Skink?

dave lackey · 01-04-2011

Did a search... no dice.

Anyone tried the Skink pinhole kit for a Leica?

dazedgonebye · 01-04-2011

No...own a couple for large format lens boards.
They are well made.

Alfasud · 03-27-2012

I just got one of these and put it on a Tower 3. The first roll of 800 asa film came back today. As this was my first try with pinhole, I did not know what to expect but was very disappointed. At $12.00 for the film, and $18.00 for develop and print, I'm not sure I'll bother to try again.

That said, I'm not blaming the equipment. Fit and finish is excellent, and delivery from Hong Kong was prompt. If anyone else has tried one and can give advice...

Papercut · 03-27-2012

I own it and it works -- but the negative is just so small that I tend not to appreciate the results much. I use 120 or 4x5 for my pinhole images.

paulfish4570 · 03-27-2012

they have blue tails, don't they?

dave lackey · 03-27-2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by paulfish4570

they have blue tails, don't they?

Only with color film...if black and white, the tails are kinda greyish.

Here is a link to Leica M photos with a Skink:

http://www.flickriver.com/search/skink+pinhole+leica/

Alfasud · 03-27-2012

Guess I'll have to try again. How did you determine your exposure times?

dave lackey · 03-27-2012

Beats me...but you might start here:

http://skinkpinhole.com/wp/faq/pinhole/

Papercut · 03-27-2012

Once you know the f-stop, it's a simple thing to take an incident metering of the light and convert to a base exposure time (most meters won't give readings for f/150+ so you'll have to figure this manually or use the BlackCat or some other converter -- many people use a printed chart or spreadsheet).

The real trick is compensating for reciprocity failure. Most films do not respond linearly to time: past one second of exposure they get more and more insensitive to light so you must add more and more time to compensate.

You can find some very exact figures for reciprocity correction for most films, but I often make things simpler and more seat of the pants. Out to 30 seconds of BASE exposure time, I generally multiply by 5 (so 30 seconds = 2.5 minutes) and anything over 30 seconds, I multiply by 10.

Fuji ACROS is great film for pinholing in large part because it needs little to no reciprocity compensation for times up to 120 seconds.

With that said, my favorite pinhole shot was done without any calculations at all, on Delta 3200 (120 film) and the exposure time was "open the sliding shutter wait about one second and close":

Cable Car Turnaround: Market and Powell, SF

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alfasud

Guess I'll have to try again. How did you determine your exposure times?

Alfasud · 03-27-2012

Thanks Dave and Kevin. Your info has started me in the right direction

seakayaker1 · 03-27-2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by dave lackey

Did a search... no dice.

Anyone tried the Skink pinhole kit for a Leica?

Godfrey who posts on RFF as well started a thread awhile back on the GetDPI site:

http://forum.getdpi.com/forum/leica-...le-system.html

Discussion and sample photographs available.

rbiemer · 03-27-2012

I've got one. I use it on my Bessa R and R2a cameras. I don't have anything to share yet but I will when I get the film back.
I have made a couple pinhole body caps for my LTM cameras and liked what I got from those.
The Skink appealed to me for several reasons; the main one being that the pinhole itself is much better than what I've been able to produce and I hope that means less diffraction artifacts on the negs.
The Skink Kit I bought had several "lenses" included: a pinhole, a zone plate, and a zone sieve. Not quite sure waht that last one is but I wanted to try a zone plate so the kit made sense for me.
Also, the kit I got was made for M mount cameras which means that it included a very nicely machined LTM to M mount adapter. Since I use an R2a, I don't need an adapter that brings up specific frame lines.

I figure my exposure times either by using my handheld meter and multiplying the given time or, if I'm shooting in bright sun, letting the camera meter guide me. With 400 speed film I can get fairly short exposure times and mostly not worry about reciprocity. If I'm shooting some slower film or in any other light than bright sun, I will add time. And bracket.
For exposure times of less than 2 seconds, I don't correct. For longer times I do.

I also can recommend this program:
http://www.pinhole.cz/en/pinholedesigner/
It has been very helpful.
I generated a chart with it that tells me times for my aperture based on metered readings at f/22 and the film I'm using.

Rob

isoterica · 04-23-2012

I just ordered the Pro Skink with all the plates [like Rob above] for LTM. Now the wait, it's expected to arrive early May. Also want to get an adapter LTM to EOS. Since it is a pinhole should I expect vignetting?

dave lackey · 04-23-2012

Guys, when you get some photos to share, I am super anxious to see how the Skink worked out!!!

Especially on the LTM. That IIIF in my bag sure would be pocketable with one!

isoterica · 04-23-2012

Will do. Love the atmosphere a pinhole/zone plate can create. Not sure I will be able to use it and get any good results at first but once I get it figured out I will share.

shane_goguen · 05-28-2012