The box camera is one of the most historically significant camera types and paved the way for amateur photography at the beginning of the 20th century. The body consists of a simple, rectangular box made of cardboard, wood, sheet metal or plastic, in which a simple lens (usually a meniscus lens), a simple shutter and a viewfinder are integrated.
Since most box cameras have neither focusing nor variable aperture or exposure time settings, they are extremely simple to use. Famous models like the Kodak Brownie made photography affordable for broad sections of the population for the first time.
