> HI, i was wondering about how long my exposure time should
> be for a
> quaker oatmeal box pinhole camera. the hole is about 1/8
> inches and i'm
> using black and white paper. pleeez help me out
> thanks
Since pin holes do not have a definite focal length the
equivalent f stop is calculated from the distance the hole
is from the image.
A 1/8th inch hole is too large. A more reasonable size
would be around 1/50th or 1/75th inch, very small.
You can get some information from Kodak at:
http://www.kodak.com/global/en/consumer/education/lessonPlans/pinholeCamera/pinh
oleCanBox.shtml
The instructions there talk about Kodak Kodabromide paper
which has been discontinued. However, most variable contrast
paper has a somewhere from the same to about half the speed
when used without a filter.
Another good site is:
http://www.photo.net/learn/pinhole/pinhole
Which has the formulas for calculating the optimum size of
pinhole and its effective f stop.
The pinhole size is not at all critical. Also, while an
ideal pinhole should have no burrs around the edges the
difference in practice is slight so a pinhole made by
pushing a pin through some aluminum foil will work fine.
If you use an exposure meter the effective speed of
typical fast enlarging paper is around ISO-5.
You will, of course, get a negative, but you can contact
print to another sheet of paper to get a positive print.

Signature
---
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA
dickburk@ix.netcom.com
> HI, i was wondering about how long my exposure time should be for a
> quaker oatmeal box pinhole camera. the hole is about 1/8 inches and i'm
> using black and white paper. pleeez help me out
> thanks
1/60 of a second for the white side of the paper, and 1/2 second for the
Black side.

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