Dayne Adams — Thu, 29 May 2008 12:25:18 GMT

I recently acquired an inexpensive set of mini drill bits and handle from Amazon, the smallest bit yielding about a 0.4mm hole, which is about right for 4×5 film, though I do have trouble getting such a small hair-thin bit properly positioned into the chuck of the pin vise. Also discovered a very inexpensive lighted scale loupe (in 0.1 mm increments) from JacksToolShed, which makes viewing the size and roundness of a hole much easier.

Michael Riblet — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 23:24:44 GMT

I’ve made several homemade pinholes based on different sets of instructions I’ve found on the web. The better ones do mention dimpling the metal and sanding flat on both sides to get a small round hole. What they don’t mention is a pin vice, micrometer, and never sandpaper with grit over 600! I’m lucky to have Japanese sandpaper at 1000 and 2000 grit. Great for this kind of job. One last point, if you can get stainless steel shim stock instead of brass or even worse copper, it would be better. Copper oxidizes very quickly!

Without Lenses: Comments on stories by David Walters