Camera Obscura featuring lucidas

CAMERA OBSCURA:

•  History and process: Also known as a pinhole camera, works on the early theory based on light moving in a straight line. Light moving through a small opening will create some sort of projection on the opposite side. These are the principle grounds that took this theory to a contraption (camera obscura) that takes an image and projects it to a legible surface for tracing or referencing. In early photography processes, it is an important tool for creating negatives.
• great historic link to a movie about Vermeer's use of the camera obscura that I've seen and it is excellent.  http://www.essentialvermeer.com/camera_obscura/camera_obscura_sources.html
•  The camera obscura has been used through the centuries by photographers, artists and scientists. The process that presupposed the camera obscura was first noted as early as 470 BC by an Eastern Philosopher Mo-Ti and also by Aristotle shortly after. Johannes Vermeer would use a camera obscura to aid in creating a realistic and accurate paintings that he became famous for. However the modern photographic camera obscura is most commonly attributed to William Talbot and Louis Daguerre.
• Really cool current use:
• http://www.anothermag.com/reader/view/1023/Camera_Obscura_Modern_Primitivism
• http://www.maartenheijkamp.nl/in-progress/current-camera-obscura-work/
• http://sfcomplex.org/2011/01/wedtech-talk-camera-obscura-with-ethan-jackson

• My Process: 
• My first attempt at the camera obscura involved a mirror and trying to project the image up. However, after bringing it in to class and realizing that the measurements and projection angle were off, I set out to find out exactly what I needed to do next to make a successful camera obscura. Introducing a plastic lens means you must first find the focal length of the lens. This specific lens is a magnifying lens and the focal length is about 4" on the large lens. The crown of the lens faces inward to bring a larger picture into the box and onto the screen. From there I also understood that the viewing window must be exactly at the converging points of the light coming through the lens to give you a clear image. This is the difference between using a pinhole and a lens and when using a lens, constricts the size of the image and size of the camera obscura.  Given this fact, I created an adjustable lens holder that can move it further away or towards and as way of gaining focus on the image.  
• Experience:
•  As stated before, my first camera obscura was lacking the measurments and understanding of the components to create an image. Once I went back and created a working camera obscura, it all came full swing. I not only understood what I did right but I further understood what I did wrong in trying to introduce a mirror into the equation. The mirror must first be at a 45 degree angle and then the middle of the mirror must be where the image converges on the screen. It then projects the image directly up, however reversed. I would like to try a full on camera obscura with a angled mirror and all now knowing that I understand what it takes to make a highly functional one. 
• In terms of practical applications or further research, I would love to find out more about Vermeer's work and incorporating a camera obscura to create a rendering to which base sketches off of.