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Camera serial number Boo1ZW
(“Model B, number 1, zebrawood”)

“You know you have reached perfection of design not when you have nothing more to add, but when you have nothing more to take away.
                                       — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry



This is the front of my first production model, and typical of all subsequent cameras. Top and front are of maple; back and trim are zebrawood. Semicircles on front are shims to add sufficient thickness for the latches.

Rear view, showing distinctive curved back. Each piece of wood has unique grain patterns and color, so no two cameras are alike. Each one is signed on the bottom, and the serial number is stamped into the wood.

Cameras are available in the customer’s choice of woods, including walnut, walnut burl, mahogany, zebrawood, purpleheart, satinwood, lacewood and others, depending on availability. Latches are solid brass.






The “lens” cap is also the shutter, just as in the real old days. It’s tethered to the camera with a leather strap.
The two silver objects above and below the aperture are magnets that hold the lens cap in place.

 
   SPECIFICATIONS
   Film format Half-sheet of 8x10" enlarging paper (4x10"). (Yields paper negative. Scan into computer and reverse tones. Print normally from computer.) For the convenience of customers living in countries with a modern measurement system (i.e., metric), cameras will also accept a half sheet of A4. The cameras will also hold a half sheet of 8x10" film. Details are in the instruction manual. (Download here.)
   Lens type Lens? What lens? We don't need no stinkin' lens! Pinhole aperture is 400 microns (laser-drilled in stainless steel by Lenox Laser), yielding an aperture of approximately f/280. Exposure times are about 40 seconds in sunlight, 3 minutes on a dark rainy day.
   Focal length 110 mm. May vary slightly due to dimensions of available wood.
   Angle of view Approximately 120° horizontal, 55° vertical
    Leveling guide Built-in bubble level
   Viewfinder Inlaid wood sightlines on top
   Dimensions width x height x depth = 9 x 5.75 x 5" (23 x 14 x 12.5 cm)
   Weight 1 lb 4 oz (567 grams); varies according to woods used
   Tripod mount Standard 1/4-20 threaded socket on bottom; three rubber-tipped feet for table-top use
   Finish Polyurethane varnish, satin finish

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Why is the back rounded?
Because a pinhole camera has no lens, the exposure across a flat film plane varies according to the inverse square law. This means that the edges of the image will be much darker than the center, resulting in the classic extreme vignetting seen in traditional flat film plane pinhole cameras. In contrast, a semi-circular film plane, as on the cameras shown here, maintains a constant aperture-to-film distance, giving equal exposure across the image. The downside is that it induces some linear distortion, although this can be minimized by leveling the camera with the dominant horizontal line of the picture, i.e., the horizon. That's why the bubble level is mounted in the top.
Where are they made?
Lakewood, Colorado. I make each one by hand in my home workshop.
What’s it cost?
See For Sale page.

What do the pictures look like?
They are extremely panoramic/wide angle, with an aspect ratio of 2:5. Here are two samples. (Cropped slightly on ends.) These are high quality images; the exhibition prints from these negatives are 17 inches in the larger dimension.

 Both of these pictures happened to be taken on rainy days, resulting in a full tonal range on enlarging paper. Photographs taken in bright sunlight tend to be quite contrasty because enlarging paper isn't really designed for such a wide range of brightness. For shooting in sunlight, I recommend using film. Details are in the instruction manual. (Download here.)

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