From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia
For other uses see Camera .
A modern single-lens reflex camera
Left to right: an Agfa box camera a Polaroid Land camera and a Yashica 35 mm SLR
A camera is a device that takes photos of images either as a photograph or moving images known as videos or movies. The term comes from the camera obscura an early mechanism of projecting images where an entire room functioned as a real-time imaging system; the modern camera evolved from the camera obscura.
Cameras may work with the light of the visible spectrum or with other portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. A camera generally consists of an enclosed hollow with an opening at one end for light to enter and a recording or viewing surface for capturing the light at the other end. A majority of cameras have a lens positioned in front of the cameras opening to gather the incoming light and focus all or part of the image on the recording surface. The diameter of the aperture is often controlled by a diaphragm mechanism but some cameras have a fixed-size aperture.
