Oxford through the pinhole

February 24, 2019

Last summer I bought a Pinhole Pro “lens” for my camera, but I hadn’t experimented with until I went for a walk round central Oxford this morning. The lens I have has an focal length of 58mm, so many of the images below are out of focus. I think it produces an interesting ethereal effect, and achieves a lot of Instagram-esque effects in camera.

I had to touch up each of the following a little; before I set out I didn’t realise that there was a small amount of dirt inside the lens, which meant that all the images were initially marked with the same pattern.

Tourists in Radcliffe Square. Even in bright sunlight (Oxford is seeing
unusually nice weather for February) I had to expose the image for 4 seconds at
ISO 100. Any motion thus appears blurred, so a tripod was a
necessity. — Tourists in Radcliffe Square. Even in bright sunlight (Oxford is seeing unusually nice weather for February) I had to expose the image for 4 seconds at ISO 100. Any motion thus appears blurred, so a tripod was a necessity.

Looking east on Broad Street. This was a 1 second exposure at ISO 400. Balliol
College, left, has a nice glowing effect, which was achieved entirely in
camera. — Looking east on Broad Street. This was a 1 second exposure at ISO 400. Balliol College, left, has a nice glowing effect, which was achieved entirely in camera.

Brasenose Lane from Radcliffe Square. 1 second/ISO 400.

Bridge of Sighs from the Old Bodleian. 0.8 seconds/ISO 400.

Sports fields and Merton College from Christ Church Meadow. 0.5 seconds/ISO 400.

The Cherwell, Christ Church Meadow. 0.5 seconds/ISO 400.

The bridge that joins The Cherwell and The Thames. 2.0 seconds/ISO 100.

♦