FRANK QUIMBY

PINHOLE CAMERAS

 

A variety of pinhole cameras have been used to make the photographs displayed on this website. Most are hand-made or adapted from existing cameras. I have used only one commercially made pinhole camera that was manufactured in China. Most of the images in the Mission Project and the Southwest section were made on large format film with a modified 4x5 camera. Others were in the 2x3 format with a camera that I made that uses roll film. On occasion, I have used a camera made from a large hat box and film cut to the 5 1/2" x 11" size.

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In my most recent work (including the Lynn Museum Project), I moved into the digital age and built a camera around a Leaf Aptus medium format digital back. I had experimented with various 35mm full-frame and cropped sensor cameras with pinholes, but was never satisfied with the results. The medium format digital back has performed to my satisfaction with one major exception: the length of the exposure is limited to 30 seconds. Many times this is not long enough exposure for some things that I photograph. There are other digital backs that allow for very long exposures, but the price range is outside of my budget. So, yes, I have yielded to the lure of the digital age and the convenience of the immediate image.