Etymology of Camera Obscura

Camera Obscura is a darkened enclosure having an aperture usually provided with a lens through which light from an external object enters to form an image of the objects on the opposite surface.

Camera Obscura is dated back to as far as 400 BC, seriously like even before the data exists. According to the records the earliest account was written by a Chinese Philosopher called Motzu (or Mozi) in 400 BC. In that account he described the fact that he noticed that light from an illuminated object that passed through a pinhole into a dark room created an inverted image of the original object. Then there was another account recorded by a Greek Philosopher Aristotle in the 4th century BC, who realized that a partial eclipse could be viewed by looking at the ground beneath a tree. The crescent shape of the partially eclipsed sun projected onto the ground through the holes in a sieve and through between the leaves allowing him to view it safely the most amazing fact about this is many scientists experimented this using artificial lights but it didn’t work till the 11th century when a viewing screen was used ro see the inverted image. Alhazen (or Ibon al- Haytham) is said to be the inventor of the Camera Obscura, as well as the pinhole camera. Later :eonard da Vinci gave the statement that a camera obscura works just like a human eye.

Then am Italien scholar, Giambattista della Porta improved the base and added a concave lens near to where light enters the pinhole. Few years later Johannes Kepler started using Camera Obscura for astronomical applications and created a portable version in a tent. But it was difficult to carry so until the 17th and 18th century it turned into a portable box.

Evolution of Camera Obscura to Smartphone cameras

The most popular camera was a sliding-box design, lens placed in the front box, second, slightly smaller box slid into the back of the larger box, the focus was controlled by sliding the rear box forward or backward. A ;atera;;y reversed image would be obtained unless the camera was fitted with a mirror or prism to correct this effect, when the sensitized plate was placed in the camera, the lens cap would be removed to start the exposure.

After many observations and experiments/ George Eastman invented a box- shaped camera which came to be known as a “ Brownie “ which was very simple for people to use. During the start a film had a capacity of 100 shots, when the film gets over it is then removed from the camera, and then the camera was reloaded with another film, the film was processed and printed and shots were handy.

In 1975, engineers at Kodak developed the very first camera creating a digital image. It used a cassette recorder to store data and took more than 29 seconds to capture a photo. Nowadays all smartphones have cameras built into them. Samsung introduced the first smartphone with a camera in 000.

And in this way Camera Obscura first changed into a box- camera then into modern camera and then cameras built in smartphones.

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Content by - Shreyasi Manchanda

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