"Headlights" Camera. { 5 images } Created 17 Sep 2020
“Headlights” 4”x5” film camera 1998.
This camera was my third and another experiment into pinhole photography.
Learning film photography lessons from the first two cameras, I decided I wanted to make a camera that had its own light source to try to cut down the long exposure times generally needed for pinhole photography.
Around that time I was racing mountain bikes and I had recently broke a few bones in a crash. Since my body was broken and I couldn’t ride, I thought my brand new Halogen mountain bike lighting system would be the perfect portable light source for the new camera! And with all my medical issues, surgical equipment incorporated into the construction of the camera would be the right tools to mount the new lights to. 😁
I machined the Headlights Camera from blocks of 6061 T-6 forged aircraft aluminum. The front aperture plate features a quick change aperture and the plate can be flipped around to change the camera from 4.5” focal length to 1.5” for super wide angle shots.
The back of the camera has a spring loaded film pressure plate with a medical diagram of a human body from a late 1800’s medical book. Mounted on the sides of the camera are surgical retractors with the Halogen lights mounted to them, and the aluminum and acrylic base of the camera houses the rechargeable battery that powers the lights.
The Headlights Camera Project is owned by a collector in Chicago, Illinois.
This camera was my third and another experiment into pinhole photography.
Learning film photography lessons from the first two cameras, I decided I wanted to make a camera that had its own light source to try to cut down the long exposure times generally needed for pinhole photography.
Around that time I was racing mountain bikes and I had recently broke a few bones in a crash. Since my body was broken and I couldn’t ride, I thought my brand new Halogen mountain bike lighting system would be the perfect portable light source for the new camera! And with all my medical issues, surgical equipment incorporated into the construction of the camera would be the right tools to mount the new lights to. 😁
I machined the Headlights Camera from blocks of 6061 T-6 forged aircraft aluminum. The front aperture plate features a quick change aperture and the plate can be flipped around to change the camera from 4.5” focal length to 1.5” for super wide angle shots.
The back of the camera has a spring loaded film pressure plate with a medical diagram of a human body from a late 1800’s medical book. Mounted on the sides of the camera are surgical retractors with the Halogen lights mounted to them, and the aluminum and acrylic base of the camera houses the rechargeable battery that powers the lights.
The Headlights Camera Project is owned by a collector in Chicago, Illinois.
