Pistachio Mark II

(Oxford Lake, AL)
(Pistachio Mark II, 50mm F169)
(Fuji Velvia 50)




I wrote about my handmade pinhole camera “Pistachio” on Jan 10, 2010. There were some problems with this camera.

First of all, it had very strong vignetting. It was because the image circle from my pinhole did not match the picture size. I actually knew it was going to happen as I planned “Pistachio” from calculation. It, however, came out more than I wanted. It was just like putting APS-C lens to you full size SLR.

The other problem was light leak. Well, I have seen people saying light leak is a “taste”. It may be, but I did not like it. It had to be fixed.

From reasons above, my “Pistachio” went into trash can. RIP. Instead, I made “Pistachio Mark II”.


The followings were what I fixed / changed.

1. The focal length of previous model was 20mm. This is changed to 50mm in “Pistachio Mark II”. The image circle should match the film size with this focal length.

2. The inner side of the camera is lined with black felt to seal all light leaks.

3. Mark II has a film counter window that you can open and close. This, of course, is to eliminate light leaks from the window.

4. Previous model had only one film winding knob. Mark II has two knobs, one for the film loading side and the other one for the film winding side. This is meant to help making film surface flat by pulling two knobs into different directions at the same time.




You can’t tell the differences at a glance except film counter window on the back (not shown here).

I grabbed Fuji Velvia 50 into “Pistachio Mark II” and went to nearby Oxford Lake. This film had an expiration date of May 1997. Well, what’s the heck!

The result is shown above. I am very happy with the result.See a guy in red T-shirts walking. This give you some idea how long was the exposure time.





I uploaded this photo to Flickr. To my big surprise, it was featured in Flickr blog. One of the greatest moments of my photography life!











Addendum : April 24, 2010 is Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day. Let’s grab our pinhole camera and shoot out!