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View Full Version : Experiences with the PHOTONBOX Panoramic Pinhole camera Model D



Greg
13-Aug-2016, 13:06
Almost 10 years ago constructed panoramic pinhole camera constructed around a very modified 120 folding camera. Added a curved back. Camera took eight 4 1/2" x 2 1/8" negatives on a roll of 120 film. Shot dozens of rolls of film with it back then, In going through this Forum saw a FS post for a LF panoramic pinhole camera and bought it.

4x10" PHOTONBOX Panoramic Pinhole camera Model D......

Camera arrived in like new condition. Workmanship on a cabinet maker's level. After shooting a few exposures with it, discovered 2 problems to be addressed. 1. The built in level was off a bit off level. I perfectly leveled the camera as best I could and placed a fine black dot with a fine tip Sharpie in the center of the bubble. Now I level the camera by centering the bubble under the black dot and not using the level's circular ring.... Simple solution that just works. I had wanted to remove the round bubble level on top of the camera and reinstall it correctly, but it seems to be pretty permanently glued in there so just use my black dot to level the camera. 2. The two bottom corners of the film were not being exposed. Using a high intensity fiber optic and substituting a sheet of white paper for film, shined the lamp through the pinhole and discovered that the wooden lip of the recessed pinhole was blocking the image. Using a Dremel with a sanding band on it, quickly and neatly took off the corner of the image obstructing wooden lip, now image totally fills up the 4x10 negative.

Now have begun to take the camera out every day or two. Taking 8 exposures per roll with my homemade 120 pan pinhole camera was an absolute luxury. Obviously since curved 4x10" film holders are not available, I must take a changing bag with me into the field in order to change sheets of film. Initially sounded like it would be a pain, but has worked out to be just a little inconvenience. With the 120 camera, shot with the mind set of a roll film user. Using the PHOTONBOX just requires one to shot with the mind set of a ULF film user. Film is stored in 2 8x10" film boxes cut down to 4x10". Box holding unexposed film has a sheet of sandpaper glued to it - easy to ID it by feel when it's inside the closed film changing bag.

Finding scenes worthy of shooting with this panoramic pinhole camera has been a challenge for me. I swear it's a site specific camera. Have found it not to be a camera you can just carry around to interesting places. More of going through previously visited places and pre-visualizing the ones where this camera will work. Over the years I have visited a local gorge having many waterfalls. I have photographed hundreds of different scenes at the location using cameras ranging from FX up to 8x10". Will be taking the PHOTONBOX there in the near future and can only pre-visualize maybe only 6 scenes to photograph with the 4x10" pinhole camera. I'm sure will end up with shooting only 3 scenes.

F/ stop of the pinhole is published as f/287. Calculating the exposure for f/287 easy. I use the Zone system with a Pentax spot meter. Everything works out fine for my LF and ULF view cameras using actual lenses. With the PHOTONBOX, when I normally metered the scene, the shadows were always underexposed. After some trial and error, now quadruple the calculated exposure time calculated for f/287. For a "normal" scene, process the film in Rodinal 1:25 for 8 minutes. For sun lit scenes, meter the shadows and process in Diafine A and B to keep the highlights printable and not overly dense. Exposures regularly run from 4 to 32+ seconds. For my prints from this camera have decided contact Lith print them. Ordered the recommended (Lith) paper and developer from Freestyle. Haven't Lith printed since the late 1970s. Had wanted to make Salt prints from negatives taken with the camera, but Images taken with the camera are just too "flat" for printing with Salt. The base + fog levels (inherent with pinhole cameras) of the negatives way too high and only get worse when (over) processing negatives to use for Salt printing.

Camera is just a joy to use. The magnetic lens cap/shutter just works. Would personally prefer a sliding brass "shutter" but just not worth the effort of constructing since the magnetic lens cap works just fine. The magnetically held top of the camera I was skeptical at first to be secure, but in use is totally secure. Only modification that I have considered doing is modifying the camera to have a rising (front standard) pinhole, but then framing presents problems.

Magnetic (lens) pinhole cap took a bit of time getting used of but now love it for its simplicity.

Planning on fabricating a wire framed finder like on my 120 pan pinhole camera. But it will not be permanently attached to the camera. Presently framing R & L sides no problem, but have had pseudo-accurate framing top and bottom problems.

At equal final print size, the images taken with my 120 pan pinhole camera seem to be a little sharper than images taken with the 4x10" PHOTONBOX. Focal length for the PHOTONBOX is 100mm and the optimum pinhole size would be calculated to be f/270 which is in effect equal to the published f/287 value. Based on my need for X4 exposure, am thinking that the pinhole in the PHOTONBOX is actually much smaller and intern causing more diffraction. Something to look into.

As for processing my 4x10" film, am using 8x10 Cibachrome processing tubes on a Unicolor roller base. 8x10 Cibachrome tube holds 2 sheets of 4x10" film. Have a JOBO but using the Cibachrome drums just takes way less time set up and use.

If there any other owners and users of a PHOTONBOX out there in this Forum, would greatly appreciate you comments.

Image of camera and sample image from the PHOTONBOX attached.