameras and are used in combination with a lens for photographing miniature models, e.g. model trains or architectural models. The pinhole increases the depth of field radically.
Some photographers experiment with pinhole enlargers with one pinhole or multiple.
And there are pinhole glasses and pinhole eye occluders for vision testing. You may easily make a pinhole eye occluder yourself.

Cameras
Basically a pinhole camera is a light-tight box with a tiny hole in one end and film or photographic paper in the other.
Several commercial cameras are available – e.g. the 4 x 5 Rigby camera, the 4 x 5 and 8 x 10 Leonardo Cameras, the the 4 x 5 and 8 x 10 Lenseless cameras, the Zero Image pinhole cameras (various formats), the Omniscope Anamorph, the Pinhole Blender, the Merlin cameras, and others. Most pinhole photographers, however, make their cameras themselves. The construction is simple. Commercial cameras in hardwood or metal tend to be expensive – some are very expensive – and usually they do not produce better images than a homebrew camera.Pinhole cameras may differ with regard to (a) focal length, (b) pinhole diameter, (c) number of pinholes, (d) image format, (e) flat or curved film plane, (f) type of light-sensitive material, and (g) other characteristics.
(a) Strictly speaking pinhole cameras have no focal length. They have infinite depth of field. But for practical reasons the term "focal length" is used here to refer to the distance between the pinhole and the film or paper. Pinhole cameras may have short, normal or long "focal lengths"; they may be anything from ultra wide-angle cameras to long telephoto cameras. It should be noted that as the focal length increases, the apertures decreases. In other words, exposure times get longer (see Formulas below). (The formula for calculating the f-stop is f = v/d, where f = aperture, v = distance from pinhole to film or paper, and d = pinhole diameter.) Pinhole cameras produce fascinating wide-angle and ultra-wide angle images. Unlike lens photographs, ultra wide-angle images remain rectilinear. Straight lines are not curved at the periphery of the image. Beginners should start by making a wide-angle camera.
(b) For any focal length there is an optimal pinhole diameter for image sharpness. A number of formulas and charts have been produced. Generally a smaller pinhole will produce a sharper image than a larger one. If the pinhole gets too small, the image becomes less sharp because of diffraction. See Formulas below.
(c) Pinhole cameras may have one pinhole or several. Multiple pinhole cameras produce overlapping images or, with certain designs, panoramic images. Beautiful images made with a multiple pinhole camera are found in Knuchel (1991: cover, p. 35). The beginner should start with a camera with a single pinhole. My own experience is from single pinhole photography exclusively. Some advanced pinhole photographers sometimes use a slit instead of a pinhole. For a beautiful picture made with a single slit camera, see Knuchel (1991:53).
(d) Pinhole cameras have widely differing image formats. Cameras are made from match boxes, 35 mm film canisters, baking soda containers, oatmeal boxes, cookie tins, bags or suitcases, big wooden cases etc. Vans or station wagons have been used as pinhole cameras, and rooms in large buildings.
Some cameras were made to take a 126 film cartridge, a format which was discontinued by Kodak in December 1999, but which is still available from Film for Classics. There are pinhole photographers who use 35 mm film (e.g. by removing the lens of a 35 mm SRL, taping or gluing a pinhole plate to a lenscap, and replacing the lens with the modified lenscap). A cheap 120 twin-lens reflex camera (e.g. a Russian-made Lubitel), an old 120 (non-collectible!) folding camera, a 120 box or a Polaroid camera may fairly easily be turned into a pinhole camera. Some pinhole photographers use a large format camera, 4 x 5 in., 5 x 7 in. or 8 x 10 in., and replace the ordinary lensboard with a lensboard with a pinhole plate. Some make a lensboard with a pinhole turret, i.e. a disc with a circular configuration of pinholes in various sizes.
Most pinhole cameras, however, are made from an ordinary box or container, with a pinhole plate in one end and a simple mechanism for holding the paper or film in the other. Often the film or paper is just taped to the inside of the box. Many pinhole photographers start out with an "oatmeal box camera", a camera made from a cylindrical container in cardboard or metal.
In my view, best results are achieved with medium or large format film or with photographic paper in similar sizes or larger. In many areas 120 roll film is more easily available than sheet film.
(e) A pinhole camera may have a flat or curved film or image plane. If the film plane is flat, there will be some light fall-off or vignetting at the corners in a wide-angle or ultra wide-angle pinhole camera. The image may be overexposed at the center and underexposed at the corners. This vignetting, however, may be exploited consciously as an esthetic effect. If one wants to avoid the light fall-off, the film plane should be curved so that the film at any point is roughly at the same distance from the pinhole. A pinhole camera may be made from a round ("cookie") container cut in two to form a semi-circular box. Film or paper is taped to the circular wall of the box. Many pinhole photographers also make "oatmeal" box cameras with curved film planes. In my own pinhole photography I use flat film planes.
With flat film planes a pinhole has a usable circular image of approx. 125 degrees. The image diameter is about 3 1/2 times of any focal length. The image will fade towards the edges because of the increasing focal distance. With curved film planes a pinhole camera may have a larger circle of coverage (approximately 160 degrees).
Some photographers experiment with complex film planes. Examples are found in Knuchel 1991, which is an interesting source for studying the relationship between image and camera. The film plane, flat or curved, may be radically slanted or angled in relation to the pinhole (anamorphic pinhole cameras). Light falloff will be severe, and the negatives may require burning and dodging in the darkroom or in the digital postprocessing. A simple anamorphic camera is a tube with a pinhole at the end. The Omniscope Anamorph Camera, to my knowledge the only commercially available anamorphic camera, produces a 360 degree anamorph on 120 roll film.
(f) Pinhole cameras may take film or photographic paper. Black and white film and color film for prints have more exposure latitude than chrome film. XP-2 for black and white (available in 35 mm, 120 format and 4 x 5 in.) has extraordinarily wide exposure latitude and may be exposed as anything between ISO 50 and 800. The latitude makes it ideal for pinhole photography. Photographic paper for black and white has a low ISO rating. In my own pinhole photography I have used mainly Fujichrome 50 and Fujichrome Velvia, XP-2 and Ilford Multigrade RC. Some photographers recommend mat-surfaced RC paper for curved image planes (paper curved in an "oatmeal box camera") to avoid a reflected fogged strip. Glossy paper may be used in cameras with flat image planes, where light will not be reflected. Some photographers use Ilfochrome paper with great success. An 85B filter (sometimes in combination with an 81 or 82 series filter) may be used to change tungsten light to daylight. Because of long exposures reciprocity failure will often have to be taken into account when calculating exposure both for film and paper.
(g) Pinhole cameras may also differ with regard to other characteristics.
Cameras are made from different types of material: cardboard, wood, metal or other. For the beginner a camera made of cardboard may be the best choice. Cardboard is easy to work with.
Some photographers use a grey neutral density filter to increase exposure times when using film where exposure times are short. Filters may also be used to control contrast in multigrade papers, or to control color when using color film or Ilfochrome paper.
Many homebrew cameras have only a plastic flap or a piece of cardboard for "shutter". This is my own choice for most of my cameras. Hardwood cameras may have a simple moveable shutter. With short exposure times it is important that the shutter opens easily without vibrations.
Some photographers make a viewing frame, e.g. by cutting a window the same size as the pinhole image in a piece of cardboard. A wire frame attached to the camera is another solution. The viewing frame is held at the same distance from the eye as the distance between the pinhole and the film in the camera. Pinhole photographers who use a large format camera sometimes use a larger viewing pinhole when composing the image. In my own pinhole photography I never use viewing frames. I tend to work for longer periods with the same camera and find I get a pretty good feeling of the image field.
Some pinhole cameras are beautiful objects in themselves. The Swiss pinhole photographers Peter Olpe has made cameras from cardboard in the shape of small castles and buildings (Olpe 1992). The cameras are themselves objects of art and have been exhibited as such.
I suggest the beginner starts by making an "oatmeal box camera" or a cardboard camera.

Making a Pinhole CameraThe Pinhole
The most important part of a pinhole camera is the pinhole itself. Precision made pinholes may be bought. You will find a list of sources for pinhole sheets here. For most purposes, however, there is no reason why you should not make the pinhole yourself.
The hole is made in a thin piece of metal, brass shim (available in some car supply stores) or metal from the lid of small box or glass container (bought at a supermarket ). Some use aluminium foil from a disposable baking pan. Ordinary aluminium foil is too thin. My own experience is with brass shim and thin metal from container lids.
If the metal is taken from a container lid, it should be sanded carefully with ultra-fine emery paper (e.g. # 600) to remove any paint or varnish and to make it thinner. The hole is made with a needle. The edge of the hole should be sharp. The optimal diameter depends on the focal length of the camera, i.e. the distance from the pinhole to the film or photographic paper. Some formulas and charts are reproduced below. In general: the smaller the hole, the sharper the image. If the hole is too small, however, the image gets less sharp because of diffraction effects (light is bent around the edge of the pinhole).
Place the piece of metal on top of some hard cardboard. Carefully poke a hole with a needle taking care that the hole is as round as possible. The needle may be put through a cork to make it easier to handle. Or you may put masking tape on the head of the needle. Hold the needle steadily in a 90 degree angle to the surface. Turn the piece of metal and sand the back side carefully with fine-grained emery paper to remove the burr or debris where the needle point has penetrated. (The edges of the pinhole should be sharp). Then place the metal on the cardboard back side up and cautiously spin the needle in the hole to make sure the hole is round. The hole can be checked with a magnifier or an enlarger. You can also use an enlarger or slide projector to check the diameter of the pinhole. Or you may use a scanner, but be careful not to scratch the glass.
The Pinhole FAQ's description
Gord Holtslander's instructions in a file compiled by Bruce Barrett (#9)

Can Cameras
Pinhole cameras can be made of many kinds of light-tight containers. A cylindrical cardboard container, e.g. an oatmeal box or a herb tea container, is easily converted into a pinhole camera for pieces of 120 roll film or photographic paper.
Start by making a cardboard film holder. The film holder is made of two pieces of cardboard which fit the internal dimensions of the cylindrical box (Sketch). One piece (A) serves as the back of the film holder. The other piece is cut in two, one small piece (B) which is glued to A and a larger piece (C) with a cut-out window (D) for the film or paper. Use some good tape (electrical tape or other) to attach piece C to B. The film holder will be loaded in a darkroom by placing a piece of 120 roll film or photographic paper between A and C.
The film holder fits into a groove on either side of the box. The groove is made by gluing cardboard strips to the insides of the box (Sketch). You may make a supporting back (E) for the film holder by gluing a piece of cardboard in the groove. This will make it easier to slide the loaded filmholder into the groove.
Spray the insides of the box (including the lid), and the outsides of the cardboard film holder, with flat black spray paint. Make sure the lid is not translucent. If necessary glue some black plastic lining or cardboard to the lid to make it opaque.
Make a hole in the front of the box. The "optical axis" should extend to the center of the window in the film holder – provided you are not looking for special off-center effects.
Then make the pinhole plate. See above.
Tape the pinhole plate to the front of the cylindrical box.
Make a simple shutter by taping a flap of black plastic over the pinhole, e.g. plastic from a photographic paper package. The flap may be held in place by tape and a rubber string. When you take a picture you remove the string, open the flap for the necessary exposure and close it.
If you want a tripod mount or socket for your camera, use some araldite to glue a 1/4" or 3/8" nut to the bottom of the box.
Since this camera has to be loaded in the darkroom, it will be practical to make several cameras. The cameras are easily carried in a bag.
If you want a curved film plane for your camera, the cardboard film holder is left out. Film or paper is taped to the inside of the camera.
A polaroid picture of some "oatmeal box" pinhole cameras which I made in 1990, my first pinhole cameras, and a portrait made with one of the cameras on Ilford Multigrade III RC paper. The negative was scanned and then inverted by a photo editing program on my computer.
Some descriptions or pictures of "oatmeal box" or "cookie tin" cameras on the net:
How to Make an Oat Meal Tin Camera (Zero Image)
How to Make an Oatmeal Box Pinhole Camera (Wendy Mukluk)
Making Oatmeal Box Pinhole Cameras (Stewart L. Woodruff)
Susan Addington's Venetian biscotti tin camera 4 x 5 in. Film Holder Cameras
Some commercial cameras are manufactured for 4 x 5 in. or 8 x 10 in. sheet film. In my view, these cameras tend to be somewhat overpriced.
Making a camera yourself is easy. The camera can be made of wood or cardboard. I build my own cameras from hardwood, mainly because I like woodworking and enjoy making beautiful objects in wood. Plywood or other materials may be used as well and require less effort. Cardboard is probably the easiest material to work with.
A cardboard camera may be made from scratch from sheets of cardboard cut to the right dimensions and assembled to form a box which will take a 4 x 5 in. film holder. It may also be made from an already existing cardboard box. The basic component – apart from the pinhole plate – is the film holder. The back of the camera is designed to accommodate a standard film holder. The inserted film holder may be held in place by a rubber string. Make sure the camera back is light-tight. Near the top the film holder has a locating ridge which is to fit in a groove in the camera back. The groove may be made by gluing strips of cardboard to the back. Some simple sketches of a 4 x 5 inch film holder camera made of cardboard:
Cardboard camera for sheet film
I usually use 6 x 30 mm oak strip (1/4" x 1 1/4") as the basic material for wooden cameras for 4 x 5 in. film holders. The strips are glued together to form 6 mm sheets. The sheets are sanded carefully, cut to the right measurements and glued together to form a box with a simple spring back for the film holder. The following is a general description of the construction of a wooden 4 x 5 in. camera:
Sheet film pinhole camera (wood)
Get a 4 x 5 in. film holder.
Make a box of wood (Sketch 1). The internal width should be about 20 mm wider than the film holder. The bottom piece (A) and the side pieces (B) should be about 40 mm longer than the top piece (C). Sand the wood carefully before assembling the pieces.
Square moulding is glued to the internal angles in the camera to make the construction stronger. Sketch x.
The back panel (D) is made of plywood. A window (E) is cut in the back panel, the same size as the film holder's window (dimensions ...).
A groove (F) is made in the back piece for the film holder's locating ridge.
Two strips of wood (G), approximately 6 mm thick, are glued to the back panel, one on the the left side, the other on the right side of the film holder.
Two leaf springs (H) are made of a flexible sink drain (available at a reasonable price in some hardware stores).
Each leaf spring is kept in place by a small piece of wood (I) screwed on to the side pieces.
A hole (J) is made for the pinhole in the front panel.
The pinhole plate (P) is attached to the inside of the front panel. A piece of wood (K) with a hole covers the pinhole plate; the piece of wood is screwed on to the front piece from the inside.
A pressure panel (L) for the film holder is made of wood.
Two strips of 1 1/2 or 2 mm brass strip (M), to go under the leaf springs, are screwed on to the pressure panel.
A handle (N) may be attached to the side panel of the camera.
A piece of cardboard is used for shutter, or a moveable shutter is added (O). For short exposures a cardboard is most practical as removing the cardboard creates no vibrations.The same design may be used for a 5 x 7 in. camera or an 8 x 10 in. camera. For an 8 x 10 in. camera 8–10 mm board or plywood may be used as the basic material.
Polaroid pictures of some of my hardwood cameras for sheet film holders:
My pinhole cameras for sheet film Box Cameras for Photographic Paper
A box camera for photographic paper can be made of a light-tight cardboard box, from sheets of cardboard or from wood. Peter Olpe (1993) has plans for a nicely constructed cardboard camera.
I usually use wood for box cameras for photographic paper. Most of my cameras are constructed for the format 18 x 24 cm (approx. 8 x 10 in.). The focal lengths differ but all are wide-angle cameras. My preferred 18 x 24 cm camera has a focal length of 87 mm. The images in my "Stones" project and some of my "Oslo pinhole photographs" were made with this camera.
Although it is easy to make a simple moveable shutter for these cameras most of the cameras have just piece of cardboard which is taped to the camera and opened or removed during exposure. For some of my box cameras I have made a reducing back for 4 x 5 in. sheet film. Sketch of wooden camera:
Wooden box camera for paper 18 x 24 cm
Polaroid pictures of some of my cameras for photographic paper or sheet film:
Pinhole cameras for sheet film or photographic paper Camera for 120 Roll Film
Cameras for photographic paper have to be loaded in the dark or under a safelight. They usually take only one sheet of paper at a time. This somewhat laborious process makes photography slow. The slowness may be an advantage – the photographer tends to plan his images carefully. But if you want to take more than one picture you will have to bring several cameras. Sheet film cameras and cameras for 120 roll film are practical for photographic tours.
Some pinhole photographers modify an existing 120 roll film camera by removing the lens and replacing it with a pinhole plate. Others make their own cameras. Peter Olpe (1993) has plans for a cardboard camera for 120 roll film. The text is in German.
In 1991 I constructed a 120 roll film camera made of hardwood. I used oak bought at a local lumber yard. The camera has a flat film plane. The negative format is approximately 60 x 70 mm, and the focal length 45 mm. I usually use the camera for XP-2 black and white film or Fujichrome Velvia. Many of my "Oslo pinhole photographs" were made with this camera, as were my "Pinhole Photographs 1997–98".
Sketches of my 120 roll film camera
Pictures of my pinhole cameras for roll film and roll film holders
A 126 Catridge Camera
A pinhole camera may be made of a 126 film cassette and some cardboard. Descriptions and plans are found in Olpe (1993:16, 28–29). Film is available from Film for Classics.
The Exploratorium's description of a 126 cassette camera
Frugal Photographer's instructions for making a 126 "Instamatic" camera
Shutters for pinhole cameras
I usually use a piece of opaque plastic or a piece of cardboard, attached to the camera with tape, for a shutter. It may not be a very elegant solution, but it is very practical. More elaborate shutters can be made. The essential thing is that the shutter is lightproof when closed and that the camera is not stirred when the shutter is opened and the exposure is made.
Pinhole camera shutters may be divided into different categories: (1) flap/tape/piece of cardboard; (2) sliding shutters made of cardboard, wood or metal; (3) swinging shutters made of the same materials; (4) cable release shutters (slide or swing); (5) magnet shutters, and others. If you are modifying a TLR or another roll film camera, you may be able to use the original shutter.
Pictures of various types of pinhole shutters
Pinhole body caps
A 35 mm or medium format SLR may be equipped with a pinhole body cap. You may make the body cap yourself or buy a manufactured pinhole body cap. There are several on the market, also for some rangefinder cameras. Some pinhole body caps are dustproof, which is particularly important for digital SLRs. These body caps have a film base pinhole – the pinhole is not a physical hole but a perfectly round clear tiny dot on opaque black film. Because it is not a physical hole no dust can get into the camera. But care has to be taken to avoid dust when you change from lens to body cap. If you modify a body cap yourself, you may make the pinhole dustproof by gluing a microscope slide "cover plate" over the hole.
My pinhole photos from Rome in 2007 were made with a commercial pinhole body cap on a film based SLR. It was the first time I used 35 mm film for pinhole photography. It made me realize that 35 mm pinhole negatives may be enlarged to a considerable extent and still yield good prints. The quality of the pinhole bodycap was excellent.

More Cameras
A few links to descriptions and photographs of various types of cameras:
Various types
David Balihar (Pinhole.cz)
Doug Bardell
Dieter Bublitz (in German)
Nick Dvoracek
Steve Irvine
Chris Keeney
Wanda Scott
Tony Taylor
Low Tech Magazine
f295.org Forum: Lensless cameras
flicr: Camera makers
35 mm pinhole cameras
Corbis readymech cameras (templates)
The populist (templates)
The Dirkon paper camera (templates)
Making 35mm film-can pinhole cameras (Stewart Lewis Woodruff)
Film canister pinhole camera
How to build a matchbox pinhole camera (alspix)
Matchbox pinhole camera (French)
Medium format pinhole cameras
Fabio Quadarella
Sandeha Lynch
120 Pinhole Camera (Jim Varnum)
Modular 6 x 9 camera
Pinhole cameras for 120 roll film (and 35 mm film)
Pinhole cameras for 120 roll film backs
Pinhole camera for 120 roll film back
Pinhole camera for 120 roll film back
"PinZIN" - My Pinhole Folding Camera (Veija Vilva)
Robert Kosara's Loch-Lomo camera
6 x 9 shift camera
Large format pinhole cameras
How to Build a 4 x 5" Pinhole Camera (Without lenses)
Pinhole camera (Christopher Schwarz, Popular Woodworking)
Making Foam Core 4 x 5 Pinhole Cameras
Lochkamera zum Selberbauen (in German)
Beautiful wooden 4 x 5 cameras
4 x 5 camera
8 x 10 Pinhole View Camera Project
4 x 5 Pinhole Box Camera
B & J 4 x 5 Pinhole Camera
Réalisation d’une chambre sténopé 4 x 5 (in French)
Construction d'un sténopé grand format 4 x 5 (in French)
Panoramic pinhole cameras
A 6 x 16 Panoramic Pinhole Camera (Clint O’Connor)
Pinhole Panorama Camera
Pinhole Panoramic Camera (Ross Orr)
Four-port cookie tin panoramic camera (bradjudy)
Instructions and templates for the IPanorame camera (David Doler)
DIY High Capacity Panoramic Pinhole Camera
Large format panoramic camera (in Spanish)
Multiple pinhole and anamorphic cameras
Omniscope and other cameras
Steven Taft's anamorphic camera
Anamorphic camera (renon)
Anamorphic camera (Mark G)
Anamorphic camera (Polka)
Viewfinder for anamorphic camera (Andrew and igor_bryakilev)
Tony Taylor
Walter Crump
Ultra large pinhole cameras
Solar eclipse pinhole projector
Suitcase pinhole camera (1)
Suitcase pinhole camera (2)
Suitcase pinhole camera (3)
Trash can camera
Vera Lutter's shipping containers and other room-sized cameras
Van cameras
Catching Light: Making Cameras with Artist Jo Babcock
Günter Derleth's van camera (in German)
Thorsten Berndt's van camera (in German)
Cameratruck (Shaun Irving)
Camera obscuras with a lens
Instructions for building a camera obscura (Amateur Work Vol. IV)
How to build a camera obscura (Åke Hultman)
Camera oscura – invenzione di madre natura (Gino Mazzanobile & Stefano Fedele, in Italian)
Instructions for building a camera obscura (Eivind Moe, in Norwegian)
Modern art tool camera obscuras and camera lucidas (Ancient Magic Art Tools)
The Sky in a Room (Giorgio Carboni)
Camera becomes image: Cameras made of photographic paper or other light sensitized material
Thomas Hudson Reeve's paper cameras
Ilan Wolff: Architecture in Paris
Other pinhole cameras
Ceramic pinhole cameras (Spot the Pot)
"The World's Largest Pinhole Photograph"
"The Smallest Camera In the World"
Garage becomes a camera
Pinhole camera in a tree
Terrence Dinnan and Dominique Stroobant, Earth Camera, 1980
Paolo Gioli, shell cam, 1986
PinHolo, Pine nut pinhole camera
Coconut pinhole camera
Pumpkin pinhole camera
Eric Renner's red pepper camera (Polish)
Pepper shaker pinhole camera
Lego pinhole camera
Pinhole photos of Ralph Howell's unusaul cameras
Francesco Capponi’s unusual cameras
Solar eclipse viewer (template)
Opening in the Berlin Wall (Marcus Kaiser, 1990)
Digital pinhole
Digital Pinhole / Photography without lens (Laszlo Kerekes)
Videos about camera construction
Weekend project: Make a pinhole camera (video in English)
Making a pinhole body cap (video in English)
Build a 4 x 5 pinhole camera (video in English)
Polaroid super shooter pinhole camera Conversion (video in English)
Medio Siglo: La cámara estenopeica (video in Spanish)
Gino Mazzanobile: La fotografia stenopeica (video in Italian) After this, rather long, list of pinhole camera links it may be in place to remind the reader that pinhole images – like other photos – in the final analysis are made not by the camera but by the photographer. Very simple cameras may produce great images, as for instance this pinhole photo, which was made with a matchbox camera by a Polish photographer.

Formulas
According to Eric Renner at least 50 charts suggesting optimal pinhole diameters have been devised in the last 125 years (Renner 1995:118). In my own reading the last fifteen years I have come across about fifteen charts or formulas, a few of which may be derived from the same basic formulas. It should be noted that the diameter of the pinhole is not really critical. But for every focal length there is an "optimal" diameter, i.e. a diameter which produces the sharpest possible image.
The word optimal actually is not a felicitous term, since the pinhole photographer or artist may not be striving for the greatest possible sharpness. There are beautiful pinhole images which are intentionally softer than what is technically possible. A good pinhole image is something else than a blurred, out of focus, lens image.
Up to a certain point a small pinhole will produce a sharper image than a larger one. If the pinhole is too small, the image gets less sharp because of diffraction. The hole should be perfectly round, without ragged edges. It may be checked with a magnifier or an enlarger.Joseph Petzval of Vienna apparently was the first, in 1857, to attempt to find a mathematical formula of the optimal pinhole diameter for the sharpest definition in a pinhole image. The British Nobel Prize winner Lord Rayleigh (John William Strutt, 1842–1919) worked on pinhole diameter formulas for ten years and published his work in Nature (1891). Lord Rayleigh's formula is still one of the formulas used to today. A number of others have been published since the 1880s.
Lord Rayleigh's formula for subject distances above 1 meter may be written as follows:d = 1.9 * sqrt (l * f),where d = pinhole diameter, l = wavelength of light and f = focal length or distance from pinhole to light-sensitive material.
For the wavelength of light different average values may be substituted. Often the value of the yellow-green spectrum is used, i.e. 0.00055 mm.
According to Renner (1995: 117) most formulas used today are of the following general form:
r = sqrt (l * c * f)
r = pinhole radiusl = wavelength of lightc = a constant, usually a decimal fraction between 0.5 and 1f = focal length
Platt (1989:73) provides the following optimal pinhole formula:d x d = f/k, where k is a constant of approx. 1300
Dobson (1991) provides this formula:d = sqrt (f)/25
Lord Rayleigh's formula and those published by Platt and Dobson all give somewhat different results. Andrew Davidhazy of the Rochester Institute of Technology lists several other formulas in a posting on the net.
Four, slightly different, charts of optimal pinhole diameters are reproduced below. Some of the charts have been simplified by leaving out references to needle numbers. Holter's chart, published in Norwegian, has been translated by me. Platt's chart differs from the others by consistently giving smaller apertures.
It should be borne in mind that for most purposes the diameter is not really critical, as the different values in the charts above may demonstrate.
Larry Fratkin's Online Pinhole Calculators
David Balihar's PinholeDesigner for Windows
Concept House's PinholeCalc for Macintosh OS X
The Pinhole FAQ (available in many languages)
Exposure calculator discs (rahji.com)

Postscript
Photographers photograph in varying degree for (a) the experience or for (b) the images. When you photograph for the experience, the emphasis is on the process itself – the pleasure of the making a pinhole camera, the pleasure of planning pictures, and the pleasure of making pictures with a simple device. When you photograph for the images, the emphasis is mainly on the result. The pinhole camera is basically an imaging device with potentials which other cameras or techniques do not possess, e.g. softness of definition, infinite depth of field, rectilinearity.In photography certain subjects may be better suited for a particular technique than others. Photojournalists, for example, normally use 35 mm SLRs in their work. Portrait photographers often use medium format cameras. Architecture is best rendered by large format cameras. Also in pinhole photography some subjects are better suited than others. Long exposures exclude certain subjects, softness of definition exclude others. Infinite depth of field and rectilinear ultra wide-angle images represent a special potential.
Beginners should start with subjects with clear graphic shapes or bright colors in sunlight. Cityscapes tend to make better pictures than rural landscapes with their soft lines and softer shades of color or grey tones – at least for the beginning pinhole photographer. Portraits may prove slightly more difficult than still lifes, objects, structures, buildings and cityscapes.
Note:[1] English translation: "If the facade of a building, or a place, or a landscape is illuminated by the sun and a small hole is drilled in the wall of a room in a building facing this, which is not directly lighted by the sun, then all objects illuminated by the sun will send their images through this aperture and will appear, upside down, on the wall facing the hole". (Eder, 1945:39).

Literature History
- Aristotle. Problems. I. Books I-XXI. With an English translation by W. S. Hett, M.A. London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1936.
- Eder, Josef Maria. Geschichte der Photographie. Halle a. S: Verlag von Wilhelm Knapp, 1905. (Chapter Three: "Zur Geschichte der Camera obscura", pp. 26–38.
- Eder, Josef Maria. History of Photography. Transl. Edward Epstean. New York: Columbia University Press, 1945.
- Hammond, John H. The Camera Obscura. A Chronicle. Bristol: Adam Hilger Ltd., 1981. 182 pages. ISBN 0-85274-451-X.
- Renner, Eric. Pinhole Photography. Rediscovering a Historic Technique. Boston and London: Focal Press 1995. 176 pages. ISBN 0-240-80231-4. Third edition 2004, 272 pages, ISBN 0-240-80573-3. Fourth edition 2008, 272 pages, Pinhole Photography: From Historic Technique to Digital Application. ISBN 9780240810478 [Extracts from the second edition are available in Google Books.]

General (including cameras and formulas)
- Adams, Ansel. The Camera. Boston, Toronto, London: Little, Brown and Company 1991. pp. 3–6.

- Bogre, Michelle. "Pinhole Revival". Popular Photography, January 1988, pp. 46–53.

- Bogre, Michelle. "A Small Window of Opportunity. Pinhole Photography reappears after 50 years". American Photographer, December 1987, p. 18.

- Brenner, Paul. "Making your own Pinhole Camera". View Camera, July–August 1996, pp. 58–59.

- Brenner, Paul. "Pinhole Cameras". View Camera, September–October 1995, pp. 44–46.

- Chernewski, Anita. How-To Make Three corrugated 8 x 10 Pinhole Cameras: Wide-angle, Normal, Telephoto. The Pinhole Format Co. 1999. 16 pages. ISBN 0967914701.

- Clerc, L.P. Photography. Theory and Practice. London and New York: Focal Press 1972, pp. 61–62.
Die Lochkameras von Peter Olpe. Ausstellung in der Buchhandlung 'das Labyrinth', Basel/Nadelberg 17, 19. November 1992 bis 2. Januar 1993. Basel 1992. n.p.

- Dobson, Michael. "Pinhole Power". Amateur Photographer, 23 March 1991, pp. 52–53.

- Evans, John. "Custom Cameras. Spare Parts". Amateur Photographer, 9 December 1995, pp. 46–48.

- Evans, John. Adventures With Pinhole and Home-Made Cameras. Rotovision 2003. 144 pages. ISBN 2880467144

- Fuller, Tom. "The Pinhole Resource: At the Point of Lensless Photography". Camera and Darkroom, February 1992, pp. 44–49.

- Holst, Trond Kjetil. "Hvem trenger elektronikken?" Fotografi, 5, 1990, pp. 48–49. Oslo 1990.

- Holter, Tore. "Bygg ditt eget kamera av en kakeboks". Fotografi, 5, 1990, pp. 44–47. Oslo 1990.

- Howard, Dave. "Painless Pinhole. Small Format Photography Gets Off The Sidelines." Shutterbug, June 1998, pp. 42–48.

- Joseph, Cathy. "Through the Pinhole". Amateur Photographer, 8 January 1994, pp. 20–21.

- Langford, Michael. The Book of Special Effects Photography. New York: Alfred A. Knopf 1981. pp. 32–33 and 146.

- Laverrière, Sophie. Chasseur d'images. Paris: Editions Gallimard 1974. pp. 88–93.

- Laverrière, Sophie. Fotografering er gøy. Oslo: Gyldendal Norsk Forlag 1975. pp. 88–93. (Norwegian translation of the preceding.)

- Løberg, Morten M. "Polart Pinhole". Fotografi, 1, 2004, pp. 58–63. Oslo 2004.

- "Make a Pinhole Camera". Photography, August 1954, pp. 46–49 and 90–91.

- Martyn, Roger. "A Hole in One". Practical Photography, August 1992, pp. 58–61.

- Marzocchini, Vincenzo. La fotografia stenopeica in Italia. Storia tecnica estetica delle riprese stenoscopiche. Bologna: Clueb 2006. 127 pages. ISBN 88-491-2622-0

- Merz, Reinhard / Findeisen, Dieter. Fotografieren mit der selbstgebauten Lochkamera. Augustus Verlag 1997. ISBN: 3-8043-5112-3

- Olpe, Peter. Die Lochkamera. Funktion und Selbstbau. Lindemanns Verlag 1993. 48 pages. ISBN 3-928126-62-8

- Platt, Richard. The Professional Guide to Photo Data. Manchester: Mitchell Beazley, 1989. p. 73.

- Quinell, Justin. "Make your own 126 pinhole camera". Amateur Photographer, 8 january 1994, pp. 23.

- Renner, Eric. Pinhole Photography. Rediscovering a Historic Technique. Boston and London: Focal Press 1995. 176 pages. ISBN 0-240-80231-4. Third edition 2004, 272 pages, ISBN 0-240-80573-3. Fourth edition 2008, 272 pages, Pinhole Photography: From Historic Technique to Digital Application. ISBN 9780240810478

- Resnick, Mason and Wolff, Ilan. "Persistently Pinhole". Modern Photography's Film Guide, 1989, pp. 48–49 and 94.

- Schriever, J.B. Complete Self-Instructing Library Of Practical Photography. American School Of Art And Photography 1909. Part III: Volume 3 Chapter XXV Pin-Hole Photography

- Shull, Jim. The Hole Thing. A manual of Pinhole Photography. New York: Morgan & Morgan, 1974. 64 pages.

- Shull, Jim.The Beginner's Guide to Pinhole Photography. Amherst Media. Inc., 1999. 80 pages. ISBN: 0-936-26270-2

- Smith, Lauren. The Visionary Pinhole. Salt Lake City: Gibbs M. Smith, Inc., Peregrine Smith Books, 1985.

- Talén, C.W. Amatørfotografen. Kristiania (Oslo): Steen'ske Bogtrykkeri og Forlag 1901. pp. 7–10.

- The Focal Encyclopedia of Photography. Desk Edition. London and New York: Focal Press, 1969. pp. 1124–1125.

- Voog, Geerlig. "Back to the basics. Drie Pinhole camera's van de Lensless Camera Manufacturing Company of Santa Barbara." Camera, 1, 1995, pp. 50–53.

- Wernersson, Mats. "Ta bilder utan objektiv". Aktuell fotografi, 5, 1993, pp. 60–62. Stockholm 1993.

- Wiklund, Peter. "Den hålögda kameran." Fotografi, 6, 1994, pp. 42–46. Helsingborg 1994.

- Young, Matt. "The Pinhole Camera, Imaging without Lenses or Mirrors." The Physics Teacher, December, 1989.

Images and Portfolios
- Bachler, Thomas. Arbeiten mit der Camera Obscura. Lindemanns Verlag 2001. 95 pages. ISBN 3-89506-222-7. Text in German and English.

- Derleth, Günter. Venice : Pinhole Camera Photographs. Zürich – New York: Edition Semmle 2000. 120 pages. ISBN 3-908163-21-8

- Die Lochkameras von Peter Olpe. Ausstellung in der Buchhandlung 'das Labyrinth', Basel/Nadelberg 17, 19. November 1992 bis 2. Januar 1993. Basel 1992. n.p.

- Ess, Barbara. I Am Not This Body. New York: Aperture 2001. 96 pages. ISBN 0-89381-936-0

- Fuss, Adam. Pinhole Photographs. Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1996. 64 pages. ISBN 1-56098-622-0.

- Galley, Jean-Michel et Elisabeth Towns. Le sténopé. De la photographie sans objectif. PhotoPoche, [Arles:] Actes sud 2007.n.p. ISBN 978-2-7427-7015-1.

- Jasud, Lawrence. "Tom Harding - Through a Pinhole Brightly". View Camera, September–October 1995, pp. 4–8.

- Johnson, Lizabeth A. "Rebecca Sexton Larson – Visual Diaries". View Camera, September–October 1995, pp. 22–28.

- Knuchel, Hans. Camera obscura. Baden: Verlag Lars Müller 1992. 72 pages. ISBN 3-9067700-49-6

- Kuzmickas, Darius. Ocean Pinholes. Las Vegas: KuDa Editions 2006. 36 pages. ISBN 0-9778959-1-2

- Levinson, Edward. Timescapes Japan : A Pinhole Journey. Nippon Camera Publishing Co 2006. 108 pages. ISBN 4-8179-2098-X C0072

- Morell, Abelardo. Camera Obscura. New York – Boston: Bulfinch Press 2004. 112 pages. ISBN 0-8212-7751-0

- Renner, Eric. Pinhole Photography. Rediscovering a Historic Technique. Boston and London: Focal Press 1995. 176 pages. ISBN 0-240-80231-4. Third edition 2004, 272 pages, ISBN 0-240-80573-3. Fourth edition 2008, 272 pages, Pinhole Photography: From Historic Technique to Digital Application. ISBN 9780240810478

-Schröder, Hartmuth. Der Besucher. Magister Hölderlin baut sich eine Lochkamera und macht eine Spazierfahrt in die Zukunft oder Liebst Hölderlin, magst' weiterziehen? Hannover: Hartmuth Schöder 1993. n.p.

- Seeberg, Mikkel. Italien – Udvalgte byer. Italy – Selected cities. Denmark: Forlaget 191, 2005. 60 pages. ISBN 87-991-0530-6

- Smith, Lauren. The Visionary Pinhole. Salt Lake City: Gibbs M. Smith, Inc., Peregrine Smith Books, 1985.

- White, Garrett. "Yasu Suzuka. The Horizon of Time". Camera and Darkroom, June 1992, pp. 34–39.

- Wolff, Ilan. Camera obscura. San Sebastian: Kutxa fundazio / Fundación Kutxa 2008. 144 pages. ISBN 978-84-7173-516-4. Text in Basque, Spanish, French and English.

- Zwichenzeit. Camera obscura im Dialog. 20 Fotograf/innen und 7 Textautor/innen äussern sich zum Thema Lochkamera. Siegen 1993. 125 pages. ISBN 3-928126-60-1

[Copyright By Jon Grepstad - Pinhole Photography – History, Images, Cameras, Formulas]

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