Joey Green's Mad Scientist

Quaker Oats Camera

What You Need

Empty, clean Quaker Oats cardboard canister with lid
X-acto knife
Paintbrush
Flat black tempera paint
Black electrical tape
Small piece of aluminum foil
#10 sewing needle
Wax paper
Scotch Tape
Matches
Candle
Scissors
Black construction paper
Roll of 120 black-and-white film (slow speed)
Pitch-black room or closet

What to Do
Remove the lid of the canister. With adult supervision, use the X-acto knife to cut a hole about the size of a quarter in the center of the bottom of the canister. Paint the inside of the canister and the inside of the lid flat black. Let dry overnight.
Use the black electrical tape to secure the piece of aluminum foil (shiny side facing in) over the hole so no light can get in. Use the needle to slowly drill a tiny, smooth, round hole in the aluminum foil, making sure the hole is centered in the bottom of the canister.
Cover the open end of the cardboard canister with one sheet of wax paper and fasten in place with the Scotch Tape.
With adult supervision, light the candle in a dark room. Point the pinhole toward the candle. You will see an upside-down image of the candle on the wax paper.
Remove the wax paper from the canister.
Make a shutter by covering the pinhole of your Quaker Oats camera with a piece of the black construction paper. Tape one side with the Scotch Tape so you can lift the paper like a flap.
Take the roll of film, the pinhole camera and lid, the scissors, the black electrical tape, and the Scotch Tape into the dark room, placing them on a countertop where you can easily find them in the dark. Turn off the light.
Using your sense of feel alone, remove the roll of film from its canister and pull out about 8 inches of film from the roll. With the scissors, cut the film about an inch from the roll so you can get more film later. Cut about 3 inches from the starting end of the film (the end that sticks out of the roll) and discard. This should leave you with about 4 inches of film. Place this strip centered inside the lid of the canister with the emulsion side facing up. Secure in place with Scotch Tape at the two ends of the film. Replace the lid on the canister and tape it in place with the black electrical tape to keep out unwanted light. Replace the remainder of the film in its film canister. Hold the black construction paper shutter in place over the your hand over the pinhole and take your camera outside into bright sunlight.
Set the camera firmly on a solid surface to hold it steady. Aim it at a subject you would like to photograph. The subject must be still, with the sun shining on it.
When the camera is all set, fold back the flap, let the camera sit about one second to register a picture, then cover the pinhole with the flap again.
Return to your dark room or closet, remove the film from inside the lid of the Quaker Oats canister, place it in a film canister, and press the snap-on lid in place. Take your exposed film to a photo supply store, and have professionals develop the negative and make a print for you. (If your first picture turns out too dark, expose it longer the next time. If your picture is too light, expose it for a shorter time.)

What Happens
The homemade camera takes a picture just like an expensive state-of-the-art camera.

Why It Works
Light waves travel in a straight line from the subject to the pinhole. When the light waves go through the pinhole in the Quaker Oats canister, they project an upside-down image. The image is inverted because light travels in a straight line, causing the light from the top of the subject to strike the bottom part of the film. Light from the bottom of the subject strikes the top part of the film. The chemical emulsion on the film is sensitive to light and reacts to the image in front of the pinhole. When the film is developed a negative image is produced, which is then used to print the photograph.

Bizarre Facts

Light waves enter the lens of the eye and project an upside-down image on the retina, which our brains turn right side up again. If you were fitted with glasses that turned images upside down, after a while your brain would set things right for you, turning the images you see right side up again. When you took off the glasses, you would once again see the world upside down, until your brain readjusted and turned things right side up again.
Click here for bizarre facts about Quaker Oats.
About five hundred million pounds of aluminum foil are used in the United States every year. That's equal to eight million miles of aluminum foil.

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