Most people think that cameras started with photography, but in fact cameras have been around for thousands of years, going all the way back to ancient Greece. To achieve a more accurate basis for their drawings, artists invented the Camera Obscura or “Dark Room” in Latin. The device is simply a dark room with a pinhole in one of the outward facing walls. Through the pinhole, the view of the outside becomes inverted and projected on the opposite of the room.  Artists then trace the projection to create an illustration.

Camera Obscura llustration by John Hinton 1752

Above is an illustration by John Hinton showing the use of a Camera Obscura to achieve more accurate drawings and paintings.  In 1752 the drawing was shown in the publication, “Universal Magazine of Knowledge and Pleasure”.

Written by Dan Epstein and Caley Taylor

Newhall, Beaumont, "History of Photography: 1839 to Present".

Camera Obscura image from "Chapter Six" www.precinemahistory.net/1750.htm