pinhole camera

pinhole camera (plural pinhole cameras)

1. (photography) A simple lensless device for producing a photographic image, consisting of an enclosed box with film or some other flat photosensitive surface on one interior side and a tiny hole in the opposite side.
   • 1981 April 12, Bruce Habegger, “Pinhole cameras can give surprising results”, in New York Times, retrieved 3 August 2011:

     Many of today's photographers forget that a pinhole camera — essentially a small box with a hole in it — can be used to produce a quality photograph.

   • 2010 May 3, Don Morrison, “The Capture of Shanghai”, in Time:

     There are never-published treasures like British entrepreneur William Turner's scenes of Shanghai life in the early 1900s — probably taken with a homemade pinhole camera.

• pin camera

• “pinhole camera”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.