camera (n.)
A camera records an image. The word comes from the Latin for a room or chamber.1
In a camera obscura, a darkened room or box, light enters through a small opening or lens. An image of the outside appears on the surface opposite. It can be viewed or traced onto paper.2
Some versions were large enough to enter; others were boxes an artist could take outside. The image could be traced onto paper. Later, photographic materials made it possible to preserve the image instead of drawing it by hand.4
When photography developed, the shortened name went to the device that recorded the image.34
He left his camera on the table.