Question

State the characteristics of the image formed by a pinhole camera.

Answer 1

Hint: You can start by describing what a pinhole camera is. Then define the obscura effect (essentially the pinhole camera effect). Then draw a well labelled diagram of a pin-hole camera and write down the characteristics of the image formed by the pinhole camera.

Complete step-by-step answer:
A pinhole camera is a unique device in itself. We can call it a simple camera but without a lens. It is small in size. You can imagine the internals of this camera as a box sealed from every side but one single hole. Light passes through this small hole and projects an image on the opposite side of the hole.
The formation of this image on the opposite side of the camera hole is called camera obscura effect. The obscura effect was first studied by an Arab physicist Ibn al-Haytham. The concept of obscura effect is not only limited to small cameras. It can be done in a confined space with only a small opening.
The diagram of pinhole camera is given below

The characteristics of the images formed by pinhole camera are

A real image is formed that can be obtained on a screen.
(i). It is inverted
(ii). It is usually smaller in size than the object.
(iii). The pinhole camera is used for safely viewing solar eclipses or to capture the changes in location of the sun for longer periods of time.

Note: However pinhole this was never implemented in cameras on a large-scale, this was partly due to the fact that once the 17th century came around it brought with it the concept of using lenses in cameras instead. Using lenses in cameras became much more popular as it is much easier to implement and provide better results with less effort.