Here’s how you can build your own pinhole camera

If you want to build your own camera, Martin Henson is here to show you how. Admittedly, Martin can’t show you a secret of how to build a Nikon Z9 at home, but his blueprint for a DIY camera is simple, fun, and cheap to build, so why not give it a try if you’re interested?

How to make your own camera

The camera Martin builds in a video is a pinhole camera. If you’re unfamiliar with it, this camera type is the first that humanity invented. Long before SLR, like the Nikon F series, there were these iconic boxy cameras you probably have seen before. How they work is remarkably simple: You know how a film camera brings light from the lens through the lens mount and exposes it to film inside? Well, pinhole cameras skip the lens entirely, only relying on the hole in front of the film to bring in light for the film. Obviously, this results in a far worse photo; however, piercing a hole in a box is a much easier thing to do at home than crafting glass elements.

But, what Martin shows in his video is more than just 30 minutes of punching holes in boxes. He shows how to measure the f-stop you’ll get based on the size of the hole, how to expose this kind of camera, how to develop the film inside, and more. In other words, he shows the entire process of making an effective pinhole camera step by step. Thanks, Martin!

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