Pinhole photography strips the camera down to almost nothing: a box, a hole, and light. Most pinhole cameras are exactly that simple, but the Mania, handcrafted by German woodworker and photographer Ralph Mann, is a modular wooden pinhole system that pushes what a camera without a lens can actually do.
Coming to you from Ari Jaaksi - I Shoot On Film, this detailed hands-on video walks through the Mania pinhole camera after Jaaksi spent over a month shooting with it. The camera is built around a medium format 120 film chassis, and depending on how you configure it, you can shoot 6x6 square frames, 6x12, or a full 6x17 panorama with the same body. Focal length is changed physically by adding or removing solid oak spacers that increase the distance between the pinhole and the film plane, shifting from the equivalent of 35mm all the way up to 75mm or beyond. Each configuration changes the effective f-stop significantly, so Mann has printed the relevant numbers directly on the body so you're never guessing.
The camera has three pinholes arranged in a row, and that's where things get interesting. Mann calls the technique using the two outer pinholes a "twin shot panorama," where you expose two consecutive frames side by side to create a wide stitched image with a visible seam between them. You can also deliberately misuse the same pinholes on a 6x17 format to create partially overlapping double exposures, and Jaaksi describes his thinking about how to creatively misuse the camera as one of the main reasons it holds his attention. The whole system is held together with precision magnets, the shutters have a mechanical action that leaves no doubt whether they're open or closed, and there's a filter rail built in that works cleanly without interfering with the shutters.
One detail worth knowing: the camera allows you to wind film both forward and backward. That's unusual for medium format, and it solves a real practical problem. If you want to swap spacers to change the focal length mid-roll, you'd normally be stuck. With the reverse roller, you can wind the film back to the start, reconfigure the body, and advance back to where you were. The camera also includes multiple tripod mounts, bubble levels, and composition dots on top for framing without a viewfinder.
Check out the video above for the full rundown from Jaaksi, including footage and images shot with the Mania over the past month.
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