Camera Obscura
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Camera Obscura
The definition of Camera Obscura can be characterized through the copy of the human eye
mechanism. Camera Obscura is an optical instrument which allows the plane projection of an
exterior image, inside of the camera. Camera Obscura was one of the antiquity devices which
lead to the evolution of photography. Today photo cameras inherited their names from the old
camera obscura.
The original type of Camera Obscura was composed of a closed room where the only light source
entered through a little orifice. Through this orifice, the light rays reflected the exterior objects inside
the camera on the opposite size of the orifice. This orifice behaves like a convergent lens, and the
projected image from the camera interior was upside down, both on the horizontal and vertical.
The principles of the Camera Obscura were known since the ancient times. Even the famous
Leonardo da Vinci discovers and explains that the creation of an image inside of the obscure camera
takes place due to the light rays which are spreading in straight lines, and because this fact, the image
is upside down.
The word camera comes from the Arabic language and was first introduced by the Muslim
ophthalmologist Alhancer. He was born in Barsa (965-1039) and wrote the first optical statement
in which has demonstrated that the Greek theories related to light rays, had no sense and was
erroneous. In his book, he argued that the light rays come from the objects to the eye and no opposite,
like the Aristotle and Euclid said. Alhancer was the first to describe the principles of the camera
obscura.
Later, in the XIII century, Rocer Bacon already knew the Camera Obscura phenomenon, even if
this was never tested in a practical application until the XV century, for an auxiliary tool used for
drawing. The image projected on a paper, become a model and helped painters to draw more
easily. In the XVI century, there are already portable cameras with larger lenses, with these
cameras the captured images were more clearly and bright.
Later when photosensitive materials have been discovered, Camera Obscura became a photographic
camera on which a single orifice is used as a lens. These cameras were very limited, and the reason
was the aperture diameter which has to be little enough for the image to look acceptable and correctly
exposed. After the evolution from a simple orifice to a more complex lens, the Camera Obscura
became a photographic camera, and since then it continued to evolve through the actual days.