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Dec 24, 1000
Camera Obscura
The Camera Obscura was probably the earliest invention of the Camera. It was created around 1000AD by Alhazen, an Arab mathematician, astronomer and philosopher whom was knowledgeable in optics. The camera was composed of a closed box or room with a small hole on one side that when light passed it would project an upside down image on the opposite side. -
The first panoramic camera
The Sutton Panoramic camera was invented by Thomas Sutton in the 1850s in England before being manufactured by T. Ross in 1861. The camera was able to take wide angled shots using curved shaped glass plates and by filling a hollow lens with distilled water to create a 140° view. The camera set made up of a hemispheric shaped wooden box with a hinged flap for the opening of the camera. The lens came in 2 glass hemispheres connected by a metal band. -
First Kodak Camera
Eastman Kodak releases their Kodak roll-film camera. The metal camera was extremely light, easy to use and cheaper compared to previous cameras. It it came with 100 exposures which you would use and send back to the company to be printed and returned with a new roll of exposures. The one thing that made this camera different was that it used gelatine based dry plates that were convenient to use unlike wet plates that needed to be used while still wet. -
Raisecamera a.k.a travel camera
The Raisecamera or travel camera was invented in Germany. It was popular among landscape photographers for it's portability, light weight and small dimension. The camera could be folded up to reduce space and had a tripod to support the camera. The frame and tripod were made of wood which were connected by brass parts. -
The first 35mm camera
Oskar Barnack a German engineer invents the first 35mm camera known as the Ur-Leica in 1914. The small handheld camera was able to take 36 exposure before reloading. The idea was to compact a camera that took high quality photos without carrying heavy loads of equipment. He did this by making the camera take small negatives and later enlarging them to create bigger prints at a reasonable quality. WW1 prevented him from manufacturing the camera until 1924 before it was put on the market in 1925. -
The first Polaroid Camera
Edwin Land an American inventor and scientist annouced his Polaroid Land camera at the Optical Society of America on the 21st of February 1947. The Land camera quickly became popular as an instant camera as it would create a print within 60 seconds after being taken. After the negative paper was exposed you would turn a knob that broke a pod of chemicals on top of a positive frame. this would distribute the chemicals between the papers to develop the photo. -
Nikonos
Calypso was the first amphibious underwater camera on the market invented by Jacques Y. Cousteau and Jean de Wouters. It was sold by French machinery company LA SPIROTECHNIQUE. Nikon later bought the production and sales rights in Jan 1962 and changed the name to Nikonos. The camera's strong waterproof, corrosive and pressure resistant design made it possible to shoot on land and in water up to 50m deep. The lens was made of flat 35mm waterproof glass and the shutters were made out of metal. -
First digital camera
Steve Sasson an America engineer at Eastman Kodak created the first digital camera from parts of different machines. He took the lens from a used movie camera, 16 nickel cadmium batteries, a cassette recorder and a bunch of circuits to make the camera. The 3.63kg weighing device took 0.001 megapixel photos in b/w and stored them on a cassette tape. Each photo took 23 secs to take and can be viewed by processing the cassette through a microcomputer which would display it on a television. -
First mobile phone camera
The first Mobile phone integrated with a camera was produced by Sharp and released by J-Phone in Japan. The J-SH04 could take pictures at 0.11 megapixel resolution and send them digitally to friends and relatives with the same phone.
