How to Make a Homemade Camera

Purchase balsa wood of 3/16-inch thickness and 6-inch width at a hobby store. Cut the balsa wood into 12 pieces, according to the following dimensions:

Front and back (2) -- 4-3/8 inches tall x 5 inches wide
Sides (2) -- 4-3/8 inches tall x 4-14 inches wide
Bottom (1) -- 5-3/8 inches x 4-1/4 inches
Film holder strips (2) -- 4-3/8 inches tall x 3/16 inches wide
Top lid --
Top cover (1) -- 6 inches x 4-3/4 inches
Front and back lips -- (2) 6 inches wide x 1-1/8 inches tall
Left and right lips (2) -- 4-3/8 inches wide x 1-1/8 inches tall

Give all sides of all pieces of balsa wood two coatings of flat black spray paint. Allow to dry.

Of the two front and back pieces of your camera, choose one piece to make the front. Determine the exact center of this piece by drawing two diagonal lines from each corner to each corner lightly in pencil. Mark where these two diagonal lines meet with a dot.

Draw a 1/4-inch x 1/4-inch box around this dot, so that the dot is in the center. Around the 1/4-inch x 1/4-inch box, draw another centered 3/4-inch x 3/4-inch box.

Cut out the 1/4-inch x 1/4-inch box with a utility knife. Carve away at the space between this hole and the 3/4-inch x 3/4-inch box, so that four beveled edges around the hole are created.

Begin to assemble your camera body by adhering the front, back and sides with wood glue and pins. They should be assembled so that the front and back pieces are contained within the sides, giving the inside camera compartment a measurement of 3-7/8 inches from front to back.

Adhere the bottom piece to the four sides. Create the lid by placing the left and right lips within the front and back lips, making the widest dimension 6 inches. This will match the 6-inch dimension of the lid's top, which is adhered onto the lips.

Adhere the two thin film holder strips to the left and right sides inside the camera compartment, close enough to the back wall of the camera so that it just allows a piece of film or paper to sit upright.

While the wood glue dries, carefully cut a 1-inch x 1-inch square out of a clean aluminum soda can. The small piece should easily flatten out.

Lay the piece of aluminum flat and lightly push theneedle into its center. Rotate the piece of aluminum, applying gentle pressure, until a pinhole is drilled out. Lightly sand both the front and back sides of the aluminum.

Tape the aluminum piece to the 1/4-inch x 1/4-inch hole on the inside camera compartment. Tape down all four sides firmly with electrical tape, and make sure the pinhole sits perfectly in the center of the 1/4-inch x 1/4-inch hole.

Use electrical tape to cover where all the wood edges meet, as light leaks are a common problem. Taping the lips of the lid will likely be necessary as well to ensure that the lid fits snugly over the camera body, blocking light. The camera is ready to go once all elements are dry.