One of my photographic projects this year is pinhole photography. Last year, I saw some ethereal pinhole photos from 2 artists in a local galley in Calgary, Alberta. I was so impressed by the photos and I felt “I’ve got to try”. At first I was thinking of D.I.Y to with body cap, but I found Skink pinhole set. I end up ordering one online. At first, I thought pinhole is magic tool to turen every subjects look artistic photos, but actually it is quite fussy about its food. I learned I have to feed what it likes, otherwise the returns are just blur soft images. Especially, pinhole seems to like a lot of light. Take a look the image bellow.
I shot this image with the skink after I shot the same scene with a regular wide angle lens. To me, this is not particularly remarkable image.
I went Bow lake in Banff national park, Alberta 2 weeks ago. I was not feeling taking picture of the lake. I was just walking around. Then I found the flower bed. One advantage of pinhole over regular lens is there is no close range limitation. I can get as close to a subject as I want. So the flower bed is quite good subject. The skink pinhole set is coming with 3 different types of holes, a regular pinhole (f/122), zone sheave (f/71) and zone plate (f/46). Their focal length are equivalent to 24mm. The pinhole takes actually sharp and somewhat contrasty images, on the other hand the images taken by zone plate are really really soft. The zone sheave is somewhere between the pinhole and the ZP.
I tried all of them for the same setting. Please pick your favorite and leave your opinion. I am getting towards one but still I cannot decide. I need your help again.
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Bow lake – Dandelion bed 1, Pinhole by Hiroaki Kobayashi
Bow lake – Dandelion bed 2, Zone Plate by Hiroaki Kobayashi
Bow lake – Dandelion bed 3, Zone Sheave by Hiroaki Kobayashi
Lastly, I would like to introduce the photographer, Paul Stack. I met him at Lake Louise and both of us were having range finder cameras on neck. This kind of the encounter never happens for Canon users, I guess. Anyway, please check out his fabulous pinhole photos here, and also currently, his photos are being exhibited at Mount Royal University.
Hiroaki Kobayashi's Blog 
Nice article, thank for the samples and I will visit your friend site now,,
Thank you, Ali. I found some interesting article in your blog, too, especially about Sun and moon eclipse.
I guess you have entered the circle of confusion zone 🙂 Tough to decide which is best image since each has a different mood.
Circle of confusion zone is your specialty, Greg! Think about your panorama images, which are unique and fun.
I prefer the zone sheave of the three. It has a nice dreamy look to it. Not as much contrast but I think suits the subject nicely
Dandelion Bed 3 – colour blending and soft look but not too out of focus.
Thanks, Craig and Heather. I am toward ZS since it is not so soft but still it is very effective to create dreamy images.
I like the second image with the zone plate. They are all really nice, but I think if you are going out-of-focus and dreamy, go all the way!
Thanks, Sam. ZP is actually really difficult for me. I have not found the suitable subjects for the ZP. So your comment is encouraging. I am hoping I can develop my own sense to utilize the ZP.