April 2, 2026 - Fuji X-E1

Helen

These days I constantly harp on the advantages to a photographer to combine the technology of the 20th century with that of this one. 

A technique that is interesting, but not easy to do, is pinhole photography. Because the hole is so small the exposure times are long and your film camera has to be securely on a good tripod. In that other century, and it this one, I have used film cameras for some of my pinhole photographs. In the one here, of my friend Helen, I had to fire my studio flash many times before enough light had pierced that pinhole.

Now my Fuji digital cameras can take pinhole photographs hand held. How is this? My Fuji X-E1 and E-3 with the pinhole attachment can be exposed at 3200 or higher ISO without affecting the quality of the photographs. The ones here I took yesterday while going on my bike ride to Jericho Beach.

Technically my Mamiya pinhole (on the body cap of the camera) is not a pinhole. The whole was drilled with a tiny drill bit by my friend Ian MacGuffie's father.