Drawing with the camera lucida is very easy. With the drawing board supported on an easel, or camera tripod or simply on a table, you can raise the support arm to bring the head of the instrument over the centre of the paper. Then, as you look down on your paper through the viewfinder, you see an image of the subject in front of you as if it were already a picture on your paper. This enables you to get the composition, proportions and perspective of your drawing right from the start.
The camera lucida 2000 is an optical instrument. Mirrors are used to create a reflected image of the subject. The image is seen by the artist as if it were already a picture on the drawing paper. The image is correctly orientated - it is the right way up and the right way round.
Using the camera lucida 2000 helps you see your subject on the paper as it really is - perspective, angles, proportions and shadows all appear on your drawing paper just as they really are. So you can spend your time on capturing and conveying your subject the way you want to.
Could this optical instrument be the secret behind the accurate and realistic drawings of Ingres and other great artists? The artist David Hockney proposes a theory that an early version of the camera lucida was used by many artists in the 18th century to create their uncannily realistic works well before the camera appeared.
Overview
