This camera came to me in a box of junk. The viewfinder was hanging off, and the taking lens was damaged. I initially put it to one side, but then wondered. Could I use the main body as a light-tight box for a 6×6 pinhole camera? The lens plate, with the lens removed, should be stable enough to attach a pinhole somehow. So I got to taking it apart. I removed what was left of the viewing lens and some of the elements. Then I removed the lens and shutter part. At this point, I left it all in a bag and waited for a pinhole to arrive from Mia Pinhole Cameras. I haven’t used them before for pinholes, but for 3D printed winders for my last homemade camera.

When it arrived, it came with a handy backing circle which fit perfectly to the rear of the lens board. I then reattached the viewing lens with the missing element. I did this to make sure it was in focus, but with all the originals in place, the view was blurry. I didn’t want an exact view of the shot, just a general outline of where I was pointing the camera. I then decorated the front and made a shutter system. I didn’t want to damage the pinhole while adding glued parts, so I added that after it was finished. Luckily, the front shiny part was metal and magnetic, so I could add magnets and foam to the shutter piece. This made it light-tight and easy to remove and replace.

I then loaded it with some FP4 and went for a walk. I put the camera on a tripod as the base was not flat due to the locking system for the film compartment. I worked out that a .3mm hole on this camera gave an f-stop of around f235, my light meter had an f250 setting, so I used that. For the conditions of the location and clouds, I knew it would be a 3:30-minute or 2-minute exposure, so a tripod was definitely important.

Here you can see the setup.

During the last setup, the camera fell over towards the end. I quite like the resulting image, though. There was a little bit of wind during the walk, which had some effect on the images. Here are some of the results.

Well, that was a nice way to spend some time. I took the camera to Norwich and gave it away to someone who came on a photowalk with me. I have my multi-format pinhole camera, which still works well, so I probably won’t use this one again. I had my fun while making it.