‘Ere, who pinched the lens?🤔😎

[Ralph Turner]

It seemed decidedly sacrilegious, setting-to on a camera with an angle grinder…
Well, I’d seen other folks converting old folders into wide angle pinhole cameras, so I fancied having a go. This old Ensign 4-20 was in poor shape, very grubby with a dodgy bellows and dead shutter. It had been given to me in a box with other old has-beens, so seemed like an ideal candidate for modification. The front cover will be sealed shut, the remaining light leaks sealed off and the inner surfaces sprayed matt black. I’ll then drill a suitable sized hole in the cover to mount a pinhole and fit simple ‘shutter’, possibly mounting the latter to the threaded accessory tripod bush adjacent to the pinhole. The focal length will be around 38-40mm, around 16-17mm equivalent in 35mm if I’ve figured it right. I look forward to using it when I eventually finish it

 

[Chris Bennett]

What a great idea!
I converted an old M42 teleconverter into a pinhole lens a while back, which was fun.

 

[Brian Moore]

I'm looking forward to seeing the results.

 

[Pete Askew]

What an interesting project. Will you be able to retaining the folding front cover?

 

[Ralph Turner]

I can’t claim credit for the idea. My inspiration came from an article by Mike Connealy: https://connealy.blogspot.com/2022/12/coming-home-to-pinhole.html.
@Chris Bennett that teleconverter sounds interesting. The only pinholing I’ve done so far was with another converted folder, an old Certix. With that I just removed the glass and dropped a pinhole in it’s place, so I didn’t need another shutter. It gives a similar angle of view to the lens as was and works ok apart from a small light leak. I’ve also got a body cap pinhole for my Canon 6D which works well and deserves more attention from me.

 

[Ralph Turner]

@Pete Askew yes, the hinged cover will remain, the pinhole mounted on it, either on the front face or internally, not yet decided. I’m also hoping to keep the little ‘leg’ that folds out on the front, making it light tight. It’ll serve no purpose other than as a little ‘Ensign’ badge. I’ll have to see how it goes with that one.

 

[Chris Bennett]

...that teleconverter sounds interesting.

I took the glass out of the teleconverter and found a lens cap that fitted over the barrel. Drilled a 1/4" hole in it and then placed an aluminium foil disc made from a yoghurt pot(!) behind the hole. That way, I was able to fine tune the hole size with ease. The converter was a minor item amongst a job lot of stuff I bought on Ebay. The brand and model name were appropriate to me - it was 'The Bennett's Tele-X-tender'.

 

[Ralph Turner]

I took the glass out of the teleconverter and found a lens cap that fitted over the barrel. Drilled a 1/4" hole in it and then placed an aluminium foil disc made from a yoghurt pot(!) behind the hole. That way, I was able to fine tune the hole size with ease. The converter was a minor item amongst a job lot of stuff I bought on Ebay. The brand and model name were appropriate to me - it was 'The Bennett's Tele-X-tender'.

Very appropriate!

 

[Chris Bennett]

I'm very interested to see how you progress with this project with the Ensign. Just the kind of foolishness I love to do myself!

 

[Pete Askew]

I think it could be time to resurrect the DIY camera theme!

DIY Camera Challenge!

Since we have now closed the Cheap as Chips Challenge I thought I would start another one ... A hard one! For this challenge the camera or lens has to be home made!! That I imagine sounds pretty daunting? Well dont let it be, the simplest option is to make a pin hole lens for an slr! this...

realphotographersforum.com

Large Format, Paper Negative, DIY Camera Project

In response to Hamish's DIY camera challenge I decided to build a simple large format camera, similar in design to some of the early 19th century designs. I'd thought first of making it out of wood but with sheet plastic material I can do it in the studio without making too much mess. I was...

realphotographersforum.com

Go on, you know you want to!

 

[Ralph Turner]

I'm very interested to see how you progress with this project with the Ensign. Just the kind of foolishness I love to do myself!

It’s a funny thing, I don’t do a huge amount of fiddling and fettling of this nature, but every now and then, when something grabs my imagination.. I adapted my old Durst enlarger and made a copy stand out of it in order to facilitate camera scanning. I managed to do it in such a way that no mod was irreversible - couldn’t bring myself to permanently change it even though for various reasons I’m not likely to ever go back to the darkroom.

 

[Ralph Turner]

Nearly there. Waiting for the goo to cure (decorators caulk) in the gaps. 0.3mm pinhole in place (just taped in place for now until I know it works ok). I made it out of one of the internal hinged 6x4.5 baffles which is conveniently made of thin brass shim. Just need to run a roll through it now. For the time being I'll use a bit of tape over the pinhole as a 'shutter'. Might make something pivoting to fit under the spare tripod mount.

 

[Ralph Turner]

Shutter fitted, made out of an old bit of 2mm aluminium I found in the shed, the 1/4" unc pivot bolt was found in a bits box. Not the prettiest fixing, but it'll do, at least it's the right size.
Hadn't realised until today that it's Worldwide Pinhole Day tomorrow. Looks like I might be just in time

 

[Ralph Turner]

First few from the Ensign Pinhole. It would seem that, although I checked for light leaks prior to loading up a roll, there was a small but significant one I missed. The sealant around the hinged 'Ensign' logo/support leg on what was the front cover was insufficient. Something easily rectifiable for next time. The flower pot and excavator shots were redeemable in photoshop, the flowers/door image gives a better idea of the leak.

 

[Stevenson Gawen]

Very nice actually what sort of exposure times do you need?

 

[Ralph Turner]

Very nice actually what sort of exposure times do you need?

Thanks, Steve, much appreciated. In direct sun, typically half to one second. The first two under light cloud were about three seconds, allowing for reciprocity failure. One or two images (not shown here) were in open shade and were around 7-8 seconds (4 sec metered). Not overly precise, as I was counting in my head "one one thousand, two one thousand....". Maybe next time, once the leak is fixed, I'll actually use the clock on my phone or something

 

[Gianluca Drago]

I really like the 5260 with the bulldozer. It must be my childish soul surfacing.

 

[Ralph Turner]

I really like the 5260 with the bulldozer. It must be my childish soul surfacing.

Thanks, Gianluca. For some reason I had a real fascination with excavators when I was a child. Don't know why, just one of those things, I guess. When I was still in normal full-time employment (maintenance engineer) I finally got to use one. The firm I worked at needed a big hole dug to sink a large plastic holding tank into so they let me loose with a smaller one of these. Never used one before and the required 1.5 metre deep pit was right next to a wooden structured part of the factory. Great fun. Somehow I got the hole dug without knocking anything down.

 

[Gianluca Drago]

Sometimes in life dreams come true. Unfortunately for me it was not the same, I never got to drive an excavator.

 

[Ralph Turner]

Sometimes in life dreams come true. Unfortunately for me it was not the same, I never got to drive an excavator.

Well, as they say, "never say never"...