Keith
The best camera is one that still works!
I don't know why but when I read a post with someone talking about their camera and throughout the entire post the camera is referred to as she ... I cringe a little! 😛
yes I see the "camera obscura", used with first pinhole methods. However here we are adopting the western (latin, to be precise) conception of the whole thing. French have for example a male translation "appareil de photo" as I guess Germans ("DER Fotoapparat",male, but they have also "die Kamera") and other languages might refer with a different "sex" to it.
Cameras are just tools.
I call my Leica "Harvey Milk", and I call the lens "D'Artagnan". I have two larger cameras that I call "Lord Bendover", and "Ponce de Leon".
Unchristened bits of photo apparatus are all temporarily named "Akbar Del Piombo" until I hold a formal naming ceremony.
I spend a great deal of time deciding on appropriate names. I once had a camera named "Nancy", but it was unspeakably rude and was demolished in a fit of pique.
I think the real term is "camera oscura" without a "b". Am I wrong?
I call them by whatever the factory named it.