The Pinhole Camera - Photography making equipment

Example 4; Pinhole Camera

It can also be described as a 'camera obscura'. It was one of the first ever image making devices! It is a tiny camera placed inside a dark environment (concealed space), it takes a photo through a small hole that looks out of the box. They are easy to construct. It is just basic image making through "the rectilinear propagation of light in all different directions". These cameras don't have a lens.  (http://www.pinhole.cz/en/pinholecameras/whatis.html)

image is  from -  luminous-landscape.com

You make them very simply by producing a hole in one side of any small box which does NOT allow light to come in. You then place a tiny bit of tin over the hole on the outside and then place a piece of black tape over the opening on the other side. Then once you are in a dark room you can attach a piece of photographic paper onto the opposite side and there you have it. Why do people use pinhole cameras? I think people use them as they are simple to make (cheap) and they can be any shape or size you would like so that you are able to capture photographs from nearly any angle possible. It is also said that pinhole cameras give an amazing alternative perspective on photography.

  Here are some examples:                                                           

 image on left  from-   pixelcurse.com

                                                            Personally, using a pin hole camera is rather risky for me. The thought of not knowing what the image being photographed will look like, puts me on edge. That's the limitations of the pinhole camera for me, not being able to view the image before it is being taken. The chances of capturing a very successful photo with a pin hole camera compared to for example a point and shoot is very slim. It is much harder to manipulate certain aspects through a pin hole camera as it hasn't got any setting buttons to allow you to play around with things such as exposure and shutter speed. But it is hard to criticize it as it was only the first basic photography making equipment and it is a rather clever and cheap way of making photographs but it is a bit annoying that you don't know what the camera is capturing.