camera obscura

American  

[ob-skyoor-uh] / ɒbˈskyʊər ə /

noun

1. a darkened boxlike device in which images of external objects, received through an aperture, as with a convex lens, are exhibited in their natural colors on a surface arranged to receive them: used for sketching, exhibition purposes, etc.

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camera obscura British  

/ ɒbˈskjʊərə /

noun

1. Sometimes shortened to: camera.  a darkened chamber or small building in which images of outside objects are projected onto a flat surface by a convex lens in an aperture

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Etymology

Origin of camera obscura

1660–70; < New Latin: dark chamber; see camera ¹, obscure

Example Sentences

“All those same people a few hundred years ago when Da Vinci was using the camera obscura were like, ‘Get your proportions right, just by eye.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 31, 2026

The rear façade consists of three pavilions that Mr. Lacovara says were modeled on the camera obscura, used by Renaissance artists to achieve accurate perspective.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 2, 2025

The museum’s researchers, however, said the brushstrokes contained no evidence of a link to the camera obscura, a type of pinhole camera.

From New York Times • Oct. 7, 2022

He showed me the camera obscura he kept in his loft.

From The Guardian • Jan. 23, 2020

The increasing importance of the camera obscura as a photographic instrument makes it desirable to bring together what is known of its early history, which is far more extensive than is usually recognized.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 1 "Calhoun" to "Camoens" by Various