New lenses take pictures of each other then go outside

[petemac]

You might remember that I just purchased a 70-200 2.8 IS. Feeling guilty about being one of those guys with the cool, expensive equipment, i stopped off at a local photo store for a body cap. One pepsi can and about 15 minutes later I had my second pinhole camera...a digital SLR pinhole. Quite the improvement over my first quaker oats one! It only seemed appropriate to take pictures of one with the other. Then i headed outside on two different occasions to check out the lenses. I am sorry to do this yet again, but i liked every shot i took with the 70-200 (literally). My roomate said post the leaves, so here they are. I haven't calculated the f-stop of the pinhole cap yet. The pinhole shots are better then i thought they would be, though my camera is pretty dirty inside and my next pinhole needs to be smaller. Man do i ever love digital.

sunset pinhole - f/200 (maybe?) 10 seconds iso 800
other pinhole - f/200 (maybe?) 30 seconds iso 200


Thanks for taking a look,
-pete

[Lionheart]

Wow. That's pretty cool stuff, dude! Could you post step by step instructions on how you made a pinhole cover with a pepsi can? I've got at least 3 extra body caps (I lose them occasionally so I like having extras) and plenty of soda cans just lying around. I'd like to try it too. Congrats on the new lens. It's my absolute favorite lens (at least 70% of the time). There's just nothing else like it out there, and I've had my share of glass that have come and gone collecting dust soon after. Man, you are going to be in Heaven playing with that lens.

[petemac]

Making the pinhole cover is very easy. You need a body cap, drill and bits, needle, pepsi can, scissors, fine sand paper, and tape. I first found the center of the cap by tracing it onto a piece of paper then folding it in quarters. Then I used my drill press to drill out a 1/2 inch hole in the body cap. Since i held it by hand i stepped up to the final size using a few smaller bits. Now i cut the pepsi can up, getting myself a piece about 3/4 inch square. I poked my needle through the middle of this piece carefully, trying to make a really small hole. Then i used a fine sand paper to remove the burr left from punching the hole. After that i taped my piece of can into the hole in my body cap. I put the can on the inside of the body cap so it looks clean. I used black tape to carefully seal around the edges. It is a very easy process. I am sure there are tons of other ways to do it too, i just thought this was the simplest.

It is nice to shoot with the pinhole although I always seem to have the wrong lens on. When i shot the sunset picture a great blue heron parked himself about 30 feet from me, apparently not seeing me...would have liked to be with the 70-200 then. Thanks for looking and for your interest.

-pete

[SmartWombat]

I'd modify that just slightly.

Get a microsocope cover slip - very thin and flat glass.
And an o-ring, or a grommet.
And some glue.
Then you can fit the o-ring or grommet around the hole.
And glue the (clean!) cover slip onto the o-ring.
Then you shouldn't get dirt in through the pinhole.