A camera is a remote sensing device that can capture and store or transmit images. Light is
collected and focused through an optical system on a sensitive surface (sensor) that converts
intensity and frequency of the electromagnetic radiation to information, through chemical or
electronic processes.
The simplest system of this kind consists of a dark room or box in which light enters only from
a small hole and is focused on the opposite wall, where it can be seen by the eye or captured on a
light sensitive material (i.e. photographic film). This imaging method, which dates back centuries,
is called ‘camera obscura’ (latin for ‘dark room’), and gave the name to modern cameras.
Camera technology has hugely improved in the last decades, since the development of Charge
Coupled Device (CCD) and, more recently, of CMOS technology. Previous standard systems, such
as vacuum tube cameras, have been discontinued.
The improvements in image resolution and acquisition speed obviously also improved the quality
and speed of machine vision cameras.
