Invented centuries ago as an aid for artists, the camera obscura brings the outside inside. An adjustable lens and mirror image capture the scene in a moving, full-color display that can be seen by a group of people in a darkened room. First time viewers often exclaim as birds and aircraft swoop across the 15° scene, or as a crimson sunset blossoms on the table, often appearing more vividly than normal.

Fully adjustable, this instrument can reveal insects around a nearby streetlight, traffic on distant freeways or smoke from the wheels of landing aircraft. Through the eyepiece, details on the moon are comfortably studied while seated at the viewing table. The eyepiece viewer can project the sun’s image to show giant sunspots sailing majestically across a screen on the wall.

The camera obscura uses telescope lenses of 4 to 14 inches diameter, depending on the dimensions and budget of your facility. For example, an instrument I designed and installed in New York City uses an 8-inch lens and a 12-inch mirror.

The optics are mounted in a welded steel framework that is insulated with fireproof ¾ inch plywood. The attractive turret and cover, usually fabricated in copper, is attached to this plywood and to the steel frame. A chain-drive rotates the upper turret against wind loads. The outside scene is imaged through a large plate glass window in the turret.

The observer controls all motions using a group of switches mounted at the edge of the viewing table. Motors tilt the mirror, rotate the turret and focus the lens on objects from infinity to as close as 100 to 400 feet. Other switches can control the lighting and darken the room.

The camera obscura appeals to observers of all ages and interest – landscape views, clouds, sunsets, moon, sun and planets – all are revealed while you remain comfortable seated inside your own motorized telescope.

Camera Obscura Features Available

• Custom designed to meet your viewing needs.
• Wide field of view – up to 15 °.
• Full terrestrial coverage and celestial objects up to 45 ° altitude.
• Image seen at 8 to 15 power with the unaided eye – up to 400X using the eyepiece viewer.
• Convenient, easy switches operated motors that change focus and move the field of view horizontally and vertically.
• Attractive durable sheet copper exterior.
• Fully weatherproof in all climates.

If purchasing a custom camera obscura is a serious consideration, please fill out and submit the site contact form. - George T. Keene

Although the camera obscura began as a simple pinhole in one all of a darkened room, the arrangement diagramed here produces a brighter, sharper and erect image of great utility.

Light from the scene enters the instrument, often through a glass window, and is then reflected vertically downward by a first-surface mirror.

Directly below the mirror is a lens, which focuses the light onto a matte white table.

Observers around the table see a full color image of the outside world; those viewers with their back to the scene see an image that is right side up. Most instruments have controls to rotate and tilt the flat mirror so as to change the area of land or sky that is presented on the table.

More advanced instruments use motors to vary the focus and field of view.

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