I might be ready for @polaroidweek
I’ll be getting out Sunday afternoon for a photowalk. 5 instant cameras. 10 packs of instant film.
It’ll be my first excursion with other photographers since February last year. Masked. It’ll be a ton of fun and I’m super stoked.
‘Roid Week Spring 2021 runs April 18 through 23.
Modified Polaroid Colorpack II – 35mm @ ƒ/140. No batteries required!
After removing the lens and shutter, I lopped off a good portion the front, then fitted a neatly cut and trimmed piece of black ABS to cover the resulting hole. This made for a shorter distance to the film plane and a wide angle of view.
I measured for center, then drilled a 4/16″ hole through the front plate. The shutter and shutter-stops came next. I measured for the shutter location, drilled a pilot hole, then attached the shutter with a small brass screw, washer and nut. The stops were super-glued. Super-simple operation.
I cut a 3/4″ square piece of soda can and used a very small sewing needle and a sheet of binder paper folded up a bit and placed beneath it to punch the hole through the aluminum, slowly, sanding the back of the puncture to smooth it out. The pinhole is attached to the inside of the camera with gaffer tape.
I turned the camera upside down and added a viewfinder, using a simple 200 degree peep-hole from Home Depot. I used ABS for the viewfinder support, drilled a hole to accommodate the peep-hole and super-glued the bracket to the camera body. The viewfinder placement is dead center above the pinhole.
Having removed the original Colorpack II viewfinder – which is now on the bottom of the camera – I cut out 6 of pieces of ABS that mimicked the shape of the Manfrotto tripod mount I use, each slightly smaller than the next. I glued them together, then drilled a hole for a 1/4-20 sleeve to attach the Manfrotto mount.
In a stroke of good luck, the pattern on the ABS was a close match to that of the Colorpack II. I finished off the Pinholaroid by painting all the exposed ABS satin black.
A fun little project. I even have a decent stash of Fuji pack-film to use with this camera.
Today is Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day.
I’m planning to get out with this guy – my 8Banners Mc – but it’s gonna be a bit of an adventure.
It has a roll of 120 film in it. The first roll I loaded actually, exactly 10 years ago.
The only clue I could find about which film I’d loaded was in a Flickr post for WPPD in 2010. The plan then was to shoot with the Mc, my Zero Image 6×9, plus a Polaroid Colorpack II I’d hacked into a pinhole. I noted that I was using Fuji film in all three.
Yup. As previously noted, there was a roll of Fuji Acros 100 in the Zero Image 6×9, and that leads me to believe the film in the Mc is the same. That roll in the Mc is on picture #4.
I’ll probably bring my Panny GF1/Pinwide combo, too. Just in case things go south with the Mc, I want to make sure I have something to show for the day.
It’ll be perfect weather for shooting ISO100, sunny and low 80s. I plan on avoiding people as much as possible and not wander too far from home.
Like I said, it should be an adventure.
It was quite the experience.
I enjoyed every aspect.
It got me out with film cameras, new and old.
I tried a film new to me.
My skill at loading 35mm and 120 film on the Paterson reels continues to improve.
Developing with D76 yielded excellent results.
I found a groove every week.
Looking through Twitter at the #fp4party hashtag for the past 7 days to see what other party-goers posted was a treat.
Followed some new folks, gained a few followers on Twitter, IG, and Flickr.
Thanks to the FP4 Party hosts.
Here are my 7 submissions, last-to-first…
The gate
Georgetown, TX
Saturday, March 7, 2020
ONDU 6×12 Multiformat pinhole, FP4+ 120, D76
FP4 Party Post Week, Day 7
Sprinkles
Georgetown, TX
Thursday, March 5, 2020
Smena 8M, FP4+ 35mm, D76
FP4 Party Post Week, Day 6
Used cars
Thorndale, TX
Friday, March 6, 2020
Hasselblad 500c/m, FP4+ 120, D76
FP4 Party Post Week, Day 5
Bridge to nowhere
Georgetown, TX
Thursday, March 5, 2020
Smena 8M, FP4+ 35mm, D76
FP4 Party Post Week, Day 4
The bucket
Round Rock, TX
Monday, March 2, 2020
Hasselblad 500c/m, FP4+ 120, D76
FP4 Party Post Week, Day 3
9 right
Georgetown, TX
Saturday, March 7, 2020
Smena 8M, FP4+ 35mm, D76
FP4 Party Post Week, Day 2
Mid-century modern emptiness
Taylor, TX
Friday March 6, 2020
ONDU 6×12 Multiformat pinhole, FP4+ 120, D76
FP4 Party Post Week, Day 1
I got out with my new-ish ONDU 6×12 Multiformat pinhole camera a coupla’ weeks back for FP4 Plus Party.
Multiformat means it’ll shoot 6×6, 6×9, or 6×12.
I have a really cool 8Banners Mc pinhole that’s set to shoot square, a shiny Zero Image 6×9, so the ONDU will be dedicated to 6×12.
As previously noted, I shot 6 images with the ONDU. Of the 6, 3 had my fat fingers showing in the right side of the frame. Those shots were roughly 1 second exposures. Super-sunny days. There are lines in the top of the camera that tell you what’ll be in view for each, and my fingers fell into that space.
I’ve come up with a nifty way to get my digits out of the picture.
I used Illustrator to draw up a simple extender. Then I used a low-tack spray adhesive to affix the drawing to a piece of repurposed plastic from my 2019 Office Max calendar cover. I keep everything. The perfect-sized hole was made using simple hole punch. I sanded the edges and tied a piece of ribbon in the hole at the other end.
The rubber band was already in place – it keeps the shutter from opening while the box is in my camera case. Now it can hold the extender in place and serve as tension when using the extender. Easy to put on, take off.
Simple. Used stuff I had. Great solution. Free.
I started posting shots for the FP4 Plus Party on Twitter today.
Photography is a continual learning experience. Every camera I use – and especially if it’s a first time use – reaps lessons learned.
I got a nifty pinhole camera last year. It’s an ONDU 6×12 Multiformat. What that boils down to is it can shoot 3 ways… 1×1, 6×9, or 6×12.
6×12 is what I’ll be shooting with this cool walnut wood box.
So, if you’ve been following along, you’re aware that I’m participating in the FP4 Plus Party this month. I loaded the 6×12 with a roll of 120 film.
It made sense to get out to parts of Central Texas that I’ve yet to experience. I drove east of Georgetown past Jonah to CR366, down to Taylor, and then out to Thorndale.
All those miles traveled, I was able to make 6 images using that one roll.
Of those 6, half managed to capture my fingers closing the shutter. Those images were made with roughly 1 second exposures.
I really like my Zero Image 6×9 pinhole. The shutter assembly makes it possible to use a release cable.
I am digging the 6×12 format though, so I’m gonna have to rig up something to keep my fingers out of the frame of the ONDU 6×12.
Stay tuned.
Thorndale, Texas with my ONDU 6×12 Multiformat, 11 a.m. sun, FP4 Plus.
I’ll start developing all the FP4 Plus shots next week.
It must be my love of toy cameras that compels me to experiment with offbeat lenses on my mirrorless cameras.
I have a good collection of weird add-ons, from Lensbabies to C-mount CCTV lenses and I recently added an Olympus M.Zuiko 9mm ƒ/8.0 Fisheye Body Cap Lens to use on my m43 boxes. It was a little more than I wanted to spend, but reviews and sample images I found were convincing.
Pictured above are are four from my stash of curious and weird lenses… Olympus 9mm ƒ/8 Fisheye Body Cap, Thingyfy Pinhole Pro S, Pentax 25mm ƒ/1.4 CCTV, Lensbaby Composer Pro/Sweet 35.
This’ll be my first FP4 Plus Party, and in more ways than one – I’ve not used the film before.
The plan: 6 shots in the Ondu 6×12 Multiformat pinhole, 12 shots in the Hasselblad 500c/m, 24 shots in the Smena 8M.
I’ll need to mix up a fresh batch of D76.
It seems this is primarily a Twitter thing, but I’ll post a few scans here and eventually post a few faves on @dogbonesoup, too.
March 2-8: shoot week
March 9-15: dev/scan week
March 16-22: post week
March 23-29: lamentation week
Should be fun.
There’s always a story.
Back in mid-August I purchased one of the G3 Ondu 6×12 pinhole cameras.
I’d just missed the Kickstarter pre-order deadline, but the good folks at Ondu were kind enough to give the pre-launch price, even though it was my fault for letting the purchase linger in the shopping cart on their site. They actually reached out to me, which was nice.
The 6×12 arrived in around 3 weeks. It’s a beautiful piece of art.
About 3 days later, another box arrived. It was another 6×12. Not sure how that happened, but I reached out to them via email, telling them that I’d be happy to send it back if they covered shipping. They appreciated my honesty and gave me a mailing address. About a week later I finally got to the local post office and sent the package via mail.
I sent them a note with a picture of the receipt and Jessi at Ondu asked how to reimburse me. So cool.
I was waiting for word from them that the package had arrived, occasionally checking my PayPal account for evidence that it’d reached Slovenia.
Nothing.
Then right around Christmas the box I’d sent came back. For some unknown reason it was returned to me. So weird.
I waited a couple of weeks past the holiday to reach out via email to let them know what had happened, attaching a picture of the travel-worn package. I asked them in my note “I’m not sure what to do about this, folks. Any ideas?” and Elvis replied “… this camera just is meant to be yours. Lets not complicate things more.”
Now I have two Ondu 6×12 pinhole cameras.
Still deciding what I’ll do with it, keep it or gift it.
Russ Morris. Slightly Obsessed With Photography since 1964. 