#projectpinhole

Here's the link for the 35mm pinhole camera I've been making (I'm most of the way through a foamcore version) (previously posted here with other pinhole research, including aperture logistics): http://photo.tutsplus.com/tutorials/the-ultimate-guide-to-create-your-own-35mm-pinhole-camera/ But this time I'm thinking of doing something a little different... winding a whole roll of film through, during a single pinhole exposure, to make impossible landscapes. I have a single roll of unexposed-and-developed film hanging up in my studio (all I ever wanted are the memories, says a slip of paper pinned with it) and keep thinking of making something, well, bigger.

Thoughts of a servo evolved into thoughts of a DC motor (some here).

Okay, so, a spindle is about 9mm dia (circumference pi*d, 28.28mm) and a regular frame is 36mm wide (35mm film is 35mm tall, including sproket holes)(dimensions source). So 1 revolution winds .75 of a frame of film. So if I want a frame to be exposed for 20 seconds, I want 4/3 revolutions in 20 seconds, or 1 revolution in 15 seconds.

I figured it would be slow, but wow, that's really slow. A planetary gearbox will be my best friend. (Here's one I could buy, but it's not slow enough.) And I still want adjustable speed. Maybe it'll be a 4 second exposure (1 revolution in 3 seconds), but maybe a 40 second exposure (1 revolution in 30 seconds).

So it may become build-your-own-gearbox time. And here I thought I just wanted to make photos. Instead I end up researching endlessly and making my own rigs to make photos! Though I do admit to buying a RAM mount to put a camera (or anything with a tripod mount) onto my car's rearview mirror.

Soon. Because I have a notion that I want to do a bunch of photographs of this area, before I go. I have no idea what that gets me. I don't mind or care.

So if you ever want a lot of 35mm BW film:

This (http://www.calumetphoto.com/eng/product/ilford_100_delta_135_x_30_5m_roll/il0752) is enough for 18 rolls of 36 exposures. $4.08 a roll but you have to buy a lot.

http://www.amazon.com/Ilford-Professional-Black-36-Exposure-1780624/dp/B00009V3CH $6.49 a roll, and free shipping with amazon prime. Probably my best bet.

The sky is my lightbox.

But why are the light sources so large? I must have removed the pinhole with the cap. Cap lifts off; pinhole twists off; twisting the cap takes both at once. And that's why the light sources are so big. Sigh.

Inverse.

So whatexactly did I do, by doing that?

A 16mm pinhole is f/5 and a 0.35mm pinhole (that I should have used) is f/206. (source: calculator) The area of the aperture was about 1090 times what it should have been. Difference: about 10-2/3 stops (source: table)

So the equivalent of my 9.6 hour exposure from March would be 20,064 hours with the pinhole. My next question is, what would I have gotten as an image, otherwise? Anything? Either way, the irony here is pretty satisfying.

Looking forward. For Thursday into Friday: temp forecast dropping from 60 at 8pm to 50 by 6am / wind SW to WSW to SSW at 2-3mph / sky cover forecast 12-13 / Sunset:19:57 Sunrise: 05:10 / so the exposure time would be about 7 hours, which is about 70% as long as the March exposure / Moonrise: 00:37 Moonset: 11:13 / not as full a moon as March, but a pretty decent amount of moon / so it's likely that I'd get a full arc in my photograph, instead of a truncated one.

It might look something like this, but with much smaller light points, and without the fingerprints and scratches on the negative. Then again, it might not.

http://hardcorezen.blogspot.com/2011/07/time.html

I've been thinking about time a lot and about perception of time, so this is interesting as a set of observations - particularly the notion, from Dogen, that our experience of time is real.

Of course that works better if you see time as a constructed thing rather than an absolute one. Or maybe just note that there are lots of subjectivities of time, and we can get machines to experience time all in the same subjective way.

Not that it matters which is true - I mean, cut it any way you want. I want to make the observation that the scale at which time passes - in terms of experience, that is - isn't static. Then experience passes on into memory, which again, is far from static. Yeah, for now I'm happy to leave it at that.

I am happy to report that the first exposure for Project Pinhole was last night. Exposure began at 8:08p and concluded at 5:54a. (16-17 March 2012, times local.) Location: 40.03541,-88.206462 (approx from satellite image). The real point has been to sit and watch an entire night, and I've been thinking of the image-making as a secondary and derivative thing. This to say: the code name is a whole lotta misdirection.

The particular night was selected because it would be twelve hours from sunset to sunrise. The exposure was based on my perception - when the sky had stopped getting darker, and when it started getting lighter.

No clue what the image will look like.

Project Pinhole is the codename for a name-to-be-revealed work that officially commences... well, awhile ago, but the first image in this 5- to 10-year series will be recorded in just a few weeks.

The equinox is not the day of equal day - equal night, but has a different astronomical definition. Here is how equinoxes are defined and how sunrise and sunset are calculated. (Warning: maths.) Did you know there are three twilights? Yep. Civil, nautical, and astronomical. Definitions here.

What I'm interested in is night as experienced where I am. In Urbana IL, 226m above sea level, the night closest to 12 hours starts at sunset at 1901 on Friday March 16 and ends at sunrise at 0700 on Saturday March 17. Calculator here.

Here I am, still researching for this crazy pinhole camera thing. In previous episodes, our hero decided on doing 4x5 pinhole photography to record sitting through a night. Conclusions from this episode of research: 1) I'll get the 4x5 developed by mail (unless there's a local shop) rather than do it myself, at least for now. 2) Meanwhile, I'd like to shoot some 35mm b&w with a pinhole camera, since I can get the film processed locally. 3) After looking into a few kits, I think I might build my own, and buy the aperture. 4) I need to confirm that I can buy BW film locally and get it processed locally 5) My goal for this week: build a 35mm pinhole camera so I can shoot next weekend. Blowing film just to mess around will be completely acceptable. If BW developing is not locally available, color film is acceptable. 6) Update: Pinholes ordered from calumetphoto.com. 12 pinholes of varying sizes. That'll keep me out of trouble.  :) On to the messy research: