Panoramic Pinhole Camera

Exclusive to retro photographic, the ‘Panpin' Pinhole Camera is an amazing design which produces a 120 degree panoramic image on a standard 120 rollfilm. Each individual negative is 50 x 120mm (!), each film yielding 5 shots. The film is held in a circular plane, providing even illumination over the entire image and neatly avoids any kind of fall-off which can occur with flat-plane designs. The viewfinder is engineered to give a pretty accurate visual representation of the field of view.

The camera is fitted with two pinholes giving a selection of f/250 or f/100, the effective ‘focal length' is 55mm.

The shutter is manually operated and is fitted with a friction nut to hold it closed and to enable it to be held open for longer exposure times.

Exposure times are usually in the order of seconds and the camera is fitted with a standard tripod fitting although with its rubber feet it can just as conveniently be placed on a wall, fence or other steady object so you don't have to lug a tripod around to use it.

Film loading/unloading is performed in daylight, the transport mechanism ensuring a sufficiently tight wind on the spool to avoid fogging.

Each camera is hand made and is individually tested by the manufacturer by exposing a complete film. This test film is included with your camera. A comprehensive user guide is included.

Made in varnished Mahogany with brass fittings.

Palais Royal Gardens, Paris by Jean Luc Werpin

Noon Pinhole 5x4

The Noon Pinhole cameras are handmade in Poland from  Jatobá (Hymenaea courbaril), also known as Brazilian cherry,  a tree common to the Caribbean, Central, and South America and Brazil.  Fitted with a 0.3mm laser drilled pinhole individually microscopically examined for roundness,  the focal length is 50mm corresponding to a f number of about f/152.  Image capture angle is 116 degrees.    The camera accepts a standard Double Dark Slide in a rather unusually ingenious way: instead of a conventional slot, the DDS is placed in the back of the camera and held in position by a ribbed wooden dowel which slides down angled guides – push the dowel down firmly to hold the DDS against the light trap. Simple and effective.

Monochrom 6x9 Pinhole Camera

The Monochrom 6x9cm pinhole camera kit is an ingenious construction. Originally conceived as a university final year design project the result was so good the designers decided to bring it to market. The material is a very robust, high quality laminated cardboard, extremely strong. The 65mm ‘focal length’ is slightly wide-angle thus giving full 6x9cm negative coverage on a 120 roll film. The 0.3mm laser drilled pinhole results in an aperture of f/120 which yields astonishingly sharp images. Construction is reasonably straightforward – you do need to read the instructions carefully – all you need is some white glue and a handful of clothes pegs and some rubber bands – and can be completed in a couple of evenings.

Pinhole Photography Kit
This kit enables you to make a pinhole camera, take pictures with it and to process them without the need for a dedicated darkroom or specialist equipment - everything is in the kit. A complete kit to get you started with pinhole photography. Everything is there including chemicals. The kit consists of:

Wooden Pinhole Camera
Chemicals
Photographic Paper
Trays
Tweezers
Pin

Tortuga 5 Pinhole Camera

The Tortuga 5 pinhole camera is simply an amazing piece of engineering. The body is described by a polygon of 10 faces, allowing the placement of 5 pinholes, one on every other face. These pinhole openings produce 5 slightly overlapping images on a 120 rollfilm, the images being projected onto the film which is mounted centrally in the camera. With this arrangement, a coverage of 242° is possible.

Each pinhole has its own shutter mechanism so that any one of them can be operated at any one time, or all of the pinholes can be exposed simultaneously. There is a frame counter and a very useful slide rule type exposure calculator that allows the translation of light readings from a conventional meter to be transposed to the time required for the f /256 aperture of the pinholes.

The body of the camera is made from hard European plum wood and all the fittings are made from polished brass. The finish is to an extremely high standard and this highly unusual piece is sure to become a classic for the photographer and collector alike.

The Tortuga 5 is delivered complete and comes with full instructions on CD-ROM. As each camera is finished individually to order, please allow 3 weeks for delivery.

© photo: Luc Ewen 2004, AGFAPAN 100, 20 sec.