Isekai Yakkyoku - Ch. 47 - Marseille's Factory Operation and Commemorative Photo

[MEBWizz]

He built a microscope, why didn't he build a normal camera?

He doesn't know how the mechanisms fully work together, cameras are right next to analog watches in the complex design department.

Not really thought? As they have shown you can start with a hole in a box, and slowly increase complexity: even a single lens is a huge improvement, and if he is able to build a microscope he has al the knowledge and technology to build a decent camera. Also watches are not that complex either, in the grand scheme of things...

I think that the production of a normal camera would have been easy for him to develop since he developed a working microscope. The mechanisms for both are rather similar and the only thing would have been spending some time developing the film housing to work with the lenses so that excess light did not interfere with the film.