Experiments in Digital Pinhole Photography

In May of last year, I was talking to a friend about camera obscura and pinhole cameras and I wondered if I could turn my Nikon D200 digital SLR into a digital pinhole camera.

My first attempt at creating a pinhole camera was to tape a piece of cardboard with a pinhole on top of the lens. I also constructed a foot-long tube, wrapped in tinfoil and taped it to the camera body. My thinking was that I could construct my own pinhole zoom lens. The problem was, I had to go manual focus because in auto the camera wanted to focus on the pinhole. Anyway, I got a few interesting photos but it just seemed like I was just shooting through a hole -- not really a pinhole camera. 

Pinhole on top of a 105mm camera lens.

28cm long pinhole lens on 250mm camera lens

I gave up on constructing zoom lenses and took the camera lens right off. For my next attempt I just taped a piece of cardboard over the lens mount and poked a hole in it. The shots I got from this setup were quite neat. It was a bright day but the pinhole was large enough that I was shooting at 1/15s. This was faster than I had expected, but I wasn't sure how to make the hole smaller. You can also get an interesting effect from two pinholes as in the second photo below. The second is off center so it provides an offset image on top of the other.

Single pinhole in cardboard. 1/15s.

Two pinholes in cardboard. 1/15s.

Single pinhole, some very nice vignetting.

The detail in the three shots above was about as much as I could get with a pinhole in cardboard. There is much to be concerned about regarding the pinhole size. Notably, the smaller the pinhole the more focused the image should be. The hole should also be perfectly round, which is very hard to do with a pin and hammer. The cardboard I used was not ideal, I now know. At the time I was concerned that paper fibres may have obstructed the hole. Tinfoil may be a good material but it is liable to warp if not sufficiently taped.

That's where I left it a year ago and hadn't thought about it much since then. However, just last week the subject came up between myself and another photographer and it got me thinking about trying again.

So, I got down to business and constructed a new lens, the PL3 ($780, est.) out of a tea can with a metal bottom. After mounting the camera using the PM3 lens mount (included), I found the initial photos to be very fuzzy with too much internal reflections. The inside of the can had a silver metal foil so I had to cover this with a black construction paper. I also used tinfoil around the base to ensure that there was no light leakage at all.

PL3 lens with the PM1 lens mount.

PL3 lens showing the PM3 lens mount and the special light dampening black insert.

Another problem with these lenses, in general, is the increased amount of dirt on the internal sensor, see the picture below. It took an hour to clean it off since the camera battery was below half charged. The camera will not let you open the shutter for cleaning if there is a chance the battery will run out while you're wiping the sensor. Since the pinhole aperture is really small, it tends to enhance any dirt on the camera sensor.

Internal reflections due to silver lining of the tube.
Also note the large hair on the sensor that wasn't there before.

Anyway, once the lens was mounted and tested I set out to Clover Point to take some pictures.

Trial Island

Gonzales, Victoria

Ross Bay Trees

Two dogs in tall grass.

I was hoping for more focus but I was still pleased with what I got. There is a real impressionistic feel about these photos. You kind of have to change how you see the world you're going to photograph. Instead of looking at details you have to look at shapes and color.

I still can't ignore the focus thing. I was hoping for more. So, the following day I constructed another lens. I wanted something shorter so I could take wider photos. This time I went back to cardboard but with a tinfoil end and built the more economical PL4 ($480 est.) with the PM2 mount (included). One (of many) disadvantages was the use of the stronger mounting tape which can leave a sticky residue on the camera body.

This time I took a trip to Saxe Pointe and Macauley Point parks in beautiful Esquimalt. I was definitely getting better focus but it was still a little fuzzy giving the pictures a painterly effect. There's also a definite color cast to the pictures. They almost look like they were taken in the 1940's or 1950's.

Beacon and sailboat from Saxe Point.

Houses from Macauley Point.

It may be possible to get better focus by building the better pinhole lens. As it stands a better mount would be preferable so that a quick change would be possible instead of all the taping required. There's a lot more experimentation to be done but I'm happy with some of the photos I was able to get.

The Dismantling of the Blue Bridge Begins

It was going to come down. It was just a matter of time. February 24th was the day the end began. Victoria's city council had already decided to retire the old blue bridge and replace it with a shiny new one.

Hastening the demise of the bridge was the report by engineers that the rail portion was dangerous so it was raised sometime last summer to prevent any more traffic from crossing. This made life somewhat more difficult for cyclists as they had to merge with traffic on the corrugated metal roadway. It's a kind of unnerving surface as it feels like your tires are swimming around a bit. Add to that the tendency for many drivers to try to squeeze by you.

I managed to get a few pictures of the bridge after the announcement of its permanent raising but I've really got no pictures of it down. It's one of those things that you travel on or across or by or whatever your whole life and as much as it becomes so familiar, you never really get a picture of it.

The Blue Bridge from Vic West, Esquimalt Road.

From downtown, Store Street.

So here we were on a wet (very wet) February 24th watching the rail portion dangling above the barge that was to take it away. I hadn't planned on going down to see the bridge but as it was terribly wet outside I decided to take the 24 bus into town. At about 12pm the bridge was closed so the bus was diverted across the Bay bridge. The traffic was terrible going into town which I suspect is a sign of things to come when the whole blue bridge comes down.

I made my way down to the bridge but couldn't get a clear view. It turned out that the best views were to be had in the parking lot below the Janion building. The lot was full of people. I guess they wanted a last glimpse of the iconic structure as it passes away. I can't say it was terribly exciting, the piece of the bridge in the photo just hung there for a good twenty minutes before I left. I'm glad I didn't take a video.

The rail portion, dangling over the barge.

I really don't know what the plan is for taking down the rest of the bridge. I suspect that some road work has to be done to straighten out Esquimalt road -- the jog under the rail bridge is nonsense. Let's hope that the time between the closing of the entire bridge and its reopening is kept to a minimum because the increased traffic across the Bay bridge will be a nightmare.

In Search of the E & N Rail Trail

Traffic into Esquimalt from Colwood and Langford is heavy during the morning and evening commutes. It's not surprising given the single route in along the single lane Island Highway and Admirals roads. The great hope has been the E & N Rail trail -- a parallel commuter trail beside the E & N rail bed. The construction of this trail has been ongoing but the prospect of such a route is exciting to say the least.

It is possible to cycle from afar along the roadways, rubbing elbows with cars. The Galloping Goose can get you to where the old and new Island Highways meet, roughly on the northwest side of View Royal. Through View Royal you then share the sometimes steep hills with cars where some sections have no separate cycling lanes. Thankfully, new road improvements on the steepest hill passing the Four Mile Pub have included cycling lanes. Still one should not expect to get to work without sweating a little too much.

The big advantage to a trail along the E & N route is that railways are graded to be flat. So, not only are cyclists and walkers completely separated from road traffic, but they can also expect a fairly relaxed and steady effort trip.

It was a warm day today -- February 4 -- so why not see just how much work has been done. Forget the fact that it has already been documented in the CRD E&N Rail Trail website, particularly, the PDF Bulletin of Nov 2011. I needed the exercise.

No work has been done through View Royal on the trail itself. However, a new rail bridge was put in crossing the Island Highway below the Four Mile Pub and it appears that a section of the bridge has been set aside for the trail. As part of the work done to improve the Island Highway on the hill a connection has been made into Portage Park which, it looks like, assumes the trail will be there in the future.

Bottom of Hallowell Road looking towards Portage Park. No sign of the trail yet.	Entrance to Portage Park from Island Highway.
Connection to rail trail from Portage Park, but nothing to connect to just yet.	New Bridge over Island Highway with commuter trail section on left.

So, over the hill and down to Fort Victoria. It soon becomes evident that there's nothing there at all, except tracks. But we knew that already.

Fort Victoria on the E & N Railway.

So, quite a bit of cycling later, down to the Galloping Goose by the new Island Highway, then along the Goose to Wale Road in Colwood, then up Wale Road and Goldstream Road to the intersection of Goldstream and Veteran's Memorial Parkway. Finally, we sight a rather nice section of the rail trail. As far as I know this is the only fully completed section: paved, dotted yellow line, chain link separating fence, and very nice connections at road crossings.

Looking west at Goldstream & Veteran's Memorial Pkwy.

Looking east at Goldstream & Veteran's Memorial Pkwy.

The paved section continues on a fair distance to Jacklin Road where it stops. No construction has started past Jacklin Road so I turned around. Continuing east from Goldstream, back towards View Royal, the trail abruptly stops at Atkins Avenue. There's a school there, and an old wooden covered bridge crossing the tracks that gets you onto Atkins Road. I was lost at this point, so I just continued on Atkins Road and after a hill and a dip I ended up sighting the rail tracks again and the Goose too. I suspect this will be a hard section of the rail trail to complete given the steep terrain around the tracks themselves.

Anyway, back on the Goose to the highway and View Royal. There is a long hill going up to the Old Island Highway summit in View Royal but it is a fast section going down the 8% grade on the other side. It's not fun going up that grade though.

What does that say? 8% grade? Glad I'm not going up hill.

The rock wall put in across from the Four Mile Pub on this grade is exceptional though. It's not often you see such care taken to beautify what is otherwise a dull section of road. Hats off to the artists who spent last summer putting this rock wall in, and hats off to the township for planning it.

One of the nicest rock walls in the entire region.

After getting home I put the whole thing into a map that largely echoes what is already known. See the Map PDF document on the CRD website mentioned above. It looks nice in a map though. I'm looking forward to this trail being completed. It will be a fantastic commuter route when its done.






View Commuting in Victoria in a larger map

For now though, if you're commuting from Colwood or Langford, not a lot has changed. It's still bumper to bumper traffic at rush hour when the base lets out and cycling the route still leaves you jostling with cars along the Old Island Highway -- now with separate lanes for the most part.