Pinhole Camera

Introduction and Origin

A pinhole camera is a simple camera without a lens and with a small hole. Light from the
source passes through the hole and projects an inverted image on the opposite side of the box.
This is known as the obscura effect or pinhole image.

It is the simplest camera possible. It consists of a light proof box, some sort of film and a
pinhole. The pinhole in the camera acts as a lens you see in normal cameras. The pinhole acts
as a point source of light. It forces every point emitting light in the scene to form a small,
inverted picture on the film.

The first known description of the pinhole camera is found in the book “The Stereoscope” by
David Brewster, who was a Scottish inventor. Sir William Crookes and William de Wiveleslie
Abney were other early photographers to try the pinhole technique.[3]

The camera obscura or pinhole image is a natural optical phenomenon. Early known descriptions
are found in the Chinese Mozi writings and the Aristotelian Problems . A practical demonstration
of the pinhole effect from 700 AD is still in existence at the Virupaksha Temple in Hampi, India.

Ibn al-Haytham , who was an Arab physicist also known as Alhazen, was the first to thoroughly
study and describe the camera obscura effect. Over the centuries others started to experiment
with it, mainly in dark rooms with a small opening in shutters, mostly to study the nature of light
and to safely watch solar eclipses.
Principal
A pinhole camera works on a simple principle. Suppose you are in a dark room containing a
small pinhole through which the sunlight is coming out. When you look at the wall opposite
to the pinhole, a small dot created by the light will be seen. A pinhole is simply a smaller
version of this room.

The principle of a pinhole camera is that light travels in a straight line. This is called the
rectilinear propagation of light. When the light passes through the pinhole, it forms an
inverted image of the object on the opposite side.

The reason the image formed on the screen is inverted is very simple. We know that light
travels in a straight line. Light from A passes through the hole and forms C on the opposite
side. Similarly, light from B passes through the hole and forms D on the opposite side.

The image formed on the pinhole camera is real as it can be formed on a screen. It is of the
same color as the object. The image can be smaller, bigger or equal to the size of the object
depending on the distance of the object from the camera. Other than these, a pinhole camera
has many more properties. The charecteristics of pinhole cameras are:

1. Pinhole photographs have nearly infinite depth of field, everything appears in focus.
2. As there's no lens distortion, wide-angle images remain absolutely rectilinear.
3. Exposure times are usually long, resulting in motion blur around moving objects and the
absence of objects that moved too fast.
Other special features can be built into pinhole cameras such as the ability to take double
images by using multiple pinholes, or the ability to take pictures in cylindrical or spherical
perspective by curving the film plane.
Recent Development and Uses
Uses:

A common use of the pinhole camera is to look at the movement of the sun over a long period of
time. This is called solargraphy.
Pinhole cameras with CCDs (charge-coupled devices) are sometimes used
for surveillance because they are difficult to detect.
Modern day manufacturing has created high quality pinhole camera lenses[6] that can be applied
to digital cameras, allowing photographers and videographers to achieve the camera obscura
effect.
 Acknowledgment and References
I would like to express a special thanks to my Teacher – Ms. Princy,
as well as our Principal- Mr. Aloysius D’mello who gave me this
golden opportunity to do this wonderful project. I learnt so many new
things while doing it. I would also like to thank my parents and
everyone who supported me while doing this project.

I had done a lot of researching while doing this project. The websites
I referred to were:

1. En.wikipedia.com
2. Electronics.howstuffworks.com
3. Topperlearning.com