The Top 20 Strangests/Coolest/Most Beautiful Pinhole Cameras

This article lists some of the strangest, most bizarre, funniest, or beautiful pinhole cameras that people have made.

1.SPAMera

SPAMera® by CK

The SPAMera has to be one of the most famous modern-day pinholes!  I seem to see this photo everywhere I go!   Chris really has combined two classics into one form.   

2.John Baird’s Pinhole Camera

Pinhole Camera by John Baird

I remember seeing this camera last year some time and thought it had such beautiful construction.  I can’t nail two bits of wood together, so I’m quite envious that John has created this marvel.

3.Homemade Cigar Box Camera

Homemade Cigar Box Camera by spiffytumbleweed

Spiffytumbleweed’s flickr photostream is full of bizarre contraptions, strange methods and interesting results, so where better to look for a pinhole camera hidden inside a cigar box!

4.The Hexomniscope

hexomniscope - 6 lens pinhole camera by Cory.Lum

This is a bit mental! A 6 lensed pinhole camera!  Beautifully constructed and wonderfully thought-out,

5.Pumpkin Pinhole Camera

pinhole camera made from a real pumpkin! by Haiku Garry 

A pumpkin has to be one of the strangest items to pass film through.  Don’t use a 36 exposure film, otherwise the pumpkin may have rotted before you finish the roll.

6.Normal Redscale Pinproject

É na manteiga, manteiga, manteiga...by Damiao Santana

Damiao has created a two holed camera, exposing the rear of the film as well as the usual front.  Should lead to some interesting results.

7.Pinholo

PinHolo by by Dippold

Yep, that’s a pinhole camera hidden inside a pine nut!  Uses tiny pieces of photographic paper to expose on to.  

8.Polaroid Pinhole

let's make a pinhole polaroid camera! by Duchamp

At first, this may not look like much, just another pinhole in a foil container.  But this pinhole uses polaroid film.  Duchamp goes into a lot of detail in his tutorial, including how to account for reciprocity failure in polaroid film, and even how to ‘roll’ out the chemicals after taking a photo.  Click on the photo above for a tutorial.

9.Coffee Cup Pinhole Lense

Coffee cup pinhole lens by paradefotos

It’s not often we feature anything digital on holgablog, but here’s something a bit strange.   A pinhole lens for a digital SLR, made from a coffee cup!

10.The FrankenCamera

(No.2) Home-made assembled pinhole camera be composed of few original photography equipments by jonespointfilm

This camera is made up of parts from about 15 cameras (plus an ikea plant pot!).  It has no right to look some pretty!   The photos from it are wonderful too. 

11.The Memocam

memocam by bertmac

at first I thought this was 100 years old, but it’s a modern pinhole made by bertmac, and featured in Make Magazine.

12.The Matchbox Pinhole

My home-made matchbox pinhole camera. I shot the previous pictures with it. by Hlynur

The matchbox pinhole is one of the ‘standard’ pinholes that you make. It’s longevity lies in its simplicity.

13.Teapot Pinhole

Perky Pinhole by Voxphoto

Ross is another photographer who loves to create and experiment with photography.  The teapot is one of many strange cameras he uses.

14.Pinwide

PINWIDE - DIY Pinhole, f/238, 6x18, 87.1degrees, 120film by rodolfo novak

The DIY pinhole creates a super-wide 6×18 photo on 120 film! Click on the photo for more info, and some photographs produced with the camera.

15.Folding Pinhole

Folding Pinhole 6x9 by effixe

effixe has taken an old 6×9 folding camera and attached a beatufully laser-etched shutter onto the front of the door.

16.Chamaeleon Panorama

Chamaeleon Panorama 6x6/2 pinhole panoramic camera by chamaeleon618

Chamaeleon on Flickr spends an incredible amount of time to create this hand-made pinholes.  The process includes many layers of oil being rubben into the wood over periods of months, and all the wood is teak or ebony.  There are no plastic parts at all.  

17.Oatmeal Pinhole Camera

Oatmeal Pinhole Camera Tutorial by Archer's Eye

The Oatmeal DIY pinhole is another ‘standard’ pinhole to make.  If you search google for pinhole tutorials, the oatmeal tutorial is always near the top of the results.  Click on the photo above to see a full pictorial tutorial.

18.Zero Image Pinholes

Zero image pinholes aren’t DIY jobs like most of the others shown here.  They are created by Zero Image and sold via their website. Their pinholes are of gorgeous construction, but they do cost a fair whack! Zero Image do all kinds of different sized cameras too, so you can buy one which suits your needs best.

19.Niagra Falls Pinhole

niagara falls pinhole camera by Duchamp

Okay, this may be a bit like some of the others featured here, but it’s pretty!! Uses Polaroid 600 film held in place by magnets inside the tin.

20. Holga 120S Pinhole

diy pinholga shutter, take 3 (in open position) by willsfca

Our Final pinhole had to be a holga(well, this is holgablog afterall).  This is a bit more advanced than a lot of the holga pinholes (most people just take off the lens and put a hole in a bit of can and tape it down!). Click on the photo for more info.[link]