Many thousands like this have been manufactured and it is not difficult to find specimens in perfect condition even today. This one in my collection is a classic Chambre Claire Univeselle by P. It was constructed entirely of metal and was considered both a scientific and an artistic instrument. The Camera Lucida, or Chambre Claire in French, was widely used in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Some filters can also be used to balance the brightness of the scene in relation to the brightness of the paper. By moving the eye in a horizontal plane, forward, backward, right and left, the designer can cover the entire area of the sheet, always seeing at each point a double image of the sheet of paper and the subject to be drawn.Ī set of lenses accompanies the device to help visualize both the subject of the drawing and, in some cases, the drawing itself. At the end it has a small prism that provides the double image. The stick is adjustable, being able to be close or more distant from the drawing. His job, then, is to draw the contours just by following this double image.Īs seen in the illustration above, it is a stick fixed to the table where the sheet of paper is also attached so that there is no movement between the two.

The designer looks at the tip of the pencil on the paper and sees, simultaneously and in the same place, an image of what is in front of him. This is a device designed to assist in making enlarged or reduced drawings from originals or even straight from a real scene.

Camera lucida photography