Dan Pickard, a physics teacher, sent us this self portrait taken on the steps of his high school in Seattle. The technique of pinhole photography is a simple camera without a lens, the camera obscura.
He used a #1 stainless steel insect pin that makes a hole of about 0.4mm. That produces a well focused image along with sufficient light throughput. This image of a bromeliad (a botanical group which includes pineapples), also from Dan Pickard, was done with a #0 stainless steel insect pin
This thinner pin size will flex when pressed against a thick sheet of paper, cardboard, etc. You may need to hold the pin near the tip with a pair of tweezers or a hemostat.
Keith Uloth:
Ordered insect pinning equipment with no issues. Their website was easy to navigate and the process was quick without any delays or window reloading.
My order was shipped and received quicker than expected. I will order from them again.
Alison Bell:
Ordered a sample pack of insect pins for making pinhole cameras. Wonderful selection and super-fast shipment even in a pandemic. They work really well for the purpose. I use the pin size below the size of the hole I want and have gotten …
Leyla Cardenas:
Online customer here, from overseas. I bought insect pins because they are impossible to get here. Great products, very reliable business, Everything arrived in great condition.
Mary Claire Becker:
I have been using Indigo Instruments entomology pins in my artwork for almost ten years now, and at this point, they have been an integral part of multiple framed works as well as four different large-scale sculptural paper installations. Basically—huge thanks to Indigo Instruments for being a big part of my studio practice!
Laura Sudweeks:
Ordered 100 magnifying glasses for a marketing project. First I started on Amazon, but they only allowed me to order 10 at a time. That was a waste of my time and a complete pain. Some of the orders were canceled because they couldn't …
Jeanne Paquette:
Indigo Instruments has been a reliable source of affordable hand lenses for beginners in our earth sciences courses at McGill University. We tried other suppliers after coming across the occasional defective items (unavoidable in mass manufacturing). However, Indigo Instruments offers us the best quality:price ratio and attentive service among the many options we tried.
Length & Thickness of Stainless Steel Insect Pin #1
Pin #
Dimensions
Pin Head
Wire Gauge(s)
1
38x0.40mm (1.5x0.016")
1.1-1.3mm
42
Pinhole Camera Focal Length with this Pin
Focal Length (cm)
Focal Length (in.)
Pin Size
Pin Diameter (mm)
9.0
3 1/2
1
0.40
Focal Length as defined here is the distance from the pinhole at the front of the camera to rear where the photographic film or paper is placed. This is the distance of best theoretical focus of the pinhole camera's image with a pinhole of particular diameter.
The actual pinhole size/aperture made with a particular pin will likely be slightly larger than the diameter of the pin shaft.A small diameter pinhole has a shorter effective focal length; however smaller diameter pinholes will also require longer exposure times than larger pinholes. Depending on your photographic/artistic goals (ultra-sharp focus may not be required, or even desired) you may wish to choose a larger pinhole and give up some sharpness for faster more practical exposure times.
Information provided courtesy of Dan Pickard, Seattle WA
Documentation
Certificate of Analysis
Reviews (3)
2023-01-17
Great pins, have been using them for years without issue.
— Alexander
2021-07-27
I use these pins for my insect collection. They work great!
— Wendy
2020-06-04
Purchased these pins for sewing projects. Works wonderfully. Goes through several layers of fabric with ease. Love that you can iron fabrics while they are in with no worries. I ordered number 7 in same line to use for displaying and they work great. All my orders have arrived well packaged from this company. Very happy and will continue to be a customer.
— Debb E
— Indigo: Happy to hear these work for your projects. Thank you for review.
