camera lucida
1
9.8
- noun
- /ˈkæmərə ˈluːsɪdə/
- Archaic
:
cámara lucida
- The artist used a camera lucida to create an accurate sketch of the model in front of her.
Examples
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Brain atlases and the camera lucida
Academic text (2004) -
Diagrams were made with a camera lucida attached to a light microscope, and measurements are given as length by width in millimeters unless otherwise stated.
Academic text (2015) -
Projective installations and their validation of the machinic presence are contemporaries of the application of the computer and its screen: the return of the black box from the age of the camera lucida, and other linguistic instruments whose images began with the language of cybernetics.
Academic text (2004) -
Scanning brain sections with a high-resolution scanner takes about 10 hours, which is approximately 50 percent faster than the camera lucida, conventional XY mapping, or photographic procedures (Krout et al. 2002).
Academic text (2004) -
With a camera lucida, you can see both your subject and your drawing surface simultaneously, making it easier to trace.
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He demonstrated how to use a camera lucida for drawing detailed images from life.
Surface Forms
Morphology
camera + lucida
The phrase is a technical Latin name: while B1 learners may know 'camera', the element 'lucida' is not a familiar English word (and is listed as not found), so the specific sense 'an optical drawing device' cannot be derived from the parts. The term is a specialized, language-specific label rather than a transparent compositional phrase, so its meaning would be opaque to learners who merely know the constituents.
Etymology
Camera lucida comes from old Latin words: camera meaning 'box' and lucida meaning 'light'. It was a small drawing tool with a glass that let artists see the subject and their paper at the same time so they could easily 'trace' or 'sketch' what they saw, which is why the name means a tool for 'tracing or sketching'.