A pinhole camera is a box shaped camera with a small hole for the image. The pinhole camera does not have any lens but it has the small hole on one side of it. The pinhole camera can be made from just about anything because of how easy it is to make. The pinhole camera is partially made to show the principles of photography. People get confused with pinholes and lenses.A lens is like a mechanical eye and light passes through the tiny hole (pinhole) in the box. around 10 A.D a man named Ibn al-Haytham invented the pinhole camera. He was studying the reverse image of light through a small hole. A image was shown on one wall coming from the opposite end.