The History of Photography

The History of Photography

  • 11th century:

An Arabian scholar by the name of Hassan ibn Hassan created the Camera Obscura (latin for the Dark Room). It did not take actual pictures, but instead projected them onto another surface upside down. This is actually useful as it provided an accurate tracing projection for buildings etc.

  • 1685:

The Camera Obscura became portable from reducing its size

  • 1826

The first photo was taken by Joseph Nicephore Niepce in France. He used the portable Camera Obscura to expose a pewter plate coated with Bitumen (a black viscous mixture of hydrocarbons) to light. This let the image set instead of fading away.

  • 1839

Daguerreotype was invented. The process consisted of using silver on a copper plate.

  • 1843

The first ever advertisement featuring a photograph is published in Philadelphia

  • 1851

Frederick Scott invents the Collodion process, which allows photos to be exposed to light for 2-3 seconds rather than an extended period of time

  • 1859

The panoramic camera named the Sutton is invented

  • 1861

Oliver Wendell Holmes invents the stereoscope viewer. It was used to display two identical pictures as one large one. This brought along easier tracing techniques                                                      

  • 1884

George Eastman invents flexible, paper-based photographic film

  • 1888

Eastman invents the Kodak roll film camera. roll film is any type of spool-wound photographic film protected from white light exposure by a paper backing, as opposed to film which is protected from exposure and wound forward in a cartridge.

1898

Reverend Hannibal Goodwin invents celluloid photographic film. It is used to record motion pictures and animations.

  • 1900

First mass-marketed camera, called the Brownie, goes on sale.

  • 1913/1914

The first 35mm still camera is developed

  • 1927

General Electric invents the modern flash bulb

  • 1932

THe first light meter with photoelectric cell is introduced

  • 1935

Eastman Kodak markets his Kodachrome film

  • 1948

Edwin land launches and markets the Polaroid camera

  • 1960

EG&G develops extreme depth underwater cameras for the U.S.Navy

  • 1963

Polaroid introduces the instant colour film

  • 1968

Photograph of the earth is taken from the moon. It is considered to be one of the most influential photographs ever taken

  • 1973

Polaroid introduces one-stop instant photography

  • 1978

Konica introduces the first point-and-shoot autofocus camera

  • 1980

Sony demonstrates the first consumer camcorder for capturing moving pictures

  • 1984

Canon demonstrates the first digital electronic still camera

  • 1985

Pixar introduces the first digital imaging processor

  • 1990

Eastman Kodak announces the photo compact disc as digital image storage medium

  • 1999

Kyocera corporation introduces the VP-210 VisualPhone, the world’s first mobile phone with a built-in camera for recording videos and still photos