I have been experimenting with panoramic photography for the last few weeks and I wanted to share some of the things I have learned and offer some tips for anyone wanting to learn how to take panoramic photos. This isn’t a comprehensive panorama tutorial, but it should cover the basics and point you in the direction of panoramic websites where you can learn more.

Panoramic photography can be breathtaking. Even really wide angle lenses can’t come close to showing the range of view that you can get with a true panorama. The shot at the top of this page shows a 360 degree panoramic shot. Another method is to take a 360 degree shot by 180 degrees that results in a complete view of your surroundings. Once you have a 360×180 image there are some really interesting things you can do with them. For example, the shot to the right demonstrates a stereographic projection that is created from a panorama. Anther applications for a panorama include Quicktime VR’s which allow you to scroll up, down, and around the image as if you were standing in that spot. So how do you create panoramic photos?

Step 1: Taking the Photos

The first thing you need to know about panoramic photography is that it usually involves taking multiple photos and “stitching” them together into a single shot. While there are expensive cameras with swinging lenses, most panorama photos are made with ordinary cameras. You take lots of photos until you have taken a photo of your complete surroundings. Rather than just going crazy shooting photos in every direction it is a good idea to use a system that will make it easy to assemble the photos later.

In order to improve your chances of having images that will work optimally for stitching together you should definitely consider purchasing a high quality tripod. It is possible to hand hold your camera, but this really increases your chances of having images that don’t stitch together nicely. A normal tripod should work well for single row 360 degree shots. If you are taking multiple row, 360×180 shots you should consider purchasing a panoramic head.

A panoramic tripod head will allow you to move your camera in specific increments until you have completed the full 360. Each photo you take should overlap the shot you took previously. The overlap is important because this redundant data is what the software will use to stitch the photos together later. With my Panasonic Lumix LX3 (which has a pretty wide lens) I can capture a 360×180 degree image by taking 38 photos. That translates into 3 rows of 12 images and a photo for the ground and another photo of the sky straight above. I use the markings on my tripod to know how to turn the camera 30 degrees.

A panoramic tripod head can be an expensive investment. The Nodal Ninja tripod heads get great praise, but they are cost hundreds of dollars. A cheaper option is the Panosaurus that costs about $80. If you are the do-it-yourself type like me, you can build your own. I had some old tripod parts lying around so I decided to build my own panoramic tripod head.

The photo below shows my DIY panoramic tripod head.

This looks intimidating, but once you understand how a panoramic head works it isn’t that bad. The purpose of the head is to position your camera so that the “nodal point” of the camera stays in the same place no matter which direction the camera is pointing. What is a nodal point you ask? You can read the technical definition on wikipedia, but in general terms, this is the point of the camera lens that your camera will rotate around to produce images that aren’t distorted. If you simply rotate a normal tripod the nodal point will be different for each shot causing distortion. You can find the nodal point of your lens following the tutorial here. Don’t obsess over this, because as long as you are close you should be in good shape. Most likely, the nodal point of your camera is towards the front of the lens. There is a good thread on Flickr where you can see a bunch of DIY panoramic tripod heads that should give you some inspiration.

Step 2: Stitching the Photos Together

Once you have the photos taken it is time to create the panorama. Stitching multiple photos together presents some challenges. First of all you need some software. I use Hugin because it is free and has some advanced features. I haven’t used any of the other panorama photo stitcher software options out there, but search the internet and you should be able to see some of the other options out there.

Before you commit to learning Hugin, I should warn you that it wasn’t very easy to get it working for me. I am on a Mac running Snow Leopard and it took some work getting it installed and running. I ended up using MacPorts to help install the autopano-sift-c software required to run Hugin.

Once I had Hugin installed, learning Hugin presented its own challenges. I am the kind of person that jumps right into software without much training, so if you follow some tutorials online you might pick it up quicker than I did. Check out the Hugin Flickr group for additional info.

I hope this post was enough to get you interested in panoramic photography. There are plenty of great resources online if you are looking for more information. My advice would be to join Flickr and plug in to the many groups and passionate users creating panoramic images. There are lots of tutorials on Flickr and most people are more than willing to help out other photographers. Good luck!

There are plenty of articles online praising the technical prowess of this camera praising it as a point-and-shoot that can compete with an SLR. The only other camera that might give the LX a run for its money is the Canon G10. So rather than rehash the technical specs of the Panasonic Lumix LX3 I thought I would throw out some ideas that might get you thinking how to “hack” this camera to create non-traditional digital photos. If you have some ideas of your own, please add them in the comments.

1. Long Exposures Switch the Panasonic Lumix LX3 over to manual mode and you can control the shutter speed. Try it at night, or in situations where a long exposure can give you unexpected results.

2. Multiple Exposures The Panasonic Lumix LX3 allows you to create multiple exposures in camera. You have to scroll through some menus to get to this setting, but it can give you some really fun and interesting results.

3. Street photography The LX3 is small and quiet so it is a great camera for street photography. Some times I like to “shoot from the hip” and take photos by just pointing the camera in someone’s general direction and snapping a shot. Every once in a while this technique can create some real gems.

4. Manual Focus You paid good money for the fancy focusing technology of the Panasonic Lumix LX3, but why not turn it off? The manual focus of this camera is another way to get back to basics with your camera. Or add some creative blur to your shots.

5. Macro It’s amazing how much things change when you get really close to them. The macro ability of the Panasonic LX3 is pretty impressive and opens a whole new world of possibilities.

6. Black and white I find that unless color really adds something to a photo, I typically prefer the image in black and white. Why not save yourself the trouble of converting to black and white in Photoshop later and shoot in black and white mode. Another advantage of shooting in b&w is that it puts you in a different mind set. I feel like I am looking at the world differently when I have black and white film in my camera.

I hope you found these ideas inspiring. As always, follow me on Flickr if you are curious about what my latest work.

Here are some of the auctions for Panasonic Lumix LX3 cameras and accessories on Ebay that you might be interested in:

Soft Case for PANASONIC LUMIX DMC-LX3 Digital Camera

US $10.99 End Date: Wednesday Feb-08-2012 8:23:24 PST Buy It Now for only: US $10.99 Buy it now | Add to watch list

Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3 with Enhanced CCD

US $175.00 (0 Bid) End Date: Wednesday Feb-08-2012 14:34:35 PST Bid now | Add to watch list

DMW-BCC12 Battery + Charger fit PANASONIC Lumix DMC-LX3 CGA-S005 CGA-S005E

US $9.99 (0 Bid) End Date: Wednesday Feb-08-2012 17:46:55 PST Bid now | Add to watch list

USB Cable for Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3 DMC-LZ1 DMC-FX580

US $1.98 End Date: Wednesday Feb-08-2012 20:14:13 PST Buy It Now for only: US $1.98 Buy it now | Add to watch list

2X CGA-S005 Battery for Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX2 DMC-LX3

US $7.49 End Date: Thursday Feb-09-2012 9:59:42 PST Buy It Now for only: US $7.49 Buy it now | Add to watch list

52mm Flower Lens Hood+UV Ultra Violet Filter for Panasonic Lumix DMC LX5 LX3 G2

US $5.69 End Date: Thursday Feb-09-2012 13:58:19 PST Buy It Now for only: US $5.69 Buy it now | Add to watch list

Camera Bag Case for Panasonic Lumix DMC LX3 FZ28 FX150

US $3.63 End Date: Thursday Feb-09-2012 14:32:22 PST Buy It Now for only: US $3.63 Buy it now | Add to watch list

USB Cable for Panasonic Lumix DMC LS1 LS2 LX1 LX2 LX3

US $5.99 End Date: Thursday Feb-09-2012 17:55:51 PST Buy It Now for only: US $5.99 Buy it now | Add to watch list

SELF-RETAINING AUTO LENS CAP FOR PANASONIC LUMIX LX3

US $11.87 (0 Bid) End Date: Thursday Feb-09-2012 18:45:29 PST Buy It Now for only: US $13.11 Bid now | Buy it now | Add to watch list

US Panasonic Lumix LX2 LX3 EVER READY CAMERA CASE BAG

US $25.99 End Date: Thursday Feb-09-2012 19:36:06 PST Buy It Now for only: US $25.99 Buy it now | Add to watch list

The Hanft family finally joined the rest of the world and got cell phones. I guess I should say I joined the rest of the world since Betsy has had a cell phone for years now. I did my research before making my purchase and wanted to get a good camera phone. I decided on the Sony Ericsson w810i. In addition to one of the best mp3 players on the market, this phone has (by cell phone standards) a terrific camera built in.

At two megapixels, the Sony Ericsson w810i may be at the low end of the camera market, but it is at the high end of the phone market. Two megapixels translates to about a 5×7 print at 300dpi, and you could probably stretch it to 8×10 if you really needed a big print. As you can imagine, you have to accept some limitations with a camera in a phone, but I have to say that I was impressed beyond my low expectations. In low light it was somewhat grainy, but still acceptable. In macro situations in performs wonderfully. The lens is a bit too wide so you have to get in close if you want your subject to fill the frame.

The camera is actully pretty full of features. It has auto focus, a self-portrait mirror, a light, self-timer, macro mode, effects (black and white, sepia, negative, solarize), white balance, different shutter sounds, and white balance. It has video mode for small video. It uses a removable memory card. I use a 4gb card (mainly for music storage) so there is plenty of room for photos. You can even change the shutter sound if you want a different click.

One fun feature of this camera is panoramic mode. Unlike the crappy cropping panoramic cameras of the past, this feature actually requires you to take three photos and the camera will stitch them together for you. Here is a quick example:

This is my basement, and the camera is hand held in this low light situation. You can see the slight double image at the one third mark next to the camera case due to me not lining up the second shot with the camera’s preview of the first image. You can click on the image above for a full resolution version. I didn’t correct anything, so this gives you an idea of what you will get straight out of the phone.

The biggest benefit of having this camera phone is that you always have a camera with you. The picture quality of most phone cameras is almost worthless, so if you plan on using the photos taken on your camera, get something decent. Right now the Sony Ericsson w810i is one of the best on the market.

Here are some of the auctions on Ebay for Sony Ericsson s810i that you might be interested in:

Battery for Sony Ericsson W710i W800i W810i W550i Phone

US $6.99 (0 Bid) End Date: Wednesday Feb-08-2012 8:49:42 PST Buy It Now for only: US $7.99 Bid now | Buy it now | Add to watch list

For ATT Sony Ericsson W810 USB Data Sync Cable Link Tra

US $4.99 End Date: Wednesday Feb-08-2012 9:03:33 PST Buy It Now for only: US $4.99 Buy it now | Add to watch list

LCD Flex Flat Cable Ribbon for Sony Ericsson W810

US $10.35 End Date: Wednesday Feb-08-2012 10:10:59 PST Buy It Now for only: US $10.35 Buy it now | Add to watch list

Battery for Sony Ericsson W710i W800i W810i W550i Phone

US $6.99 (0 Bid) End Date: Wednesday Feb-08-2012 13:01:48 PST Buy It Now for only: US $7.99 Bid now | Buy it now | Add to watch list

For ATT Sony Ericsson W810 Car Charger+Mount Holder Suc

US $10.99 End Date: Wednesday Feb-08-2012 13:15:19 PST Buy It Now for only: US $10.99 Buy it now | Add to watch list

RUBBER BLUE HARD CASE COVER 4 SONY ERICSSON W810 W 810

US $4.99 End Date: Wednesday Feb-08-2012 13:38:27 PST Buy It Now for only: US $4.99 Buy it now | Add to watch list

Battery for Sony Ericsson W710i W800i W810i W550i Phone

US $6.99 (0 Bid) End Date: Wednesday Feb-08-2012 14:11:00 PST Buy It Now for only: US $7.99 Bid now | Buy it now | Add to watch list

SONY ERICSSON CELLPHONE BATTERY BST-37 W800 W810 Z300 2520 K610 W350 K750 Z710

US $5.99 End Date: Wednesday Feb-08-2012 14:52:25 PST Buy It Now for only: US $5.99 Buy it now | Add to watch list

10 LOT SONY ERICSSON BST-37 CELLULAR PHONE BATTERY W800 W550 W600 W800 W810 Z750

US $40.99 End Date: Wednesday Feb-08-2012 15:03:15 PST Buy It Now for only: US $40.99 Buy it now | Add to watch list

2x NEW Car Charger for ATT Sony Ericsson w350 w550 w810

US $0.99 (0 Bid) End Date: Wednesday Feb-08-2012 16:42:15 PST Buy It Now for only: US $1.99 Bid now | Buy it now | Add to watch list

Ebay is a great place to shop for the Canon EOS 5D. Here’s what is on Ebay right now:

LP-E6 Battery LPE6 Pack for Canon EOS 5D Mark II 7D 60D Camera

US $7.99 (0 Bid) End Date: Wednesday Feb-08-2012 5:09:03 PST Buy It Now for only: US $8.99 Bid now | Buy it now | Add to watch list

BP-511 Battery Charger+Neck Strap For Canon EOS 50D 5D

US $9.49 End Date: Wednesday Feb-08-2012 5:30:41 PST Buy It Now for only: US $9.49 Buy it now | Add to watch list

TWO Battery for Canon EOS 20D 30D 40D 5D 10D 50D BP-511

US $12.14 (0 Bid) End Date: Wednesday Feb-08-2012 6:08:45 PST Buy It Now for only: US $13.36 Bid now | Buy it now | Add to watch list

Canon EOS 5D Mark II 21.1 MP Digital SLR Camera - Black (Kit w/ EF 24-105mm...

US $2,490.00 (4 Bids) End Date: Wednesday Feb-08-2012 6:12:12 PST Bid now | Add to watch list

NEW 58mm 2x TELEPHOTO LENS Zoom for Canon EOS Rebel 1100D 600D 60D 50D 7D 5D EF

US $24.99 (0 Bid) End Date: Wednesday Feb-08-2012 6:19:04 PST Bid now | Add to watch list

3.6X TELEPHOTO LENS FOR CANON EOS 5D REBEL XT XTI XSI

US $59.99 End Date: Wednesday Feb-08-2012 6:35:43 PST Buy It Now for only: US $59.99 Buy it now | Add to watch list

Hot Shoe Cover Cap For Canon EOS 7D 5D 450D Rebel XSi

US $2.83 End Date: Wednesday Feb-08-2012 6:50:31 PST Buy It Now for only: US $2.83 Buy it now | Add to watch list

2x LP-E6 LPE6 Battery+Charger+Hand Waist Strap For Canon EOS 7D 60D 5D Mark II

US $20.89 (0 Bid) End Date: Wednesday Feb-08-2012 6:52:12 PST Buy It Now for only: US $22.99 Bid now | Buy it now | Add to watch list

Battery Grip B7I for Canon EOS 5D Mark II BG-E6 Camera

US $36.99 End Date: Wednesday Feb-08-2012 6:57:14 PST Buy It Now for only: US $36.99 Buy it now | Add to watch list

Canon ACK-E6 AC Adapter Kit for EOS 5D Mark II

US $119.88 End Date: Wednesday Feb-08-2012 7:11:08 PST Buy It Now for only: US $119.88 Buy it now | Add to watch list

I got Philips’ keychain digital camera for Christmas. I think it cost about $20, and surely was a tempting stocking stuffer last Christmas. While it may be a nice little camera for my collection, I can’t say it is a great performer. Here are some of my criticism of the keychain camera…

Image Quality Unfortunately, the image is very small. The “high resolution” setting is onlu 352 x 288 pixels, barely large enough for a web image. In low light (indoor light) you get horizontal lines accross the images.

Software Another complaint is that the camera forces you to use Availasoft software to download the pictures from the camera. Like most cheap software packages, it tries to install other programs on your machine like a photo album. On the bright side, the software (called MyCam CIF) allows you to control the camera directly from the software. This allows you to preview what the camera sees on screen. You can capture a frame, and even shoot in video mode this way.

Interface Since you don’t have a screen to view the images on, you are really shooting blind. There is a tiny screen that shows two letters that you use to figure out what you are doing. The abbreviations aren’t very intuitive, and unless you carry around the handbook or have a great memory, you don’t know what they stand for. For example, CA means delete all images. To make matters worse, sometimes it doesn’t even dislplay letters. For self timer mode, it uses an “S” and a letter that is a capital E without the top bar. Confusing to say the least.

Viewfinder Probably the biggest disappointment of this camera was the viewfinder. In trying to get an image to accompany this review, I had to take many photos of the same subject matter because, what I was seeing through the viewfinder wasn’t what got photographed. It was so off that I would have swore the camera wasn’t even pointing in the right direction. Here is a sample image from Philips Keychain Digital Camera:

In conclusion, this camera gets a thumbs down from me. Maybe I am being a little hard on a camera that is just meant to fit on your keychain, but the image quality and serious usability flaws make it not worth the trouble. The only way I could see this camera having any value is when it is plugged into a computer. It could be a treasure for anyone interested in making low quality video.

UPDATE: Due to the inferior nature of this product, there are lots of people that are frustrated with it. This post is one of the few places online that talk about this camera, so consequently it is towards the top of the Google results. If you found this entry by a Google search looking for support, I can’t help you. My advice is to buy a better camera. However, there are several kind people that have left comments here offering help. Please read all the comments for more support oriented questions. Sorry I can’t be more help than that, and I wish you luck if you are trying to make this piece of junk work…

Ebay is a great place to shop for miniature cameras. Here’s what is on Ebay right now:

dollhouse miniature KODAK CAMERA WITH FILM PICTURE NEW

US $9.99 End Date: Wednesday Feb-08-2012 9:24:31 PST Buy It Now for only: US $9.99 Buy it now | Add to watch list

camera bag and miniature style bag/purse

US $15.00 (0 Bid) End Date: Wednesday Feb-08-2012 11:35:37 PST Bid now | Add to watch list

Vintage Bakelite Falcon Miniature Camera

US $6.50 (3 Bids) End Date: Wednesday Feb-08-2012 11:38:52 PST Bid now | Add to watch list

OLYMPUS XA2 XA-2 35MM MINIATURE FILM CAMERA CLEAN

US $80.99 End Date: Wednesday Feb-08-2012 12:32:31 PST Buy It Now for only: US $80.99 Buy it now | Add to watch list

KJB C1178 FLUSH-MOUNT MINIATURE STYLE WIRED CCD CAMERA

US $149.00 End Date: Wednesday Feb-08-2012 16:25:10 PST Buy It Now for only: US $149.00 Buy it now | Add to watch list

MINOLTA 16 II 16MM MINIATURE CAMERA IN CASE W /MANUAL

US $20.00 (0 Bid) End Date: Wednesday Feb-08-2012 17:15:03 PST Bid now | Add to watch list

Vintage Miniature Crystar Camera

US $5.24 (2 Bids) End Date: Wednesday Feb-08-2012 17:15:23 PST Bid now | Add to watch list

VINTAGE DALE & HIT MINIATURE CAMERAS IN LEATHER CASES

US $29.87 (6 Bids) End Date: Wednesday Feb-08-2012 18:04:30 PST Bid now | Add to watch list

Very ART DECO Miniature CRYSTAR PHOTO CAMERA w/ Leather Case & Box - SPY CAMERA

US $9.99 (1 Bid) End Date: Wednesday Feb-08-2012 18:42:57 PST Bid now | Add to watch list

Toy Camera – Cohen 38mm Miniature Toy Camera - Model 97A-B19

US $9.95 (0 Bid) End Date: Wednesday Feb-08-2012 18:51:02 PST Bid now | Add to watch list

Coolpix cameras are a great product line. I bought my Nikon Coolpix 5000 back when 5 megapixels was really a big deal. More recently, I picked up a used Coolpix 990 that I use almost exclusively for timelapse photography. I know it is terribly late to do a product review of these seemingly outdated cameras, but you might be surprised how much life these cameras have if you get a little creative…

Nikon Coolpix 5000 My favorite feature of this camera is the screen that turns and swivels. It allows you to view the screen at waste level, or almost any level. I remember how akward it was to not be looking through a viewfinder to take a picture. Now it is a luxury that I can’t live without.

The other thing that is great about the Nikon Coolpix 5000 is that you can control it completely manually if you want. For example, I override the shutter speed, aperture, focusing distance, noise reduction, and ISO when I am using it as a digital pinhole camera. Sometimes it is slow to scroll through the menus, especially if you don’t use it manually regularly, but the options are there if you need them.

Nikon makes a remote shutter release cable that gets terrible reviews. A better alternative to this high priced piece of garbage is to use Palm Pilot and a serial cable to control your camera. If that strikes your fancy, the previous link will give you more information.

Yeah, so the Coolpix 5000 has been a great camera for me. After a firmware update, the Nikon Coolpix 5000 can even take photos in Raw format.

Coolpix 990 Like I said, I use the Nikon Coolpix 990 almost exclusively for timelapse photography. I used to use my Palm Pilot in combination with The Force software for my timelapse. Due to a relatively short battery live of my Palm, I decided to buy a Digisnap from Harbortronics that can last a week on one battery. It was worth the money, and puts Nikon’s shutter release cable to shame.

Another necessity for making the Coolpix camera timelapse ready are power adapters. There are DC and AC adapters available online through Ebay, Amazon and others. I think I spent about $12 for my car adapter, and $25 for the AC adapter. Definitely worth the money if you plan on taking photos for any extended period of time.

The other accessory that I have for the Coolpix 990 is a wide angle lens. The WC-E63 was a bargain on Ebay for around $60. For fun, I have held this lens over the lens of my Coolpix 5000, and the results were surprisingly good. I think if I would have bought the wide angle lens for my Coolpix 5000 I could have bought an adapter that would work on the 990. Oh well.

If you are looking to buy an older Coolpix camera, you should be warned about hot pixels. Hot pixels are bright pink, blue, purple and green pixels that appear in dark areas of your picture. Most cameras suffer from hot pixels to varying degrees, but the older a camera is, the more prone to hot pixels they are.

You won’t hear a sales pitch from me about digital, but it is undeniable that the convenience of digital is very nice. I can’t vouch for the newer Coolpix models, but if they are anything like the 990 or 5000, it is a very worthy machine.

Ebay is my favorite place to find deals on great old cameras. Here are the Nikon Coolpix 5000 cameras on Ebay right now:

MH-61 EN-EL5 Charger for Nikon CoolPix P5000 P5100 P80 Home/Car New

US $10.99 End Date: Wednesday Feb-08-2012 6:48:38 PST Buy It Now for only: US $10.99 Buy it now | Add to watch list

Battery for NIKON EN-EL5 ENEL5 Coolpix P500 P100 7900 5900 5200 4200 3700 P5000

US $9.99 End Date: Wednesday Feb-08-2012 7:10:34 PST Buy It Now for only: US $9.99 Buy it now | Add to watch list

EN-EL1 Battery Charger For Nikon CoolPix 4300 4500 4800 5000 5400 + Car Adapter

US $5.39 End Date: Wednesday Feb-08-2012 8:35:51 PST Buy It Now for only: US $5.39 Buy it now | Add to watch list

Battery for NIKON EN-EL5 Coolpix P4 p5100 S10 P5000 P80 P90 P3 one year warranty

US $9.99 End Date: Wednesday Feb-08-2012 8:41:03 PST Buy It Now for only: US $9.99 Buy it now | Add to watch list

GGS LCD Optical Glass Screen Protector Pro DSLR for Nikon Coolpix P5000 P6000

US $7.95 End Date: Wednesday Feb-08-2012 8:49:17 PST Buy It Now for only: US $7.95 Buy it now | Add to watch list

GGS LCD Optical Glass Screen Protector Pro DSLR for Nikon Coolpix P5000 P6000

US $12.45 End Date: Wednesday Feb-08-2012 8:49:21 PST Buy It Now for only: US $12.45 Buy it now | Add to watch list

USB Cable For Nikon Coolpix L18 L19 L20 L100 P50 P80 P90 P5000 P6000 2200

US $2.99 (0 Bid) End Date: Wednesday Feb-08-2012 8:51:14 PST Buy It Now for only: US $3.30 Bid now | Buy it now | Add to watch list

EN-EL1 Battery Charger For Nikon CoolPix 4300 4500 4800 5000 5400

US $4.85 End Date: Wednesday Feb-08-2012 9:29:07 PST Buy It Now for only: US $4.85 Buy it now | Add to watch list

EN-EL5 Battery For Nikon Coolpix P5000 P5100 P80 P100

US $4.41 End Date: Wednesday Feb-08-2012 9:53:32 PST Buy It Now for only: US $4.41 Buy it now | Add to watch list

New Battery EN-EL1 for Nikon CoolPix 5000 5400 5700

US $16.99 End Date: Wednesday Feb-08-2012 10:08:57 PST Buy It Now for only: US $16.99 Buy it now | Add to watch list

First, let me explain how our digital pinhole camera is going to work. Just like a traditional pinhole camera, we have a lightproof box with a pinhole on one side. On the opposite side from the pinhole is a white wall where the light will be projected. Normally this wall would be where the photo paper or film would go. Since our camera is digital, we don’t have to worry about any photo sensitive material. By placing the camera inside our lightproof box we can take a picture of the image being projected onto the back wall of our pinhole camera. Now that we know how the camera is going to work, here are some tips to help you build your own digital pinhole camera.

Building Materials
If the walls of your camera aren’t very thick, light will leak through. My first camera was made of matte board which let light through during long exposures. To prevent this, I recommend covering your walls with aluminum tape. Because this tape is made of aluminum, light won’t pass through it. Make sure you cover the outside of your walls and not the inside. Your inside walls should always be black to prevent the light from reflecting in your box.

Focal Length
The distance from your pinhole to the back wall of your camera is the focal length. You can experiment with this distance, but I have found that 10-12 inches is ideal. Most digital cameras should be able to focus at this close range and it allows enough room for your camera to fit in the pinhole camera. Remember that the longer your focal length, the longer your exposures will have to be.

Making a Pinhole
You can make your pinhole in tin foil, but I recommend using aluminum from a soda can because it won’t get damaged as easily. Make a hole with a needle and then use a sander to open the hole to the desired width. If you want a very small hole, make a dimple in the aluminum with a pin but don’t puncture it. Sand on the bump until a hole is made. The size of the pinhole is very important. If it is too big, the image that is projected will be blurry. The smaller the size of the pinhole, the longer you will have to keep your shutter open. There are several online calculators that will tell you how big to make your pinhole. The distance from my pinhole to the back wall of the camera is 11 inches, and I find that a pinhole of 0.7mm is the ideal size.

Making a Preview Hole
Since the light entering the box through the pinhole isn’t bright enough to be seen on the screen of your digital camera, you are shooting blind. To help compose your shots, you can use a large hole to let enough light in that you will be able to see the image on your screen. A 0.25 inch hole will give you a very fuzzy image, but it is enough to allow you to roughly compose your shot.

Positioning the Digital Camera
It is important that the only light entering our box comes from the pinhole. Obviously if the camera is in the box, it is going to be hard to take a picture. The solution is to have the entire camera outside the box except for the lens. This allows us to have access to all the controls of the camera. The challenge is to create a hole that your lens will fit through that is tight enough that it won’t let light into our box. The best solution I found is to cut a circle in a piece of rubber (an innertube from an old bike tire works great) and use it to seal out the light. The connection should be tight enough that the digital camera is attached to the pinhole camera without any other attachments. If you are concerned that your digital camera will fall off, you could build a platform for it to rest on.

Since the lens of our digital camera can’t be in exactly the same place as the pinhole, we have to angle the camera slightly so that it is pointed at the projected image. This will cause some distortion, but it is minimal. The closer the lens is to the pinhole, the less the distortion will be. We want the lens of our digital camera to be as close to the pinhole as possible without blocking any of the light from coming through the camera. The red in the diagram below shows the place where you want to make sure your camera doesn’t enter.

Manual Settings On Your Digital Camera
The settings on your digital camera are very important. Your camera wasn’t designed to take pictures in a lightproof box, so we have to override the camera’s brain if we want to get a good picture. Depending on the type of digital camera you have, you may or may not be able to control these settings. I use a Nikon Coolpix 5000. This is a 5 megapixel camera with the ability to control many of the settings manually. Here are the settings you want to adjust, and why:

Focus
Focusing the camera can be difficult since your lens is enclosed in a dark box. Without any light, your camera will most likely not be able to focus at the correct distance. The Nikon Coolpix 5000 has manual focus controls that allow you to set the exact distance that it will focus on. If your camera has this feature, simply measure the distance from your lens to the back wall of your pinhole camera and set the camera to that distance. If your camera doesn’t let you set the focus distance manually, it will be almost impossible to get your pictures in focus. Since pinhole photos have a naturally blurred appearance, you might be able to live with your pictures being fuzzy.

Shutter Speed
We know that our exposure time is going to be long since we are taking a picture in a dark box. Obviously the light meter on your digital camera is not going to be able to give you a good reading, so just ignore it. On a bright day, you will typically have an exposure time of 30 seconds to over a minute. You will get better at guessing exposure times as you use your camera. If your camera doesn’t have the ability of taking long exposures, you can forget about making a digital pinhole camera.

The best way to take long exposures is with a remote shutter release cable. A shutter release cable lets you use the bulb mode of your camera without physically holding the button down on your camera. For the Nikon Coolpix cameras, the MC-EU1 cable is overpriced, and I recommend using a Palm Pilot to control the camera. You can learn more about that technique here.

Aperture
Manually set the aperture on your digital camera to the largest opening (the smallest f-stop) to let as much light in as possible.

Noise Reduction
If your camera has a noise reduction feature, you should definitely use it. Any time you are taking long exposures with a digital camera you are going to have to deal with hot pixels. Even with noise reduction on, you will still have hot pixels. There is software that can help with these annoying pixels, but I am still researching the best way to handle this problem. I will let you know when I have decided on the best solution.

File Formats
If your camera has the option, I recommend taking your cameras in RAW format. Unlike jpg and tiff formats, shooting in RAW format allows you to process the image later rather than applying the generic profile your camera assigns to the file. This prevents your camera from disregarding important photo data.

The Finished Digital Pinhole Camera
Here is a picture of the third design of my camera. I hope this was helpful to you. If you want to see some of my pinhole photography, I post them on www.foundphotography.com.

Originally published on Be A Design Group.