pinhole

Similar to Hipstamatic for the iPhone, Retro Camera is a popular Android application that lets you take six different styles of nostalgia-inducing photos.

Download and install the free app, then choose from the Barbl, Little Orange Box, Xolaroid 2000, Pinhole Camera, FudgeCan, and Hipsteroku cameras. Each combines its own levels of vignetting, film scratches, and camera noise to produce uniquely old-school photos.

When you open up the app, the first thing you'll notice is the beautifully accurate retro look and feel. Each camera has its own graphical interface and viewfinder, and each truly brings you back to the days … Read more

In conjunction with Easter and Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day, Italian photographer Francesco Capponi decided to capture his self-portrait by converting an egg into a pinhole camera. His vision was to create a single-use camera that could be part of the image creation process, rather than just recording it. The result: the Pinhegg camera obscura.

Compared with a traditional camera that uses a lens to capture images, the Pinhegg's "lens" is a precision-drilled hole of a single aperture. Light enters the hole and projects the scene as an inverted image on the film emulsion painted inside the egg. The result is a negative imprinted within the egg itself. … Read more

Fans of Polaroid photos, check this out. Korean designers Yoo Geun-hyuk & Yoon Bo-jung have conceptualized the Flutter In Pinhole camera, which is made from cardboard and has two Polaroid sheets inside. It comes shipped flat, and users simply have to expand the case and remove the strip covering the two lens openings at the front of the shooter to take a shot.

Supplied with the snapper is a white pencil which you can use to roll over the back of the camera to "process" the photos. Then, cut the snapper in half and you'll see two exposed Polaroid frames. There are even spaces at the side for you to use the pencil to write a message with.

It sounds confusing, but check out the video below to see how it works. … Read more

Here at Crave, we've covered Lego-themed digicams before. These shooters basically have the colorful plastic blocks stuck to them, and weren't really fully crafted from Lego blocks. However, Fernando Ramirez Martinez has rigged a fully functional medium-format camera out of Lego pieces, some black cardboard, glue, and duct tape.

Martinez's boxy creation snaps 6x6 square-format images, and has a lens with a 150mm focal length. There is no shutter mechanism for this Lego snapper. Rather, it relies on a pinhole with an aperture of F300. If you're shooting under bright daylight with ISO 400 film, a … Read more

Franziska Dierschkeare is the designer behind this concept camera, a unique take on the kitschy toy camera popularized by the Lomography Diana, Holga, and the Supersampler...all of which can be found at your local Urban Outfitters, if you dare.

This pinhole camera is slightly different in that there's no viewfinder to look through. Instead, users are encouraged to simply aim the photogun as accurately as possible and blindly pull the trigger. Dierschke claims that this method of shooting puts less emphasis on picture and more on the "playful" act of taking pictures.

Sounds like fun, but … Read more

Pinhole photography has long been regarded as a quirky alternative to taking pictures, and shutterbugs can use almost any empty containers to take images.

The Paint Can Pinhole Camera goes back to the basics of photography. All you need is a roll of 35mm film or a piece of light-sensitive photo paper. Load either material into the can in a dark room then give the lid a good knock to seal it tight. When something catches your eye, simply remove the magnetic strip covering the pinhole to take the shot. Depending on the lighting situation and the type of media … Read more

The manufactured quirk, the out-of-the-box individuality--Urban Outfitters is becoming like Target for hipsters. You can get your ironic clothing, mod bedspread, dirty reading material, slightly dinged-up but brightly colored coffee table, wall mirror (in which you pretend not to narcissistically check your intentionally mussed hair)--and now, your retro-hip plastic camera, too. At this point, Urban just needs to start selling organic avocados and MGMT CDs and it'll truly be a one-stop shop for hipsterdom.

But I digress. Heard of pinhole photography? Of course you have, you went to a liberal arts school and took a whole class on … Read more

I wish I would've remembered this a little sooner, but I was reminded late yesterday by photographer Corinne Schulze's blog that yesterday was Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day. That doesn't mean that you're off the hook, it just means that you have more inspiration in the form of the images participants shared this year. There's even one by Professor Andrew Davidhazy of the Rochester Institute of Technology. His process is a little complicated, but if you want to give pinhole photography a try, the WPPD site has some links showing how to make your own pinhole … Read more

If you're really on a tight budget, or just a hopeless DIY addict, Corbis has a way for you to print out and make your own camera.

The picture agency has released some funky-looking templates on its Web site, and all you have to do is print out the PDF file and stick it onto a card. Follow the score lines, then cut and fold accordingly.

If all goes well, the next thing you have to do is find some 35mm film, which could take far more time than all of the above. Eventually what you'll get is … Read more