DIY camera obscura at home. How to make a camera obscura with your own hands: two detailed life hacks. Directions for work

The prototype of the camera, known to mankind for several hundred years. In this article, we will not only take a closer look at its history and principle of operation, but also figure out how to make a camera obscura with our own hands from scrap materials in several ways.

What is camera obscura

Camera obscura (lat. camera - " room", obscura - " darkened, dark ") - the simplest optical device, a prototype of a camera. It can be either a box or a chest, on one of the walls of which a small peephole is cut out, and instead of the other, a screen of translucent material is stretched, or a dark room with the same small peephole and a screen.

Another name for this device is a pinhole camera (eng. pinhole camera -"camera having a hole").

The principle of the camera obscura

Before making a camera obscura with your own hands, you need to figure out how it works. Her work is based on the law of rectilinear propagation of light rays known from school. A lot of narrow light beams pass through the camera's peephole. Each of them leaves on the screen of the opposite wall a light spot equal in size to the eye. Such spots from a multitude of rays are superimposed on each other on the surface of the pinhole camera screen, thereby creating an optical reflection on it - a copy of an object or panorama located in front of this kind of apparatus.

Human eye and pinhole camera

Camera obscura, by the way, resembles the human eye in its principle of action - the image on its screen also enters through a small hole and upside down. This happens because the light enters both the eye and the apparatus at an angle - the rays reflecting from the top of the objects are directed downward, and the rays reflecting objects close to the ground are directed upward. Inside the camera, they intersect, so the image on the camera screen is upside down. In our body, the picture in correct position returns the brain, and in the camera - a mirror.

Pinhole camera history

Our distant ancestors also thought about how to make a camera obscura with our own hands - for the first time this phenomenon was noticed by Aristotle back in the 4th century. BC.

The legendary Leonardo da Vinci was the first to describe the algorithm and mechanism of its operation. His invention was used by artists in the Middle Ages - the camera obscura helped them to make copies of certain objects.

Later, scientists thought about how to make a camera obscura with their own hands in a more "advanced" version. In 1568, the principle of the pinhole camera was improved - the Venetian inventor De Barbaro replaced the screen with a plano-convex lens. This innovation significantly improved the clarity and saturation of the image. The device was called a wall-mount camera. It became a stepping stone to a modern camera.

How to make a camera obscura with your own hands out of the box

To make your own pinhole camera you will need:

a cardboard box for tea or juice;
thin translucent paper - tracing paper or parchment is perfect;
scissors;
glue;
Scotch.

So, how to make a camera obscura with your own hands from a box of tea, juice, etc.:

Cut out a small window on one of the sides of the box.
Use glue or tape to seal the hole with a suitable piece of paper, turning it into a future camera screen.
In the middle of the opposite wall, make a hole with a diameter of no more than 1 mm. Use a needle, pin, pushpin for this.

That's all the instructions on how to make a do-it-yourself camera obscura out of the box. Use your invention in a darkened room - aim it at a bright and contrasting light source - for example, a burning candle. Its inverted image will have to be reflected on the paper screen.

How to make a camera obscura with your own hands: a camera

In this life hack, we will analyze the creation of a more complex, but also more interesting pinhole camera, with which you can take real photographs. First, collect the materials you need:

aluminum jar;
a piece of plastic;
Matchbox;
2 "barrels" for photographic film;
the film itself is 35 mm;
black paint, brush;
stationery knife;
insulating tape;
needle;
scissors;
ruler;
pencil.

How to make a camera obscura with your own hands, read on:

So we figured out two ways that suggest how to make a camera obscura with your own hands. In the latter, it is better to use a tripod for shooting, and open the shutter for a strictly defined time - in sunny weather for 6 seconds, in cloudy weather - for 7-8 seconds.

It's not like buying a camera is a problem these days. Rather, on the contrary - almost everyone has such an opportunity. Many settle for cameras in their phones, many spend a lot of money on semi-professional or professional cameras, and many are addicted to lomography, which is not only fashionable but also affordable.

Therefore, of course, a home-made camera is not a forced measure, but an interesting experiment and (which, in my opinion, is even more important) the opportunity to do something with your own hands and see the amazing result of your labor.

In order to make a camera obscura, you must follow the instructions:

1. Take any container / box / tin can or, as shown, a film can, a thin needle, a piece of foil, electrical tape (black tape) and black and white (!) Photo paper (for example KODAK Professional Polymax II RC) or slide film (such as Kodak Ektachrome E100 GX).

2. Use scissors to cut a hole in the middle of the box.

3. The resulting hole is much larger than the pinhole hole.

4. Cut out a piece of foil that will completely (and with a margin) cover the hole.

5. Make a minimum hole in the middle of the piece of foil with the point of a fine needle.

6. The surface of the foil should be smooth, so remove any unevenness with sandpaper.

The smaller the hole diameter, the better the picture will be.

7. To avoid light reflections inside the container, it and the foil on the inside should be painted with matte black paint.

8. Use adhesive tape to glue the foil to the container.

9. Cover the hole with a piece of tape to prevent premature light penetration.

10. In a dark room (!) Insert photo paper into the container so that it does not cover the pinhole.

11. If all openings are securely closed, the camera is ready for use!

In this article, I'll show you how to make a camera obscura out of a matchbox and homemade tools.

It should be noted that such a camera does not have a depth of field, but this does not deprive the photo taken by the pinhole of volume, not at all, rather it fills the picture with its unique artistic atmosphere. The principle of operation is very simple, the light from the subject of photography passes through the hole and falls on the light-sensitive material, that is, the film, as if a projection of the image is obtained.

What you need to make such a camera

Matchbox

Film 35mm

Some plastic from any bottle

Any aluminum can

Stationery knife

Empty film cistern

Insulating tape

Pencil

Scissors

Ruler

First of all, you need to make markings and cut out the frame window in the inner part of the box, for me it was 36 x 24 mm, but here you can make the shape arbitrarily, also some make 24 x 24 mm as you like.

After you have cut out the frame window, you need to paint the inside of the box black, you can use any paint, marker or ink. I used matte acrylic spray paint, I did not try glossy paint, in my opinion it will create unnecessary glare. You may notice that the edges of the frame window inside the box are torn, this will be reflected in the photo and give a more artistic look. If desired, they can be smoothed with a file or a utility knife.

How to rewind a frame? So that this process can be controlled, the following is done, from plastic bottle cut out a thin ribbon and smooth it with your fingers, so it curls. Sharpen on one of the edges.

We attach it to the barrel with electrical tape, insert it into the hole in the film, as shown in the photo. You need to fix the plastic tape well so that it does not jump out of the hole when rewinding, you also need to make sure that the film does not break. When rewinding, clicks will be heard, so if you have a 36 x 24 mm frame window, you need to count eight clicks (nine for safety reasons) and you can photograph a new frame. If the frame window is 24 x 24 mm, six clicks are counted.

Let's go back to the matchbox, now we need to prepare the outer part, make the markings and cut a rectangular hole 8 x 5 mm in the center.

The most important detail of the camera is a properly made hole, which is responsible for the sharpness of the frame, the smaller it is, the sharper the frame will turn out. From an aluminum can, you need to cut a square 15 x 15 mm and carefully pierce a hole with a needle, then be sure to clean it from burrs with back side... And if you bring the aluminum plate to the window, then the hole should be barely visible.

Everything must be painted black, the fewer light areas there are, the better the frame will be, you also need to paint over the hole with a black marker so that the sun's rays do not glare on the metal surface.

We begin to assemble our miracle camera, put an aluminum blank with a hole on the outer side of the matchbox with electrical tape, it is advisable to fix it exactly in the center so that the light beam spreads throughout the frame. Let's take another matchbox and make a markup, cut out a 15 x 8 mm rectangle, cut a piece of cardboard and attach it to our obscura camera with electrical tape. Another important detail, the shutter itself, a thick cardboard 10 x 30 mm should tightly cover the camera opening.

To rewind, you need to make a handle out of cardboard and pull it off with electrical tape, size about 5 x 20 mm.

We install the film and fix the box with the inside, while do not forget to check the operation of the frame counter, if you hear clicks, then you can fix everything with electrical tape.

It is impossible for the light to hit the film on this electrical tape, it is desirable to use black, but in the absence of, I had to use green, do not save on electrical tape, because the quality of the pictures is at stake. We fix everything.

You need to take pictures with a tripod or with a good stop, the slightest movement blur the frame, making it indistinct. (how to make a photo sharp - read) When photographing with a pinhole, you need to be able to determine by eye for how many seconds to open the shutter, while the seconds can be counted to yourself. If the day is sunny and the film is sensitive, then I open the shutter for four, five seconds, if it's cloudy seven, eight. I got good shots the first time. Give it a try, I'm sure you won't regret it.

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He proposes to make a miracle invention, known even before our era and first described by Leonardo da Vinci. Its sizes vary from a matchbox to huge halls. Camera obscura in Latin means "dark room". The device allows you to transfer real images to the screen. True, here's the bad luck - upside down 🙂 But it's even more interesting. For centuries, artists used the camera obscura to create landscapes, until scientists invented chemical compounds that are sensitive to light. This is how the first photos appeared!

See what masterpiece can be created with a pinhole camera.

An upside-down image of Fall Central Park in New York was displayed on the walls and ceiling. Photo taken by Abelardo Morell with a pinhole camera. Darken the room, - he says, - make a small hole for light - and the pictures of the world on the other side of the window will settle in your house.

Hm ... - I don't know ... But the idea is seductive 🙂

Today we will make a simpler device than the one used by Morell. But no less interesting.

We will need:

Disposable plastic cup (dark color is better)
Pushpin or sewing pin
Black acrylic paint(can be purchased in bookstores or mix gouache with 1 to 1 PVA glue)
Brush
A sheet of parchment paper 12 × 12cm (you can try to replace it with tracing paper or a thin white napkin)
Stationery
Candle + matches, flashlight
Small figures or silhouettes for viewing

What to do:

Cover the cup thoroughly with black paint on both sides, let the paint dry

Make a very small hole in the center of the bottom of the cup using a pin or button. This will be the lens of the pinhole camera

Secure the paper to the cup with an elastic band. It will serve as a screen for the pinhole camera.

Light a candle or flashlight, darken the room and observe the light, holding the glass on your outstretched hand with the screen facing you.
Take a closer look and you will see a small crescent-shaped light spot on the dark background of the paper - this is an image of a flame, and it is "standing on the head"!
You can put various silhouettes in front of the flashlight, experiment with distances and shapes, you can flip the silhouettes, while getting normal images.

How camera obscura works easy to understand from this figure:

Interesting ideas:

2. Here are some very good articles with detailed instructions for making a homemade camera on the principle of a pinhole camera

3. If instead of paper you attach photographic paper to the cup, you can get images that can be stored and shown to friends!

Question: Is the eye like a camera obscura? Is it possible?

Finally, a couple more masterpieces from Abelardo Morell 🙂

A dream-vivid and very harsh image of the Brooklyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan materializes over crumpled sheets. To create this surreal painting, Morell installed his camera in a room that served as a camera obscura and left the shutter open for five hours. The resulting vision was captured on film. He also used a prism to flip the image.

Color, shape, perspective - everything was mixed in a multi-colored puzzle created by Morell in the living room of a Venetian house. “I want people to wonder where it came from,” says the master, who projected the view of the Gran Canale onto the wall where the jungle had already been painted. The shadow of the chandelier completes the hypnotic chaos.

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