Olmpus XA / Ilford XP2 Super
Since leaving Flickr at the end of April, I’ve had the luxury of spending more time with the pups in Buena Vista for our early morning walks. Many of the more majestic trees were planted over a hundred years ago and they’re wonderful to photograph. You can view more of the trees of Buena Vista here.
As you can see, I had one other thought about data visualization for 10/10/10. (See Data pr0n.)
I can cross building my own pinhole camera off my life list of things to try. (At some point I’ll get my act together and actually formulate the master list.) Having seemingly mastered the art of making a pinhole for my solargraphy adventure, creating something bigger. After a bit of searching, I decided to use Earl Johnson’s How to Build a 4×5″ Pinhole Camera at Without Lenses for my initial construction.
Bits & pieces:
– You may need to improvise the design of the piece that fits up against your film holder if you’ll be using a different back than the one featured in the article.
– The camera Earl builds has a focal length of 75mm. I wanted something more like 100mm, so I made the sides taller. If you want something more wide angle, you can reduce the height of the sides. If you’d like to be precise in your construction, here’s an online calculator to assist you in determining the correct size of your pinhole.
– Earl doesn’t go into the actual creation of the pinhole in any great detail. Here’s an article on Silverbased that covers pinhole creation in depth.
– I like duct tape. I decided to strengthen the overall box with lots and lots of duct tape.
– The shutter is a simple slider that I can move up and down. I’ll need to keep an eye on it to ensure that it remains light tight and replace when necessary.
– There’s a wee bit of light leaking into the camera from between where the camera sits on the back. I’m currently taping the edges with electrical tape (another fine adhesive product). I’d like to find thin felt-like material to act as a muffler.
– I still need to work out a tripod mount. I’ve been placing the camera on the ground, angling the front of the camera upward, but I’d like to get the camera off the ground. I’ll let you know what I work out.
Here’s what the finished camera looks like:
And here’s a photo that I took with the camera earlier today in Buena Vista:
Running a test roll of expired Fuji Neopan 1600 through the Olympus XA. 800 is the maximum ISO on the XA, so Photoworks pulled the film a stop while processing. You can view more from the roll here.
I’m entranced by the three different numbers that represent those interested in 10/10/10:
194 have identified themselves as participants.
257 have joined the Flickr group.
454 have signed up to receive an email reminder a day or two prior.
As I fall asleep, I find myself trying to imagine ways that these three numbers relate to one another. (Hey, it’s infinitely better than designing a better ear cleaning tool which had engaged my brain for months — not that I’d make them and pass them out to worthy recipients while riding public transportation. That and deodorant.)
Olympus XA
If you’re looking for gorgeous views of Mt. Diablo and the bay over to San Francisco (and don’t mind a little elevation change), I highly recommend this hike. There are more photos here.
Heather Powazek Champ never leaves the house without a camera. A Canadian by birth, she now calls San Francisco home. More »
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