How to make a pinholecamera

Premium Accuracy Linear and 2D Barcode Verifier, Axicon 15500, Field of View 3.74″ X 2.75″, Automatic Variable Aperture, ISO15426-1 and -2VERIFIER Specification, ISO15415/ISO15416 Print Quality, Traceable to Nist, Automatic Multiple Scan Averaging, Designed for Qr Code, GS1 Qr Code, Data Matrix and GS1 Data Matrix, Ean/Upc, ITF-14, GS1-128, Code 128, or Code 39 Symbol, USB Powered, Includes: USB Cable

Since the 1600s, people have experimented with light-proof rooms, chambers, or boxes with a small hole in one side, known as a Camera Obscura. With the advent of photographic film or paper, this idea evolved into the Pinhole Camera -- a light-proof box with a tiny hole on one end, and a photo-sensitive material at the other. The hole is uncovered for a period of time, and the light from outside is focused by the tiny hole on the material on the other end of the box. The hole is then covered, and the photo-sensitive material is then processed, revealing an image. If you are a student of photography, chances are you have had a chance to work with a pinhole camera.

Pinholecamera

The Axicon 15500 series verifiers have been designed to read both two-dimensional and linear barcodes. The system uses a special array of LEDs and a CCD-based sensor to capture each barcode image before it is analysed.  It is able to verify multiple barcodes in the same field of view, whether they are 2D or linear codes, and the user sees the results for each barcode by selecting the relevant barcode on the screen.

PinholecameraClass 6

I had an idea to build a pinhole camera with a cardboard box, but instead of using photo-sensitive material inside that requires chemical processing, I could just use my phone to take a picture of the image projected inside the box. Modern phones have amazing low light abilities, so it's just crazy enough to work. And it does!

Light enters the box through the tiny hole, and projects an image on the white paper on the opposite side. The phone, on the same side of the box as the tiny hole, can take a photo of the image projected onto the white paper.

In this digital age, where our phones are better cameras than anyone had until recent decades and can hold tens of thousands of images, the idea of a pinhole camera is kind of silly. But it does have an interesting aesthetic, and can be a tool to learn about light.