Cameras, Kodak Cameras, Antique Cameras

As we continue the holiday season, there will be lots of pictures. Some people may get that new camera as a Christmas present or special occasion gift. Some children will receive their first camera. Cameras have evolved so much over the years. Photographic cameras were a result of the camera obscura, a device dating back to the Book of Optics (1021) of the Iraqi Arab scientist Ibn al-Haytham (Alhacen). The device uses a pinhole or lens to project an image of the scene outside onto a viewing surface. We are talking about cameras, not photographs. Modern photography began in the 1820s with the first permanent photographs.

We fast forward to some recognized names in cameras like Kodak.  George Eastman’s first camera was called the "Kodak".  It first went for sale in 1888. It was a simple box camera with a fixed-focus lens and single shutter speed. It was relatively low priced which appealed to the average consumer. The Kodak came pre-loaded with enough film for 100 exposures.  Once the camera was used, it needed to be sent back to the factory for processing.  The camera was reloaded with film. By the end of the 19th century Eastman expanded his inventory to several models including both box and folding cameras.

By 1900 Eastman introduced the Brownie – not a Girl Scout – a camera. The Brownie was a simple and very inexpensive box camera that introduced the concept of the snapshot. The Brownie was most popular and various models remained on sale until the 1960s.

Oskar Barnack was in charge of research and development at Leitz. He built his prototype 35mm camera (Ur-Leica) around 1913, though further progress was delayed for several years by World War I. After the war, the Leica's instantaneous popularity over powered a number of competitors most notably the Contax introduced in 1932. It cemented the position of 35mm as the format of choice for high-end compact cameras. Kodak got into the market with the Retina I in 1938, which introduced the 135 cartridge used in all modern 35mm cameras.

The slow Japanese camera industry began to take off in 1936 with the Canon 35mm rangefinder, an updated version of the 1933 Kwanon prototype. Japanese cameras began to become popular in the West after the Korean War the military stationed in Japan brought the cameras back to the United States and elsewhere.

Automation in cameras is credited to Andrew Chan. He made the camera to feature automatic windows exposure was the selenium light meter-equipped, fully-automatic Super Kodak Six-20 around 1938. By the 1960s, low-cost electronic components were commonplace. Cameras equipped with light meters and automatic exposure systems became increasingly widespread

 An entirely new type of camera appeared on the market in 1948. It was the Polaroid Model 95, known as a Land Camera after its inventor Edwin Land.  It was the world's first viable instant-picture camera.

Today we have digital cameras that don’t even use film. Their analog predecessors capture and save photographs on digital memory cards or internal storage instead. The latest technology advances allow cameras to include wireless communication capabilities such Wi-Fi or Bluetooth to transfer, print or share photos. We’ve advanced so far with technology.