How to make the sunrise in your bedroom every morning. Many artists have used the Camera Obscura over the years, now make your own. – an optical experiment easy to do, but which, in spite of its simplicity, is able to give you a continuous marvel. What you have to do is simply mount a lens on the bedroom window. In this way, when you wake up in the morning, you will admire the outside scene projected on a wall of your bedroom. Link.
20 thoughts on “DIY Camera Obscura”
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Any alternatives to getting lenses from an optician?
Any good optics dealers who might supply what we need?
I’d love to hear form anyone else who has had luck with it.
More questions…
I am not a specialist in this so, can any lens with the proper focal length work? Can you only use a plano-convex (PCX) or double-convex (DCX) lens? I saw a meniscus lens with a focal length of 4 meters – would that work?
More or less any lens will do the trick – even a cheap magnifying glass. Even a small hole (pin hole) will work although not so bright.
I would love to do this in my son’s room, only wondering if there is anyway to flip the image without losing too much brightness? Any ideas, suggestions or links?
I would love to do this in my son’s room, only wondering if there is anyway to flip the image without losing too much brightness? Any ideas, suggestions or links?
easiest way to flip the image is with a mirror – Prisms also work.
Cowbell, I looked into this after being mesmerized by the wonderful camera obscura in Lisboa in 2005. Getting anyone (lens makers, opticians) to respond in the UK was almost impossible. So like you, I’m looking for a decent supplier. I was given an email from the original website’s author in Italy, but they didn’t respond either.
I made one with just cardboard and tape — no fancy lenses required. The image is pretty dim, but once your eyes adjust, you can see trees and the house across the street.
Here’s my blog post on how I did it (with photos)
To buy lenses go to a local independent opticians with a lab, they are generally eager to help and if you take the formula they will assist in finding the right focal length/dioptre lens for you. Opticians are the best for finding these lenses as they are quite cheap at £5 – £25 depending on how penny pinching they are, going to a lens manufacturer, it is difficult to find the long focal lengths required for room size camera obscura. Opticians lenses are meniscus lenses.
If anyone requires more help please contact me at tony@amazingcameraobscura.co.uk
You could also purchase a cheap plastic lens from Middlesex University Teaching Resources website for about 30p. They are great for making pinhole cameras or camera obscuras with kids. Great for any teachers out there too. I hope that helps.