camera

camera, lightproof box or container, usually fitted with a lens, which gathers incoming light and concentrates it so that it can be directed toward the film (in an optical camera) or the imaging device (in a digital camera) contained within. Today there are many different types of camera in use, all of them more or less sophisticated versions of the camera obscura, which dates back to antiquity. Nearly all of them are made up of the same basic parts: a body (the lightproof box), a lens and a shutter to control the amount of light reaching the light-sensitive surface, a viewfinder to frame the scene, and a focusing mechanism.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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