camera

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin camera (“chamber or bedchamber”), from Ancient Greek καμάρα (kamára, “anything with an arched cover, a covered carriage or boat, a vaulted chamber, a vault”), of Old Iranian origin. Doublet of chamber. (device): A clipping of camera obscura, from New Latin camera obscura (“dark chamber”), because the first cameras used a pinhole and a dark room.

noun

1. A device for taking still or moving pictures or photographs.
   The single-imaging optic of the mammalian eye offers some distinct visual advantages. Such lenses can take in photons from a wide range of angles, increasing light sensitivity. They also have high spatial resolution, resolving incoming images in minute detail. It’s therefore not surprising that most cameras mimic this arrangement. 2013 July-August, Fenella Saunders, “Tiny Lenses See the Big Picture”, in American Scientist
2. (computer graphics, video games) The viewpoint in a three-dimensional game or simulation.
   If you're building a third-person game with enclosed or tight spaces, try to figure out up front what camera problems you will likely encounter. Use this identification process to influence the early building process. 2003, Tom Meigs, Ultimate game design: building game worlds
   I'm talking about the way the camera flies up above the skater when you leap into the air. No one had done it before. 2006, Patrick O'Luanaigh, Game Design Complete
3. A vaulted room.
4. A judge's private chamber, where cases may be heard in camera.