NSXType-R said:
Or is that sarcasm I'm missing there?

<EVEN HUGER WINK>

This is also in the very first episode of the brilliant BBC series 'Genius of photography'. This group of people darkens a hotel room somewhere in Italy with a view of a river and you get a live but reversed view of the outside world. It looks amazing, you may want to look it up, and view the rest of the series while you're at it :)

warprints said:
Yes, a very large pinhole camera. See http://www.rleggat.com/photohistory/history/cameraob.htm
for a bit of history on it.

Thanks for the link!

bjrichus said:
Indeed.

Don't ALL Cameras work the same way? Light enters an otherwise sealed box through some kind of hole and the image appears on the opposite side, wall, or whatever you want to call it (gross simplification, but there ya go). Some also add a lens to focus the image onto film and others use digital sensors, is all the difference (and size)...

There are too many boundaries between styles of image making (in my view)... <HUGE WINK>.

Well yes, but I'm accustomed to the fact that there should be a lens up front, even when many of the first cameras had no lenses.

It even bothers me a little that there's no lens.

Not sure what you mean by boundaries between styles of image making- are you saying something along the lines of centralizing photography styles?

Or is that sarcasm I'm missing there?

NSXType-R said:
So is the idea of a camera obscura pretty much a very large pinhole camera?

Indeed.

Don't ALL Cameras work the same way? Light enters an otherwise sealed box through some kind of hole and the image appears on the opposite side, wall, or whatever you want to call it (gross simplification, but there ya go). Some also add a lens to focus the image onto film and others use digital sensors, is all the difference (and size)...

There are too many boundaries between styles of image making (in my view)... <HUGE WINK>.

Yes, a very large pinhole camera. See http://www.rleggat.com/photohistory/history/cameraob.htm
for a bit of history on it.

I thought this was pretty cool- I saw it while I was waiting at the doctor's office.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/05/camera-obscura/oneill-text.html

The major issue here is that you need a room with a view, obviously!

So is the idea of a camera obscura pretty much a very large pinhole camera?