INTRODUCTION

The Little Merlin is a pinhole camera made in USA since 2003.

BEST SUITED FOR:

Art

PERSONAL NOTES

The Little Merlin is a paint can in which you put a film in, and expose it with a tiny pinhole on the side. You have to load/unload your film in total darkness, so you either need a darkroom or darkbag to use it. If you use photo paper instead of film, you can load/unload it in a red light darkroom.

This was my first large format pinhole camera. I did use 35mm size and medium format pinhole cameras before, but this one opened new horizons for me : I saw that by using a bigger film size for a pinhole, you don't need a huge enlarging ratio, so the softness caused by diffration is less visible on the final image. By 8x10, it's pretty impossible (by eye only) to see the difference between a photo taken with a lens and a photo taken with a good pinhole. Fascinating!

I made a few improvements to my Merlin, a tripod socket, an easy way to carry it outside my camera bag, and a second pinhole on the top to do anamorphic images:

Tripod socket

Carabineer clip

Second pinhole on top

This camera was a kind of catalysis for me, it showed me that making cameras is quite easy. Since then, I started to build my own cameras, each time with more complex and demanding designs.

CONCLUSION

Pinhole cameras are fun. The Paint can pinholes are cheap, and ready to go. If you want to experiment with large format pinhole photography, this is the easiest way!

PHOTO SAMPLES

VERDICT:

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