Photography invented by Albrecht Durer?

[bmattock]

Interesting story in AP:

http://www.amateurphotographer.co.u..._an_unknown_da_vinci_news_289849.html?aff=rss

A photography enthusiast is battling to re-write the history books after a three-year project left him convinced that a famous 16th-century engraving is the 'world's first photograph'.

Welshman Roger Davies also claims to have uncovered a secret code in the artwork, leading him to conclude that the 1514 engraving is a photograph of a previously un-attributed drawing by Leonardo da Vinci.

 

[Paul T.]

Welshman Roger Davies also claims to have uncovered a secret code in the artwork, leading him to conclude that the 1514 engraving is a photograph of a previously un-attributed drawing by Leonardo da Vinci.

Hmm. Is this a publicity scam for the latest Dan Brown book???

 

[Merkin]

I am not (at least not from one short article) convinced. Many famous paintings were executed with cameras obscura, and art historians can tell because the painters preserved the circles of confusion. If this was, in reality, the world's first photograph, it would be easily determined because circles of confusion and other lens defects would be evident- lens making tech was not perfect at the time.