Why Shooting With a Pinhole Camera Is More Fun Than You Think

Simplicity in photography can be both freeing and frustrating. When you strip away complex tools and techniques, all that’s left is light, time, and a bit of luck. Shooting with a pinhole camera pushes that idea to the extreme. No lens, no moving parts—just a box with a hole, a piece of film, and a whole lot of patience.

Coming to you from Shoot On Film—by Ari Jaaksi, this refreshingly straightforward video walks through using a pinhole camera to document an ordinary day. Jaaksi skips the overcomplicated technical talk and instead focuses on a minimalist process. The camera he uses, a 4x5 model from Loupé in France, is little more than a wooden box with a pinhole and a film holder. Exposure times are long—one minute outdoors, an hour indoors—but precision isn’t the point. He develops his images using stand development with Rodinal, a method that’s forgiving of exposure miscalculations. The process requires little effort: mix Rodinal at a 1:100 ratio, let the film sit for the length of a Netflix episode, agitate the tank once, then wait out another episode before rinsing and fixing.

Jaaksi keeps everything as simple as possible. No metering, no exact timing, no overthinking. He takes photos while going about his day, setting up long exposures in his car, at church, at the grocery store, and in his kitchen. One sheet of film captures an entire sermon. Another records the duration of a drive home with his 92-year-old mother. The results are unpredictable. Some frames are murky, others reveal strange details—like his dog Cookie, barely visible in a kitchen exposure lasting an hour. The process is slow and imprecise, but that’s the appeal. Each image is a small surprise.

The takeaway is clear: photography doesn’t have to be complicated. You don’t need perfect exposure, sharp focus, or cutting-edge gear to capture something interesting. A box, a hole, and some film are enough to turn an ordinary day into something worth looking at. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Jaaksi.