In order to prepare for Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day on Sunday I though I should get out one of my pinhole cameras to practice a little since I haven't used one in a while.
In my little Ondu camera collection I have 4 different cameras. They include an original 6x6 Pocket Camera, a 6x9 MKII Classic, a 4x5 MKII and a 35mm MKII. The MKII cameras were part of a kickstarter package for that variation of the ONDU cameras. I'll put together another post dedicated to this little collection, but for now we'll focus on the 6x9 classic.
The film orientation on the 6x9 classic is reversed to what I am used to, by that I mean that the film is loaded on the right and then spooled back to the left. For me that is not intuitive as every other camera I own spools film the other way. I decided I would load the camera with the film on the left as is my tradition, all I had to do was ignore the direction arrows on the film winders and I'm good...
As anyone who has shot 120 film knows, there are 3 sets of numbers on the back of the film, 1 set for 6x4.5 cameras, one set for 6x6 cameras and a set for 6x9 cameras, which is the model we are using for the practice session. When I was shooting I was thinking that there didn't seem to be many turns to get to the next frame, meh, it'll be fine I thought, don't second guess the camera.
So when you load the 6x9 MKII Classic with film on the left instead of how they designed it as on the right, the wrong numbers show up in the little window in the back of the camera to show you what frame you are on, instead of the 6x9 numbering on the film, I was shooting on the 6x4.5 framing.
The first roll is an art project, with overlap, lots of overlap… and I only used 1/2 of the film roll. If I had shot on the even numbered frames 2-4-6 etc. I would have been fine, but remember I wasn't second guessing the camera while shooting. Even though I decided to ignore the instructions on how to load the camera.
I have used this experience as as a learning opportunity, but I actually don't mind the look I got from the 50% overlap, they do have an abstract look about them, even if it makes me look like I have way too many typewriters.
I was able to master the 6x9 MKII Classic on the second practice roll on my home photoshoot. I've included samples from both rolls below, including a panorama I made from the first roll and some phone shots of my set. Exposures were about 15 minutes on HP5 film.
Today is a vacation day from the working from home grind, so I may do some more practice before Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day on Sunday!
Enjoy!
Dean
