Digital Home Thoughts - News & Reviews for the Digital Home

"Cameras have gotten pretty darn complex these days what with their deluxe panoramic stitching functions and all. But before we even start trying to figure out the inner-workings of such technologically advanced picture-makers, we remind ourselves that all we really need is one simple equation. Hole + box = photo. Sure, oatmeal boxes make great pinhole cameras, but there's another way!: the SLR Pinhole Body Cap, the most simple yet revolutionary way to get that beautifully lo-fi pinhole look."

Sigh. The main reasons to do this is either as a demonstration of geometric optics, or as an exercise for a photo art student. Either way, this really defeats the purpose of mucking around with a pinhole camera. $50 is a fair amount of money to throw at something which is best done by oneself (also, the images are going to be crap, technically speaking). So here're two suggestions from me on how to get the same thing and have fun doing it. Read on after the break!

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"The Cloak is not a camera bag -- in fact you shouldn't even call it one. The Cloak can't fit five lenses, two strobes, battery packs and your kitchen sink. It isn't even that padded (*GASP*). What it lacks in packing gusto, it makes up for by being the simplest, always ready, camera toting invention ever. The world's first shoot-through camera bag."

Although James Bond might have something to say about the Cloak being the "world's first shoot-through camera bag," the Photojojo Store does appear to have come up with yet another distinctive product. My initial reaction was "neat idea," followed by "looks awkward in use" - and then "Gee, wonder if using this setup increases chances of being picked up by police?" (whether for espionage or as a Peeping Tom!). Photojojo has a number of pictures, of course, but reading the "Cloak Bag Story" on the manufacturer's website provides a better perspective as to why one might want to actually carry this around. Does the Cloak seem likely to prevent robbery or theft? Under what circumstances - if any - would you be willing to trust your camera to one?

"To create "We're All Gonna Die - 100 meters of existence," he stood on a railroad bridge in Berlin for 20 days, photographing strangers. The result: a print 30 inches high, and 100 Meters wide."

The Photojojo! Newsletter provides a link to "100 Meters," a study that is only one of a number of ambitious projects by photographer Simon Hogsberg, whose website is worth a visit - as is Photojojo! itself: an eccentric photography web site that offers the above referenced Newsletter, a Forum, and the Photojojo Store. The latter sells a handful of items ranging from an Inflatable Photo Frame and a Bottle Cap Tripod (seriously!), to Eye-Fi Wireless Memory Cards. The Newsletter appears to mainly link to other sites; beyond the Hogsberg link, recent features include such fun projects as how to "Make a DIY Fisheye Lens from a Peephole and Soda Can," and "Light Painting with Moth Trails!"