[CK] mintyCam

[CK] Photography // MintyCam (Altoids Pinhole Camera)

UPDATED 01.2008

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Materials you will need:

1 Altoids mint tin
2. Sand Paper (for honing pinhole)
3. Steel Wool (for honing pinhole and prep)
4. Masking Tape (for painting)
5. Small sewing needle (to make the pinhole)
6. Needle Nose Pliers (for film entry/exit)
7. Used 35mm Film Cartridge (film advance)

8. Scissors
9. 1 roll 35mm 100 ASA print or slide film
10. Opaque Black tape
11. Newspaper (for painting)
12. Wine cork (for pinhole needle drill)
13. Turn key for take up spool
14. XACTO blade (for film entry/exit)

15. Black or gray spray paint primer
16. Flat black spray paint
17. Ventilated area for painting

BTW 200 ASA film will work, but the overall color saturation will be less. I've found best results using 100 ASA film.

Directions to make a mintyCam

Just a few easy steps and you'll making pinhole pictures before you know it.

1. Mask with tape all the areas of the tin you don't want painted. I suggest masking the interior edges of the lid. If that area gets painted, it will make the lid difficult to open. Then spray paint mint tin of your choice with flat black spray paint.

2. Drill pinhole into the tin with small sewing needle. I have since gone to drilling a larger hole in the center of the tin lid. Then I bond a piece of soda tin (with smaller pinhole in the middle)
to outside of the mint tin.

Making the pinhole in the soda tin allows me to make a smaller pinhole, thus "sharper" images in the end. I found that using an acupuncture needles works better than the smallest needle that comes in sewing needle kits.

3. Cut two small openings (a little wider than the film itself) at the bottom of the tin with an Exacto blade. Bend back metal with needle nose pliers.

4. Go to your local film processor and ask them nicely for some empty film cartridges. They normally throw them away. Get a few if you can. You can reuse them, but it's always nice to have spare just incase the leader decides
to play hide-and-seek with you.

5. Buy some 100 ASA film and feed the leader through the tin as photographed above.

6. Cut the leader off the unexposed film and feed through the tin (emulsion side up) and firmly attach to the leader of the empty spool with black photo tape.

7. Make a shutter. I use Scotch photo tape for my shutters. They're light tight, easy to make and replace.

8. Tape ALL the edges of film canisters with black photo tape. Also, make sure you tape the inside of the tin where the hinges are.

9. Now your ready to wind the exposed part of the leader into the empty canister. Once you do that... you're read to shoot.

10. Expose film for about 1-2 seconds in bright sunlight. About 2-3 turns of the canister knob to advance to the next shot. Make sure you keep the camera still when making the exposure. Any camera shake will cause your image to blur. Attach the camera to a tripod or place the camera on the ground and use your foot to keep the camera still, while opening and closing the shutter.

11. Once you reach the end of the film and can't wind anymore. Wind the exposed film back into the original canister and process.

NEW! Custom CK MintyCams Are NOW For Sale For those of you that are interested in the mintycam, but aren't sure you want to go to all the trouble of painting, cutting, etc., you can now pay a small price for me to make one for you. Since this is a labor of love, I've decided to keep the cost low, while charging enough to cover my material costs and shipping and handling.
		A One of a Kind Custom Made Camera for $28.00 (US) 1. Altoids tin that is painted with primer and flat black paint. 2. A professionally drilled CK brass pinhole (about 250-300 microns) 3. Loading and unloading instructions 4. CK tips & tricks for taking better mintycam photos 5. Take-up spool and silver metallic turn key 6. Shipping and handling 7. Optional custom stencil painting of your initials and the creation date (please specify if you want this done to your camera when you send me your address information, otherwise I will leave the camera as is.)

UPDATE 12.2007
CK MintyCam Pinhole Cameras Will Now Be Made With 36 Gauge Brass Sheet Metal
In an effort to create a better pinhole camera which will produce sharper pinhole images, CK will now be drilling his pinholes into 48 gauge brass sheet metal. For those of you that have purchased Mintycams in the past, I am more than happy to send you a new brass pinhole, that you can then modify to your existing MintyCam.

		Shipping within the United States Total = $33.00 (That's $28.00 + $5.00 Shipping)
		International Shipping Total = $40.00 (That's $28.00 + $12.00 Shipping)

So far CK has created and shipped MintyCams to the following people in these cities and countries:

Seb in Hackney, London UK	Ellen in Washington D.C.	Terry In Seattle Washington
Rachel In Chicago, Illinois	Robert in Galway, Ireland	Alba in Barcelona, Spain
Stitch in Mandaluyong, Manila, Philippines	Clea In Barcelona, Spain	Melanie in Bermuda
Antoine in Montreal Canada	April in Saint Cloud, Florida	Mr. E in Groton, Connecticut
Susan in Huntington Beach, California	Dempsey in Brooklyn, New York	Susan in Topeka, Kansas
Nathaniel in Chicago, Illinois	Mary in Carrollton, Texas	Anne in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Joel in Staten Island, New York	Michael in Silverton, Oregon	Omrip in Tel Aviv, Ireal
Rachel in Fayetteville, Arizona	Alex in Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania	Virginia in Winona, Minnesota

Thanks to all of you for your purchases and support!

In the future, I hope to add a small MintyCam photo gallery. This gallery will showcase images taken with CK MintyCams and MintyCams made by others. So if you have a mintycam image you would like to share, please email me that photo and I'll see
to it that it gets added to the minty fresh altoids pinhole gallery.

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