♥ Camera Museum at Lebuh Muntri, Georgetown, Penang

The Camera Museum in Georgeotown, is the first camera museum in South East Asia. It is located at Lebuh Muntri in a refurbished double storey shop house. We would say this is a must-visit-museum especially for those who has got keen interest in photography or camera. 

Our very first visit to Camera Museum was last year mid-August, before the museum started its operation on 31st August 2013 and before its official opening on 9th October 2013. Then, we paid our second visit in November 2013 and third visit in July 2014. We personally like this place very much and each time there is something new in their exhibition space for us to explore .

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Photography is allowed in here.

You can also leave any message, comment or sign in the guest book. And of course I did. 

As you enter into the reception hall, there are murals and a spiral staircase on your right. The staircase is named "The Staircase to Nowhere", inviting people of high curiosity to climb up the staircase and see what is up there. Just go ahead, climb and figure it out. Don't worry, it's curious baby-friendly. To keep the fun going, we will not reveal the truth here :p

The ticket booth for the museum upstairs is on your left. The entrance fee of Camera Museum is RM20 for adult and RM10 for both students and senior citizens.

After the reception hall is the exhibition space.

Some of the decorations you can find at ground floor.

After the exhibition space is the souvenir shop and a coffee place at the back. The cafe is named Double Exposure. 

Now let's move on to the camera museum upstairs. 

The camera museum upstairs is divided into 6 sections. During our visit, there is only five of us. A helpful tour guide was tagged along to give us the introduction of cameras, to tell us the evolution of cameras, and any questions from the visitors is welcomed.

The first section or the main hall displays the collection of cameras starting from eighteenth century from all over the world. 

Lego digital camera from Japan.

Kodak Disc 4000 and the Kodak colour print film.

And there are many other collection of cameras which I don't know. It was really exciting to see all these cameras on display.

 

We also get the chance to handle the actual antique cameras at the center booth.

The camera which looked like a speaker to me -. - 

Vintage cameras that combined with the cartoon theme like Bugs Bunny, Spiderman, Barbie etc.

Super large and bulky cameras.

The camera lucida. It consists of only a simple prism and lens that allow an artist to see the scene they depicting superimposed over the paper that they are drawing on, so that they can simply trace around the image.

The stereo camera. Do you know that the 3D photography has existed since 150 years ago? This surprised us. It was also exciting that we get the chance to explore the viewers, glass films and photos here.

The second room of camera museum upstairs is the Obscura Room. Here is where you can understand the image forming principles. This wooden obscura camera was introduced in the seventeenth century. It is an optical device that projects an image of its surrounding on a screen. This was one of the inventions that led to photography and the camera. Here you can experience how to use this device.

The third section is the Unique Collection Room, also called The Spy Room. This room was closed during our visit. Hence, we had no chance to discover what is inside. 

The fourth section is the history of camera illustrated timeline on the wall. 

The fifth section is the Dark Room. The tour guide will explain to you the whole film transformation process. 

The last section is the Pinhole Room. Again, we had no chance to visit this room because the staff locked it sharp at 6 pm. This actually disappointed us. 

Here's a good piece of art you can see when you exit from the camera museum upstairs to ground floor.

Several must-do's for visitors from the Camera Museum.

When you photograph people in colour, you photograph their clothes. But when you photograph people in black & white, you photography their souls. p/s: This photo was taken on my first visit to the Camera Museum.

Last but not least, I want to shout out loud "I love camera museum!". This photo was taken on my latest visit to the Camera Museum.

So, when is your turn to visit the Camera Museum? :)