The camera obscura (Latin for "dark room") is the ancestor of the camera. It is a dark room or box with a small hole in one side. Light passes through the hole in straight lines and forms an upside-down image of the outside scene on the opposite wall.
The effect was described in ancient China and Greece and studied by the scholar Ibn al-Haytham around the year 1000. Later, lenses were added to make the image brighter and sharper. From the 17th century, portable box versions helped artists trace scenes. Photography began when people found ways to fix this image with light-sensitive materials. See also pinhole camera.
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