What’s A Camera?

I usually start teaching my photography classes with this question: What’s a camera? My answer is a camera is basically just a light-tight box.

That’s it. Early cameras were just wooden boxes with a back mechanism that would hold a piece of film (often 4X5 inch or 8X10″) and at the other end a very simple lens. There were no controls or ways to change the exposure. The camera was on a tripod to reduce shake and the sheet film was exposed by letting light come into the lens (often by removing a piece of wood or a metal tab). Film was so slow the exposure was measured in seconds and often in minutes. That’s why so many portraits of the day were of people not smiling as it’s easier to remain still. Often, especially with children, you’ll notice their fingers are blurry as they wiggled them during the exposure.

Your smartphone is a camera and it’s a very good camera. It can teach you a lot about composing an image. You can learn how to focus on the action and watch for distracting things happening in the background. Even more important it’s a camera you tend to have with your all the time.

Film cameras from the 60s and 70s are popular today because they are simply light-tight boxes with better lenses but very minimal controls. The highly desirable and super expensive German Leica M-series of film cameras unlike today’s highly complex technically amazing cameras have manual focus lenses, manual shutter speed and manual aperture controls. Earlier models don’t even have a built-in light meter. You focus not by looking through the lens but by using an optical rangefinder.

Such simplicity allows the photographer to concentrate on the essentials of photography and not get caught up in the technology. Technology is wonderful and can result in some amazing images but technology often gets in the way of great art.