Comparison

Camera obscura: Lochkamera - Pinhole - Sténopé
Lochkamera selber bauen - mit allen Bauteilen - und fertige Kameras
http://www.lochkamera-versand.de/ - e-mail: schilhabel@online.de
Erich S. Schilhabel - Zur Wache 11 - D-36208 Wildeck - Tel./Fax: 0049 (0) 6626 - 598


	Pictures in comparison: Pinhole contra HFT Planar (objective with six lenses)

Generally, my pin hole camera kit 9x13 has been designed as a teaching aid for physics and arts classes in general educating schools in which students are taught the underlying principles of pin-hole cameras by practical experiments. However, this kit also provides easy access to taking pictures at a low cost. The price comparison between a pin hole camera for 5 Euro and a Rolleiflex SL 66 SE for 5000 Euro may suggest that the camera obscura produces much lower quality images than the Planar lens. Well, see for yourself: (The weather in February 2002 was not very inviting for outdoor snap shots which is why a neighbour’s house was chosen as a subject with the cameras at the window.)


	This picture was taken with the pinhole camera directly on photographic paper: The exposure time for 9x13 AGFA Brovira Speed 310 RC soft gradation paper has to be cautiously approached, here it is 8 minutes when the sky is overcast.

The negative is the wrong way round. The left picture edge has not been evenly developed due to a processing error.

The small quadratic 6x6 negative has been taken at about 3pm with the Rollei SL 66 SE and the planar 2,8/80 mm objective onto panchchromatic 120 “Ilford FP 4” roll film. The exposure time was 1/250 at an aperture setting of f/8. The foreground already shows the shadow cast by a pine tree.
The 9x12-Negativ was taken at about 14:30 pm with the pin hole camera directly onto orthochromatic “MACO GPF9” film with an exposure time of 180 sekunds and a pin hole aperture of about 0.5 mm diameter (pierced with a pin). The comparison between the negatives shows that lacking red-sensitivity leads to a weaker imaging of red-brown soil and the green grass.


	This is the enlargement of the Rolleiflex 6x6 negative.


	This is a 1:1 copy of the pin hole camera negative.




		The enlargement of a 6x6 negative has significantly superior resolution capabilities which become only apparant through the enlargement of a the pictures detail as shown in the detail enlargement.




	Whereas the difference between the 9x12 contact print taken from the pinhole camera picture and the Rollei camera picture is not very large, the detail enlargement of the pinhole picture has far less resolution than the detail enlargement in the Rollei picture.


	Pinhole pictures are softer - less sharp - than made with a lens. The images have nearly infinite depth of field.

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