The Collaborative International Dictionary
Camera obscura \Cam"e*ra ob*scu"ra\ [LL. camera chamber + L. obscurus, obscura, dark.] (Opt.)
An apparatus in which the images of external objects, formed by a convex lens or a concave mirror, are thrown on a paper or other white surface placed in the focus of the lens or mirror within a darkened chamber, or box, so that the outlines may be traced.
(Photog.) An apparatus in which the image of an external object or objects is, by means of lenses, thrown upon a sensitized plate or surface placed at the back of an extensible darkened box or chamber variously modified; -- commonly called simply the camera.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1725, "a darkened room;" c.1730, "a device for project pictures;" see camera.
Wiktionary
n. A darkened chamber in which the image of an outside object is projected and focused onto a surface
WordNet
n. a darkened enclosure in which images of outside objects are projected through a small aperture or lens onto a facing surface
Wikipedia
A camera obscura ( Latin for "dark room") is an optical device that led to photography and the photographic camera. An Arab physicist, Ibn al-Haytham, published his Book of Optics in 1021 AD. He created the first pinhole camera after observing how light traveled through a window shutter. Ibn al-Haytham realized that smaller holes would create sharper images. Ibn al-Haytham is also credited with inventing the first camera obscura. The device consists of a box or room with a hole in one side. Light from an external scene passes through the hole and strikes a surface inside, where it is reproduced, inverted (thus upside-down), but with color and perspective preserved. The image can be projected onto paper, and can then be traced to produce a highly accurate representation. The largest camera obscura in the world is on Constitution Hill in Aberystwyth, Wales.
Using mirrors, as in an 18th-century overhead version, it is possible to project a right-side-up image. Another more portable type is a box with an angled mirror projecting onto tracing paper placed on the glass top, the image being upright as viewed from the back.
As the pinhole is made smaller, the image gets sharper, but the projected image becomes dimmer. With too small a pinhole, however, the sharpness worsens, due to diffraction. In practice, most camerae obscurae use a lens rather than a pinhole (as in a pinhole camera) because it allows a larger aperture, giving a usable brightness while maintaining focus.
A camera obscura (meaning literally "darkened chamber") is a device for projecting an image on a screen, using either a lens or pinhole.
Camera Obscura may refer to specific camera obscuras:
- Camera Obscura (San Francisco, California), at the Cliff House, San Francisco
- Camera Obscura (Edinburgh), on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh
- Grand Union Camera Obscura, on Douglas Head on the Isle of Man
Camera Obscura may also refer to:
Camera Obscura is the sixth solo studio album by German singer Nico, featuring the backing band the Faction. It was recorded in March–April 1985 and released later that year by Beggars Banquet Records. It was produced by John Cale, marking their first studio collaboration since The End... in 1974. It was Nico's final studio album before her death three years later.
Camera Obscura are a Scottish indie pop band from Glasgow. The group formed in 1996 and have released five albums to date.
Camera Obscura and World of Illusions is a major tourist attraction in the Old Town, Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by entrepreneur Maria Theresa Short in 1835 and a key site in Patrick Geddes development of regional planning, it is located on the Castlehill section of the Royal Mile next to Edinburgh Castle.
Camera obscura is a novel by Slovenian author Nejc Gazvoda. It was first published in 2006.
Camera Obscura was a new wave/ synthpop band formed in 1982 in York, England, by Peter Oldroyd and Nigel James. They signed to Small Wonder Records in 1983 and reached no. 32 on the UK Indie Chart with the single "Destitution". In 1986 the band split, reformed for a tour of Germany in 2005 after signing to German label Anna Logue Records. They have since released an album of recordings from 1983, Horizons of Suburbia, two singles "Strange Faces", "Strange Faces 2006" and a live EP from a show in Hannover, Germany.
Camera Obscura was a record label founded by Australian music journalist Tony Dale in 1996. Described by Dale as 'a conduit for the release of contemporary acid-folk, psych-pop and space-rock,' the label put out almost ninety releases over fourteen years, the vast majority of which were full-length CDs. Bands and musicians who released material on the label included the Green Pajamas, Patrick Porter, Abunai!, the Azusa Plane, Black Sun Ensemble, Sharron Kraus and Primordial Undermind. Dale formally discontinued the label in 2010 shortly before his death due to cancer.
Camera Obscura is a 2000 crime film. The film was directed by Hamlet Sarkissian. It stars Adam Trese, Ariadna Gil, Cully Fredricksen, VJ Foster, Molly Bryant and Kirk Ward.
Camera Obscura is a 2015 Egyptian independent historic short film written and directed by Nour Zaki. Starring Khaled Abol Naga, the film depicts the story of Al Hazen (Al Hassan Ibn Al Haytham’s) discovery of image reflection while being held in prison.
The Camera Obscura is a large-scale camera obscura, in the Lands End area of the Outer Richmond District in western San Francisco, California.
It is located near the Cliff House restaurant, perched on the headlands on the cliffs just north of Ocean Beach. The Camera and restaurant are currently owned by the National Park Service and are within the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. The Camera Obscura was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2001, and is within the NPS Sutro Historic District. It is within the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, since being acquired by the National Park Service in 1977.
Camera Obscura is a journal of feminism, culture, and media studies published by Duke University Press. Published three times per year, the journal focuses on "the conjunctions of gender, race, class, and sexuality with audiovisual culture; new histories and theories of film, television, video, and digital media; and politically engaged approaches to a range of media practices." It was founded in 1976 by four graduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Janet Bergstrom, Sandy Flitterman, Elisabeth Lyon, and Constance Penley. The four co-founders had met while working on the magazine Women and Film.
In its early years, the journal centered on film as its object of analysis, and strove to use "new approaches in feminist, cultural, and critical theory to rethink cinema, as well as, notably, using cinema to rethink feminism and critical theory." In 1995, the journal's subtitle was changed from "A Journal of Feminism and Film Theory" to "Feminism, Culture, and Media Studies" to reflect that its interests had developed beyond semiotic and psychoanalytic theories to include approaches such as industrial and historical analyses, genre and star studies, ethnographic and reception models, analyses of race and ethnicity, postcolonial theory and critiques of empire, and queer and trans studies.
Camera Obscura has included articles by such contributors as Yvonne Rainer, Chantal Akerman, Raymond Bellour, Christian Metz, Jean-François Lyotard, Marguerite Duras, Mary Ann Doane, Kaja Silverman, Laura Mulvey, Trinh T. Minh-ha, Constance Penley, and E. Ann Kaplan.
Usage examples of "camera obscura".
They had reached the bottom of the stairs leading up to the peak and the camera obscura.
Then it dwindled swiftly away as Donald zoomed the camera obscura lens.
Holmes nodded approvingly, and the Professor said, Of course, a camera obscura.
Not for nothing had the Apprentice spent hours at his Master's Camera Obscura, hidden far away in the Badlands, watching the river.
When you stop to think, the whole idea of comprehension has a faintly archaic taste, like the sound of forgotten tongues or a look into a Victorian camera obscura.
And he had to admit he had paid his dollar to go see the Camera Obscura, a Victorian sight-seeing gimmick that worked better than he had expected.
Three hundred years ago della Porta knew the camera obscura, and but for the lack of a sensitive plate would have made photographs.