Having had to travel through to Edinburgh recently for hospital appointments we decided to have a bit of a day out in Edinburgh. We wanted to treat the kids, maybe to something a bit different, we'd done the castle before, the dungeons, museums etc, all the usual things, so when I came across a leaflet for the Camera Obscura World of Illusions, we thought we would go and check it out. I must admit, not knowing much about a camera obscura or what the visitor centre entailed I didn't think it would be anything special - Oh how wrong I was.
The History of Edinburgh's Camera Obscura
In the early 18th Century the Short family were scientific instrument makers and in 1776 the son, Thomas Short designed and built a Gothic House where he displayed all his optical instruments and telescopes, charging the public to use them. Thomas Short died in 1788 and some 39 years later Maria Short, Thomas's daughter, returned after having lived in the West Indies, claiming the telescopes as her inheritance. In 1835 Maria opened an observatory, which was inside a stone and wood building. In the early 1950s Maria purchased an old tenement building placing a camera obscura at the top. Other telescopes and exhibits were installed and it was named Short's Observatory. Over the years others have owned and ultimately looked after the camera obscura hence it has retained many of its original features.
How the Camera Obscura Works
Similar in principal to a periscope the Camera Obscura is situated in a darkened room in a tower at the top of the old tenement building, which is now the visitor centre. In the centre of the room is a round, white concave table. 6.5m above this table is a glass lens situated at the bottom of a metal cylinder, which rises up to and protrudes out of the roof. Half way up this metal tube is another lens and a third lens is situated at the top. Facing outwards at the top of the tube is a mirror, which is set at an angle and is protected by plain glass. The part of the tube outside is covered by a protective hood. The mirror catches the light and reflects images back down through the tube and onto the white table. Although I can't really totally understand the workings myself, what I can say is that is really does work and is very impressive!
Seeing the Edinburgh Camera Obscura in Operation
Laid out on 5 different floors we decided to start at the top and work our way down. It was quite a hike to the top floor by means of narrow steep stairs. The camera obscura is situated outside on the roof of the tenement building in a round tower. Showing times for the operation of the camera obscura are roughly every 15 - 20 minutes. When we went into the tower there were about 20 people in the room. You were told to stand around the edge of the white table. Alternatively there was a raised platform further back for those who couldn't get right to the table's edge to stand on so they still had a clear view of what was happening. The guide was very helpful explaining a bit about the history of the camera obscura and how it works. The room was then plunged into darkness and the guide manoeuvred the angle of the mirror above by using a long metal pole. It was amazing. Light shone down through the metal tube above the table and we were able to see size images of people and cars as they wandered about the streets of Edinburgh. We were shown landmarks and viewpoints of well beyond the city limits. You were even able to pick people up in your hands or on small pieces of paper that were handed out. It was very interesting and definitely something I would like to see again and the kids loved it. The images we saw reflected on to the table were so remarkably clear, it was almost like watching a film show being projected on to the table.
Once the camera obscura talk was over you were able to go out on to the rooftop and view the city through other optical devices, such as periscopes, binoculars and telescopes. It was great, but a clear day is definitely be advisable.
Enjoying the Rest of the Visitor Centre
As we worked our way slowly through the other levels and displays we were truly enthralled by everything we saw.
THE MAGIC GALLERY - Many optical illusions for family debates! Bendy mirrors to make your muscles ache from the laughter. Big lenses to give you a huge head, magic eye pictures - these I loved, as I was the only one in our family who could see them! Illusions to make you swap heads with others, beautiful, colourful kaleidoscopes and a shadow wall - this we loved. It's a white wall, you press yourself up against, the weirder the pose the better, perhaps arms sprawled out and one leg up high with your tongue stuck out, there's a flash and then as you move away your shadow is stuck to the wall!! It gradually fades after about a minute but it's so funny seeing yourself stuck to the wall!
THE ELECTRIC ROOM - This room shows us how electricity travels in an entertaining way by using plasma spheres, plasma tubes and crackle tubes. These are all great fun too. Touch the glass of the sphere or tube and watch how the colourful electric current follows your hand.
There were so many different hands on exhibits to enjoy and illusions to try and figure out. You could have a look at the mutoscope, which was basically a large flick book encased in glass with a handle on the side. As you turned the handle the pages of the flick book turned revealing the picture show.
Even going up and down the stairs we were entertained or teased by optical illusion pictures.
At the bottom there is also a very nice gift shop selling smaller versions of the many tricks and optical illusions on display.
I would definitely recommend this as a great family day out. A great way of bonding together, there was so much to chat about, discuss and debate together, about what we thought we saw or how we thought it worked. It was a really great happy day with plenty of laughter.
The staff were all very friendly and very helpful.
The Edinburgh Camera Obscura is situated right at the top of the Royal Mile just outside the castle, making it very easy to find. There is wheelchair access to the lower level of the visitor centre and shop area and when I asked about catering for wheelchair users I was told that although wheelchair access is not feasible through most of the visitor centre, as it is a listed building, they do have places where wheelchair users can wait for others visiting the centre where they are given special packs to enjoy, giving details about the centre and a good variety of the illusions shown in the centre for them to have a look through.
We spent about 3 hours in the centre but could have spent much longer there if we'd had more time, it was so interesting.
Opening Times and Prices
Opening times vary throughout the year as the camera obviously needs light to work:
July & August - Monday - Sunday 9.30am - 7.30pm
September & October - Monday - Sunday 9.30am - 6.00pm
November - March - Monday - Sunday 10.00am - 5.00pm
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