Published on Sep 05, 2023
Cameras have become a standard item in many households. You must have seen a camera somewhere, sometime. But do you know, what is a camera? What is inside it? How does it take photographs?
The most basic type of camera is the pinhole camera, which one can construct from a cigar box, aluminum foil, and sheet film. In this activity, we'll learn how to make a simple pinhole camera (we call it a pinhole scope) and how it works.
A pinhole camera does not have a viewfinder; neither does it have any control of aperture or shutter time. One has to do them manually. But it cost so little.
The major difficulty is in fixing the photographic paper/film and developing it. If you think your circumstances do not permit you to experiment with photographic paper or film, you can still see how the image is formed in such a camera. A very simple description to make such a pinhole camera is provided at the following website, (don't be put off by the brand name of the container, understand and follow the spirit :
But, if you think you can handle photographic paper/film (it is not very difficult) then you will find the methods described in any of the following WebPages of great help. Visit all of them and decide which one is best suited to your taste and resources.
All you need is a container for baby food or a paint, like the one shown in accompanying picture. You can easily get such a box from a scrap dealer (raddiwala), the rest of the requirements can be very easily arranged.
