A camera lens may be made from a number of elements: from one, as in the Box Brownie's meniscus lens, to over 20 in the more complex zooms.
In 1910, Punch magazine described bird feeding as "a national pastime"; meanwhile, the arrival of the first mass-market camera, the five-shilling Box Brownie, signalled the beginnings of what would become the hugely popular new fashion for "birdwatching".
He doesn't just take holiday snaps with a Box Brownie like most of us.
He could almost hear the clicking of tourists' Box Brownies and the flip-flopping of their beach-sandalled feet as they trampled over the golf course.
Brady already owned a Box Brownie, which he used to take photographs of Hindley and her dog, Puppet, but he upgraded to a more sophisticated model, and also purchased lights and darkroom equipment.
An old print or negative - whether from a Box Brownie or HCB's Leica - is an artefact in the real world, an object someone once cherished that turns into a relic for others to discover.
George Eastman spent some time there during the eighties and afterwards invented the Box Brownie and roll film, ending the monopoly of studios on permanent images.
Or rather, Francis is actually going to play soldiers, I'm sneaking around the place to see what I can see and maybe take a few incriminating photos with my trusty Box Brownie.
As a young boy, Cartier-Bresson owned a Box Brownie, using it for taking holiday snapshots; he later experimented with a 3x4 inch view camera.
Spammy had come with him to Renfrew on the bus, bringing along an ancient camera that looked like it was only about three models on from the Box Brownie.