The pinhole camera is one of the earliest cameras used in photography. It is an-odd looking thing because, unlike other cameras, a pinhole camera does not use lenses to take pictures. To explain, images are projected into the pinhole camera when light passes through a tiny hole in its box-like frame. According to Wikipedia.com, the small hole of the pinhole camera can focus light by directing it through a single point. This article will talk about the pinhole camera history.
Early Discoveries of The Ancient Greeks
Pinhole camera history in Wikipedia.com says that pinhole cameras were already used by the Greeks as early as 500 B.C. It was a common belief that people were able to see because the light rays were bouncing from the human eye. Wikipedia.com adds that, later on, they found out that seeing was actually an effect of light rays entering into the eye, rather than bouncing from it. This important realization led to a better understanding of how the pinhole camera works.
Ancient china
Mo Jing, a Mohist philosopher in 5th century-China, was said to have studied and experimented with phenomenona of images projected via a very small hole. Because of this, the Mohist philosopher was able to contribute to the development of the pinhole camera and the Burning Mirrors used by the ancient Mohists. Much of the pinhole camera history revolves around key events in Ancient China. In fact, Wikipedia.com also states that Shen Huo, a Chinese scientist during the Song Dynasty, was able to establish the key geometrical and quantitative concepts vital to the development of the pinhole camera.
1000 to 1600 A.D.
The 10th century Muslim mathematician Ibn al-haytam is credited for inventing the first modern pinhole camera. Further advancements were made to the pinhole camera when the Muslim mathematician realized that a smaller hole produced a more sharper image.
In addition, more ideas and studies were done by the brilliant minds of Gemma Frisuis and Giambattista della Porta. These two published a paper explaining why images projected into the pinhole camera appeared upside down. Lynn Bryant, writing for a video surveillance website, said that the studies made by Gemma Frisuis' of a solar ecplipse projected into a dark room was the first documented use of a pinhole camera in history.
1800s and Beyond
Lynn Bryant also says that Sir David Brewster, a Scottish scientist, was the first one to take pictures with the pinhole camera back in the 1850s. Lynn Bryant also says that pinhole camera was not regarded as a popular medium of photography, not until the 1960s. It may be owing to the fact that the photographers during the period preferred to take pictures using a conventional camera, as opposed to the pinhole camera.
The pinhole camera history can be traced back to the Ancient Greeks, with advancements contributed by the Ancient Chinese and by brilliant scientists and philosophers in the late 20th century. The pinhole camera history, like the histories of all things ingenious, is colorful, interesting, and absolutely eventful.
Pinhole cameras may just be the simplest type of camera ever invented, and they have been around for a long time now. These cameras are used for art, fun, science, and even surveillance. You probably have one, or know someone who does. But have you ever thought about the mechanism behind a pinhole camera?
Not Your Typical Camera
The pinhole camera is not one of the conventional cameras you're used to in both its form and function. Instead of the typical camera case, a pinhole camera makes use of a light-proof box - matchboxes and cereal boxes will do. And in place of the typical glass lens is a very, very small hole, the size of that created by a pin.
But don't underestimate this cardboard camera. The fact is the results are impressive and sophisticated works of art. The images you get after exposure is a whole lot better than those you get from a conventional camera. It's soft, yet crisp at the same time, and the images have an almost infinite depth of field.
Simple Concept
This simple camera works on an equally simple principle: Pinhole Optics. One side of the box has a minuscule hole. Light from outside the box passes through the hole and an image is formed on one side of the camera.
For you to understand the concept better, imagine being inside a big, dark box. On one side of the room is a small hole and outside the room is a friend holding a flashlight. Now this friend shines the flashlight through the pinhole, at varying angles.
Imagine the wall opposite the hole. On it will be a small dot created by the beam of the flashlight, shining through the hole. As your friend moves the flashlight, the small dot will also move around the wall.
Now, imagine taking this large box outside and pointing it at your garden. On the wall opposite the hole will be a reversed and inverted image of the landscape. Each point in the garden emits light and the beam emitted from the point will pass through the hole, creating its equivalent point of light on the opposite wall.
Every point of the landscape will do these (emitting of light, passing through the hole, and reflecting to the wall) all at the same time so that an entire image is created on the back wall.
The bigger the scene and the smaller the hole will automatically mean a longer process. But this also means better results. The image will of course be dim, as the hole is very small.
Small Camera
The actual pinhole camera comes in many different sizes. But all the same, it is a lot smaller than the box mentioned above. And instead of a bare wall opposite the hole, the pinhole camera makes use of a sort of film. The film, flattened against the wall, records the light or the image that passes through the hole.
The camera creates a nice, in-focus representation of the scene where you point your camera. The exposure time usually lasts from half a second to several hours, much longer than usual exposure time of your conventional camera. This is because the pinhole can only allow so much light to pass through, but the result is definitely worth the wait.