Pinhole_Camera

Build large and small pinhole cameras and compare the performance.

Materials:

• Large box: 30cm x 29cm x 21cm ( w x d x h)
• small box: 21cm x 10cm x 10 cm (w x d x h)
• aluminum plate (from pop can)
• white paper & butter paper
• black tape
• needle

If you have a room with a small window, you can use the entire room as a camera. If not, a big-sized box also works.

I calculated the optimal pinhole size based on the focal length.

C = 1.56 - 2

Focal length = 29cm

λ = 550 nm

d=c √(fλ) = 0.8 mm

the optimal size of pinhole is 0.8 mm.

I took the optimal pinhole size as a reference and adjusted the size of the pinhole to get a clear image.

Focal length = 10 cm

d=c √(fλ) = 0.5 mm

The optimal size of pinhole is 0.5 mm.

Observation:

• Large camera performs better. Large camera can produce

• The image gets sharper and dimmer as the pinhole gets smaller until reaches a threshold.