What does Camera mean? also what is a good book to get started on, about the history of cameras throughout the ages..... Thanks, I've covered the lens, thanks Penumbra, Now I'd like to dig into its roots and history. I remember the word Daguerrotype, and thats about it. Syyd

I remember reading about the "camera obscura"; a device that projected a pinhole image onto the back of a piece of tracing paper. That's when people started thinking 'boy! if we could only get the light itself to draw the picture for us!' Wow, painting with light - what an idea. Joe

Camera means chamber. Camera obscura is a dark chamber. The fenomenon of light projected though a small hole in a dark chamber casting an image was described first by an Arab scientist about the year 800.

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I always wondered why it was called that. ( Camera Obscura ) I thought the phrase was counter descriptive. How can something obscured functioned as a camera. Thanks Kurka and Alpha. Bsteph

The drawing of the camera obscura reminds me of something my
older brother and I did as kids. We made a box camera with a
lens from a broken film camera and used blue print paper as
our film. Blue print paper is developed with ammonia vapor;
a very simple and forgiving process. Because of the insensitivity
of blue print paper, exposures were on the order of minutes
under the best of conditions. Needless to say, we didn't do
too many portraits with it!

A GREAT PHOTO HISTORY BOOK: "Hisotry of Photography" by Beaumont Newhall Paperback Revised edition (October 1982) Little Brown & Co (Pap); ISBN: 0870703811 ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.90 x 11.02 x 8.27 Beaumont Newhall has been involved with photography for years working with people like Adams, Stieglitz, etc. This is the most comprehensive and well written Photo history book I have seen. I'm sure there are others, But this guy and his wife have actually experienced a good part of the History. HIGHLY RECCOMMENDED.