Thinking Inside The Box - With Zero Image

One might be forgiven for thinking that if a product is named Zero Image that it would not be much use in photography. Nothing could be further from the truth - Zero Image makes some of the funnest gear in the shop.

Look at the heading photograph. What looks like a small wooden jewel casket with brass fittings is actually a fully-functional camera. It is running in parallel with another famous product on the market at present in that it too does not need to be focussed. It is in focus all the time.

The wooden box is a pinhole camera made by Zero Image. It operates on 120 roll film, colour or black and white, and the sun. Or the moon, if you are very patient.

The camera has a perfectly good shutter, and a very precise laser-cut aperture, a smooth winding mechanism, a simple film indexing system, and no lens at all.

The focussing is done by the tiny aperture - it is effectively f:235! That means an enormous depth of field, gently soft edges to some bright areas, and a very long exposure time. The camera is fitted with a sturdy brass tripod screw on the bottom and you will need to use it for nearly every shot you take.

The exposure in bright West Australian sun for a 400 ISO film would be somewhere between 30 and 45 seconds. I've done this for years on all sorts of stock and if you can keep the subject and the camera still you can get some very interesting photos. Those people dedicated to long exposures blurring the sea or waterfalls might care to load a 50 ISO film into it and blaze away. Actually it is more of a very slow warmth in those cases...

The camera has provision in the back to work the 120 film as 6 x 6, 6 x 7, or 6 x 9 format. The indexing of the film is the good old sliding shutter over a red window at the back. Crude and sophisticated all in one.

Please note the elegant revolving dial calculator at the back that allows you to imagine up an exposure in the field. This is one camera that rewards careful mathematics.

Please note that the Zero Image people have also sent us a 35mm version of this camera.

It has a provision for a cable release attachment and a wonderfully steam-punk levelling bubble on the top. All you need are motorcycle goggles and a top hat to complete the look.