Submitted by Al …
(Adapted from The Encyclopedia of Photography ©1963)
The Camera Obscura, meaning literally a dark chamber, is an optical device which forms a visible image of an external scene inside a darkened box. Some of the early Camera Obscuras were small light tight boxes, while others were tents or rooms large enough for the observer to see the image while standing inside. Camera Obscuras were used primarily by artists for the purpose of tracing images preparatory to a final etching or painting.
The principle upon which this earliest camera worked goes back to Grecian times. Aristotle made reference to the fact that if all the light is shut out of a room except that entering through a small aperture, an image of objects outside will form about a foot from the opening. Centuries later a manuscript of Leonardo da Vinci, circa 1519, contained a diagram of the Camera Obscura device, but did not refer to it as one of his inventions.
In 1553, Jean Baptiste Porta published a book of pseudo-science and magic which did more to popularize the principle of the Camera Obscura than had all the scientific works which had preceded him. The use of lenses was discovered sometime between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries; or rather it was re-discovered, since lenses had been used for certain purposes by the Chaldeans, the Chinese, and the Romans in the days of Nero. Roger Bacon, thirteenth century English friar and scientist, also showed some knowledge of lenses in his Opus Majus.
In 1568, a Venetian nobleman Daniello Barbaro, mentioned a Camera Obscura equipped with a lens. The use of a lens in place of a small aperture improved the definition and the brilliance of the image.
Sixteen years later the device was mentioned again, and in 1611 Johannes Kepler in his Dioptrice dealt at length with the principles of the Camera Obscura and the advantages of a compound lens over a simple plane convex lens. After this the Camera Obscura became well known, and many different models were developed.
The development of the Camera Obscura into the camera as we know it was a long labourious one, consisting of many experiments designed to furnish a permanent record of the image. In 1826, the Frenchman Nicephore Niepce succeeded in recording a permanent photograph using a lens-equipped Camera Obscura and an exposure of six to ten hours in bright sunlight. The picture was flat and lacking in detail, and the process was clearly impractical. Later, Niepce joined forces with Louis Jacques Daguerre. With the death of Niepce, it was left for Daguerre to make the transition from the principles of the Camera Obscura to the camera in 1839.
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