How to Make an Oat Meal Tin Camera

Before you make the pinhole, you will need to calculate the optimum size of the pinhole. You can use our cool Pinhole Size Calculator to determine the pinhole size and the f/stop of your camera.

To make the pinhole, you can punch it with a needle, or drill the pinhole with a mini drill bit (if you can get one). Use a corrugated paper beneath the brass shim as backing. Rotate the needle or drill bit so as to make a perfectly round tiny hole.

Step 8:

1. Use masking tape to wrap about the top of the needle so you can hold the needle and rotate it when punching. Remember to keep rotating the needle when punching it in or out, as a very uniformly round hole can produce better images.

2. Below is a picture showing the use of a mini drill bit to drill the tiny pinhole. 

3. After the hole is made, sand the brass lightly with a very fine sand paper to remove the burr at the edge of the hole. Be sure to hold the brass securely, to avoid bending the thin metal.

*Re-insert the needle/drill bit into the hole (remembering to rotate it), and re-sand again so as to clean the tiny hole of its burr.

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Web page build at September 26, 2000, last update April, 2008
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