box camera

American  

noun

1. a simple, boxlike camera, without bellows, sometimes allowing for adjustment of lens opening but usually not of shutter speed.

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box camera British  

noun

1. a simple box-shaped camera having an elementary lens, shutter, and viewfinder

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Etymology

Origin of box camera

First recorded in 1835–45

Example Sentences

Christina Broom only began to experiment with photography in her forties, using a box camera.

From BBC • Aug. 7, 2024

Abd had an idea: to return to the country with a traditional Afghan-style box camera to document how daily life has and hasn’t changed in the two years since the Taliban returned.

From Seattle Times • Sep. 21, 2023

Lucas’s arrogance is exemplified by his insistence on transporting a big box camera and its gear, as well as a large cross meant for the new church.

From Washington Post • Mar. 13, 2023

Mr. Sokolsky was an untrained photographer who grew up in a tenement on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, snapping pictures with his father’s box camera as a child.

From New York Times • Sep. 14, 2022

It was a large box camera with an accordion apparatus for the lens, unwieldy and as heavy as a stone around his neck, and he disliked it thoroughly.

From "Snow Falling on Cedars: A Novel" by David Guterson