The first permanent photograph was made in 1825 by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce. The modern photographic camera evolved from the camera obscura. The word camera comes from camera obscura, the Latin name of the original device for projecting an image onto a flat surface (literally translated to 'dark chamber'). Similar artistic fields in the moving image camera domain are film, videography, and cinematography. Captured images may be reproduced later as a part of the process of photography, digital imaging, or photographic printing. The still image camera is the main instrument in the art of photography. A shutter mechanism determines the amount of time the photosensitive surface is exposed to light.

Lenses focus the light entering the camera, and the size of the aperture can be widened or narrowed. Cameras have various mechanisms to control how the light falls onto the light-sensitive surface. At a basic level, cameras are sealed boxes (the camera body) with a small hole (the aperture) that allows light through to capture an image on a light-sensitive surface (usually photographic film or a digital sensor). A camera is an optical instrument that captures a visual image.

What happened to flash