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The first portable camera
In 1685, Johann Zahn designed the first camera that was smaller and more portable than the original camera obscuras but his ideas didn't come to life until the 1800s. -
The photographic camera
Niépce developed photographic images onto paper lined with silver chloride, and a photograph he produced in roughly 1826 stands as the oldest surviving photograph. This first photograph remains on display at the University of Texas in Austin. -
Daguerreotype process is created
In the 1830s, Frenchman Joseph Nicéphore Niépce became the first to produce an image that didn’t fade immediately. To this end, Niépce used a portable camera obscura to expose a pewter plate coated with bitumen. -
folding camera
The 1850s marked a period of transition. Processes that used paper or glass negatives to make positive prints began to be adopted more broadly. Although they lacked the crystalline precision of daguerreotypes, paper prints made from negatives were reproducible, a characteristic that encouraged the commercial potential of photography and the marketing of American scenes. By the end of the decade, paper prints had supplanted daguerreotypes. -
camera obscura
camera obscura is a darkened room with a small hole or lens at one side through which an image is projected onto a wall or table opposite the hole. Camera obscura can also refer to analogous constructions such as a box or tent in which an exterior image is projected inside. -
kodak camera
The first successful roll-film hand camera, the Kodak, was launched publicly in the summer of 1888. Inventor George Eastman received a patent (number 388,850) for the camera’s shutter and the trademark (number 15,825) for the Kodak name on September 4, 1888. The immediate triumph of the camera prompted Eastman to change the name of his company from Eastman Dry Plate and Film Company to Eastman Kodak Company in 1892. -
Revere Camera
The Revere Camera Company never fully escaped the shadow of its Chicago rival Bell & Howell, and as a result, its role in the early home movie industry has largely been forgotten. For a brief period of time, however, this upstart firm—launched by former radiator repairman Samuel Briskin in 1939—became America’s preferred producer of budget-priced 8mm movie equipment, including the Model 88 camera and Model 85 projector in our museum collection. -
Model 95
The first Polaroid camera, called the Model 95, and its associated film went on sale in 1948 at a department store in Boston. The cameras sold out in minutes. -
The Canon AT-1
The Canon AT-1 is a 35mm SLR released by Canon in 1977. It is part of the long defunct, but still highly popular Canon FD system. The AT-1 uses the Canon FD mount and is a no frills, manual exposure only camera.