Today, this article delves into the history of the camera that goes much further back than you might think.
Before the first photographic camera
The first camera that humans used was called the ‘camera obscura’. This concept has been described as far back as 400 B.C in Chinese texts. Even in one of Aristotle’s works around 330 B.C the camera obscura was conceptualised. In 1000 A.D an Arabic scholar, Ibn Al-Haytham, presented the idea of obscura. The camera obscura does not take images, but it directs light into a tiny lens in a wall and projects what is outside into the dark room. Basically, it was an extremely old version of the project, only, the outside that would’ve been projected was flipped.
The first photographic camera
In 1816, the French inventor Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, with centuries of research helping him, created the first photographic camera. Niépce would develop the photos onto paper that was lined with sliver chloride, and in 1826 the current longest-living photograph was taken. The image took around 8 hours of exposure to be fully developed. This photograph is on display at the University of Texas.
Daguerreotypes
Louis Daguerre created a new type of photograph-making methods that he dubbed ‘Daguerreotypes’. The process for these cameras involved iodized silver plates that were then developed with mercury fumes. The earlier models took around 20 minutes to develop but after years of improvements it was lowered to as short as 20 seconds. This type of camera was extremely popular at the time as these cameras were being sold to the public in 1839, which really sparked the drive for better camera technology.
The mirror camera and the instantaneous exposures
An issue with the Daguerreotypes is that they faded too quickly, so the American inventor Alexander S. Wolcott had created the mirror camera which produced a positive instead of a negative one. In 1871, a gelation dry plate that created instantaneous exposures was created by Richard Leach Maddox, which served as a precursor to the polaroid that would be created later.
Kodak: The introduction of film rolls
American George Eastman had perfected analogue cameras with using film rolls. In 1888, originally, he started with paper film, but he quickly swapped over to celluloid film rolls. A Kodak camera would come with 100 exposures and these exposures had to be sent back to the Eastman Kodak factory in Rochester, New York to be developed. By 1901, Kodak had introduced the ‘brownie’ cameras which were a cheaper variant.
The 35mm film roll
The 35mm film rolls were introduced from 1905 and 1913, with camera manufactures offering these rolls that would be inserted by the camera user themselves. Oskar Barnack is the main person credited for the creation of the 35mm film roll, originally making them for the Leica company, but Kodak and other companies pioneering it.
Twin-reflex and DSLR cameras
Twin-reflex cameras introduced features like viewfinders, variable shutter speeds, and detachable lenses. The earliest versions of these were offered by the German company Franke & Heidecke around the 1920s. These were quickly replaced later by single-lens reflex (SLR) cameras. Digital single-lens reflex cameras came around in 1999, and after a while largely replaced the SLR cameras. They produce high-end quality images and are used by amateurs and professionals alike.
The history of the camera is long, with many great technological advancements involved. If you were interested on this topic, it is recommended you research it more.
Reference List:
https://petapixel.com/when-was-the-camera-invented/
https://www.nfi.edu/when-was-the-camera-invented/
https://www.masterclass.com/articles/when-was-the-camera-invented
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