This pinhole camera is the ultimate in simplicity. It is constructed from a cardboard cereal box, in this case it was a Quaker Oats Old Fashioned Grits container. The exterior was covered with black construction paper, sealing all joints with photographic, black masking tape. The inside was spray painted with flat, black paint.

Cut a hole in the side of the container for the pinhole.

Making the Pinhole

Cut a piece from the side of an aluminum beverage that measures about 2" X 2". Place this aluminum on a piece of cardboard. Hold a #10 sewing needle firmly in a pair of pliers. Press the pointy end of the needle in the center of the aluminum and twist the pliers back and forth while applying pressure. Do not try to puncture the aluminum, just create a depression in it.

Turn the aluminum over and lightly sand or file the dent until the surface is flat again. Repeat the pressing with the needle and the sanding until the hole is big enough for the needle to go all of the way through.

Tape the pinhole over the front of the hole that you have in the camera body. Attach a piece of black tape or paper to act as a shutter.

Depending on what you will be using for photographic material, film or paper, you might want to glue a couple of thin strips of cardboard inside the camera to keep the material in place. Using enlarging paper I did not find this to be necessary.

You can use a piece of black paper or tape as a shutter. I constructed a sliding shutter out of posterboard and card stock.

You will have to make a series of tests to determine proper exposure. The enlarging paper that I use has an ASA speed of about 1.6 or about 4 stops below f/25. Exposures in sunlight ran from 15-60 seconds.