Wollaston’s patented 1806 Camera Lucida is an interesting optical drawing aid. A number of years ago I made several Camera Lucida’s of Wollaston’s design. I found that the quality of the virtual image was useable but lacking in quality. My friends and I played with these replicas and I thought of it as an interesting diversion.

Now some French optician must have done the same in the early 1800's. And he decided that the solution was to use a simpler prism with three sides. It could be a way to get around the Wollaston patent? And by metalizing the hypotenuse side he could get the two reflections necessary for an upright virtual image superimposed on the drawing. But he got a low contrast virtual image. So he made the viewing area the eye looks into larger because he found that would increase the brightness of the still low contrast virtual image. But now there was a parallax problem between the virtual image and the drawing. In other words if you move your eye the virtual image and the drawing do not stay coincident. Then this French optician found that by putting a lens in front of the Camera Lucida prism, the virtual image and the drawing could be kept coincident. But only for one (subject that you are drawing) distance. So he added a couple of changeable lenses for different subject distances in front of the prism. Viola. A new product to sell.

Then the Camera Lucida was further "improved". Someone started selling it with four lenses. Then five lenses. Then twelve lenses. And a pretty case.

This version of the Camera Lucida came in and out of popularity several times. The Camera Leon Lucida. The Japanese version of the Holbein Camera Lucida that in the end sold for $1000.

Development of the Camera Lucida by TRI

After several years of making Camera Lucida’s, I came to understand that the poor virtual image quality had to do with glass quality, fabrication quality, ghost images and optical baffeling. By fabricating precision Wollaston prisms of high quality optical glass, according to the specifications derived from a couple of computer optical design programs, and using proper baffeling, a superior Camera Lucida with a high contrast virtual image was achieved. The improvements were the result of designing, building, and evaluating many prototypes.

So my view of the history of the Camera Lucida is from my forty years of making prototype optics. And my conjecture. I was not there 190 years ago, so I have to do my own evaluation from the standpoint of one who makes optical devices. My view of history may or may not be correct. But it is my best guess.

I am not an artist and thus cannot tell you which artist used what method to do their drawings. But after making, analyzing, and using some of the varieties of the Camera Lucida and trying others, I can tell you that the modern Camera Lucida by TRI works better than Wollaston’s original Camera Lucida or the French or Japanese varieties with their required many lenses.