Were there cameras in the year 1616?

Answer 1

It partly depends on what you mean by 'camera', but the earliest claim would be the camera obscura (from the Latin for Dark Room). A camera obscura is a lightproof box (or room) with a small hole in one of the walls. An image of the outside world is projected on the wall of the box opposite the hole. The camera obscura was invented by Abu Ali Al-Hasan in Iraq in the tenth century, so by 1616 the camera would have been 600 years old. There is evidence that artists used camera obscuras in Europe. Leonardo da vinci described the use of camera obscura and the Dutch masters achieved a level of realism and detail that has caused speculation that they used optical systems for painting - essentially a camera that replaced of light sensitive chemicals or electronics with a skilled artist. The first portable camera obscura (ie one that wasn't a room) was invented by Robert Boyle and Robert Hooke in the 1660s. The first permanent photograph was taken in 1826 by Niepce.