Camera Obscura

The term Camera Obscura comes from the latin words camera, which means "room", and obscura, which means "dark." In the 5th century B.C. Mo Ti of China was the first to acknowledge the phenomenon of the camera obscura when he noticed that the reflected light from an illuminated object will create an inverted image when passing through a pinhole into a darkened room. Aristotle noticed this as well when an image of the sun during a partial eclipse passed through a small hole in the wall. In the 13th century camera obscuras were used by astronomers to view the sun. It wasn't until the 16th century that artists used to camera obscura as an aid to achieve perfect perspective and more accurate detail in drawings. The camera obscura was also used as a leisure activity during this time. People enjoyed spying on unsuspecting passers-by from inside the room where they could not be seen.

camera obscura

Artist using a camera obscura to make a drawing

From the 17th to 19th century there were several improvements made to the camera obscura technology. Lenses were added to increase sharpness, mirrors were added to correct for the inversion, and portable camera obscuras were made for traveling artists. The camera lucida was invented in 1807 by William Hyde Wollaston. This device used a prism and a lens on a stand to superimpose an image on drawing paper to make transcribing easier. The camera lucida allowed for artists to view both the actual scene and the image of the scene on the paper as they draw to create the most accurate drawing.

camera lucida

Relevant links:

http://www.photography.com/articles/history/camera-obscura/

http://www.ehow.com/how_4450643_make-camera-obscura.html

http://www.howcast.com/videos/387145-How-To-Transform-a-Room-Into-a-Camera-Obscura

http://www.rleggat.com/photohistory/history/cameraob.htm

http://www.gilai.com/article_23/How-to-Use-Your-New-Camera-Lucida

I used the online directions on ehow.com (link above) to begin my camera obscura. I used a shoebox and cut a hole slightly smaller than my magnifying glass lens in one end. I cut apart the opposite end of the box and removed part, but left a flap as a door so that the inside could be completely dark while you view through an eye hole.

I had difficulty constructing the camera obscura at first because I didn't realize that the lens would change the focal length. I didn't know how to calculate the focal length nor did I get it correctly with any of my guesses. I was stuck until I realized that I needed to include moving pieces.

I found a toilet paper roll and taped my lens to the end so that I could slide the lens forward and back to get good sharpness. To ensure that I would be able to achieve a good sharp image I decided to make my wax paper (the viewing surface) a movable element as well. I found a box that would fit inside my shoebox and made necessary cuts so that the wax paper could be viewable and slide back and forth.

Finally I taped up all holes and wrapped the box with black paper to make it look prettier and to keep excess light out.

Here is my result-

My camera obscura is very easy to use and the magnifying glass lens creates a strong image. The box is a bigger than necessary but that isn't a major flaw. The only think I would change about my camera obscura is the size. The only difficulty I had was not knowing the focal length and having to figure out how to work around that.

At first it seemed silly to me that people would pay to go inside a camera obscura and watch people from inside. I didn't realize that we still do the same thing all the time. Whether its just looking out the window at people walking by, unaware that you're watching, or looking at someone's webcam across the world from them. It seems that we are doing the same thing as people of the past but the technology that has advanced allows us to do it at a much greater scale.

The camera obscura is a simple tool. They are simple to make and simple to use. Today they do not have much use due to all the technology we have. During its time the camera obscura was revolutionary and exciting. This discovery ultimately lead to photography being researched and developed.