History of Cameras

Camera obscura

400 BCE

Camera obscuras are dark areas or rooms that contain a small hole or lens through which an image is projected and comes out inverted. Camera obscuras go all the way back to around 400 BC and would serve as the precursor of the photographic cameras we have today.

First photograph

1826

While it technically is not the first ever photograph, as Joseph Nicéphore Niépce had been experimenting with the heliograph since 1816. View from the Window at Le Gras stands as the oldest preserved photograph in history and was taken by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce.

Daguerreotype

1837

Daguerreotype was the first advancement from heliography. Invented by Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre in 1837 (though introduced in 1839), daguerreotype became the first ever practical photographic process.

The Giroux daguerreotype camera

1839

The Giroux daguerrotype camera was built by Alphonse Giroux in 1839 and was the first ever commercial photographic camera produced.

Calotype

1841

Calotype was yet another early photographic process introduced by William Henry Fox Talbot. Despite their flexibility and ease, they did not replace the daguerrotype process as calotype produced a less clear image compared to the daguerrotype.

Collodion

1848

Collodion was another early photographic process. Gustave Le Gray was the first to theorize the process, but it was Frederick Scott Archer who would be credited as the inventor when he created it in 1848 and published it in 1851. Collodion plates would end up outshining the daguerreotype process

Kodak

1888

While he produced paper film in 1885, he eventually switched to celluloid and became the pioneer of photographic film. In 1888, he would commercialize his first camera, which he called the "Kodak." The Kodak was the first step in the history of photographic film.

Reflex camera

1928

The first practical reflex camera was published in 1928 and was known as the Franke & Heidecke Rolleiflex medium format TLR. They were too bulky to gain popularity but the Rolleiflex was compact enough to achieve that aforementioned popularity.

Polaroid

1948

The Polaroid Model 95 became the first-ever instant-picture camera in the world. Named as a Land Camera (after its inventor, Edwin H. Land), it became a huge success and remains one of the highest-selling cameras of all time.

Camera phone

1999

One of the most common features of today's phones was actually released in Japan in May 1999. The first commercial phone was known as the Kyocera Visual Phone VP-210.