camera lucida

American  

[loo-si-duh] / ˈlu sɪ də /

noun

1. an optical instrument, often attached to the eyepiece of a microscope, by which the image of an external object is projected on a sheet of paper or the like for tracing.

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camera lucida British  

/ ˈluːsɪdə /

noun

1. an instrument attached to a microscope, etc to enable an observer to view simultaneously the image and a drawing surface to facilitate the sketching of the image

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Etymology

Origin of camera lucida

1660–70; < New Latin: bright chamber; camera ¹, lucid

Example Sentences

The visual trick may have been created by the artist’s use of a common optical viewing aid called a camera lucida.

From Los Angeles Times

Some think he employed a camera lucida’s lens to render sitters as accurately as possible, which makes two details surprising.

From Los Angeles Times

Precisely ground, the mirrors were able to start fires and project images onto flat surfaces, camera lucida fashion.

From Literature

Nash, who has donated photos and pre-photographic "camera lucida" pictures to the Getty and 20th century photos to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, was not available for comment.

From Los Angeles Times

The cover glass is then removed and the wing mounted either on the same slide in balsam or floated to another slide, or at once accurately sketched with the camera lucida.

From Project Gutenberg