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Pinhole Camera and the Solar Eclipse
My Journey into Pinhole Photography
Building a pinhole camera is a journey into the heart of optics — no manuals, no formulas, just experimentation. Every shape, every millimeter, every tiny hole is a test. You learn physics by doing physics.
This is my third story about pinhole photography. In the first, I wrote about constructing the simplest camera imaginable. Now, I want to share my attempt to capture a total solar eclipse — and what came of it.
Stuttgart, August 11, 1999
I stood atop Birkenkopf, Monte Scherbelino, with a camera I had built myself. Six months of planning. Two pinholes. Curved film. The path of totality was set to sweep across southern Germany, and Stuttgart lay perfectly in its path.
I wanted a single photograph to capture it all: the Sun magnified and eclipsed by the Moon, with the calm landscape stretching beneath.
The solution was both simple and audacious: two pinholes at opposite ends of a long, black box. One offered a panoramic view, the other a magnified image of the Sun. Curving the film would capture both images at once.
Every millimeter mattered — whether the Sun would hit the frame or miss it entirely. Exposure times were carefully calculated. Tests in full sunlight had…
