The history of the camera goes back much further than that of photography as a form of art and documentation. The first cameras were developed as early as Greek, Roman and Chinese antiquity. The camera obscura, Latin for “darkroom,” projected an image of a scene onto a wall through a tiny hole in a screen. In ancient times, however, this phenomenon was perceived more as a curiosity and did not have much practical application.
Then in the Renaissance, the camera obscura was more widely used, in which painters used the projection as a model for their paintings. It is believed that painters such as Johannes Vermeer, Caravaggio, da Vinci and others used optical devices such as the camera obscura to achieve accurate perspective in their compositions.
It was not until the 19th century that the first “real” cameras were developed. Exactly who was the first is somewhat disputed. In 1816, Nicéphore Niepcé, a French inventor, developed heliography. Using a small homemade camera and a sheet of paper coated with silver chloride, Niepcé was able to take a picture.
Then in 1888, an inventor stepped onto the scene whose name should still be familiar to most photographers and non-photographers today, George Eastman. He presented the first camera with celluloid film. The camera resembled a box and should convince by a simple operating concept. The name of the camera was simply “Kodak”.
With the beginning of the 20th century, the development of cameras began to gain momentum. The world’s first mass-market camera was introduced as early as 1900 by George Eastman, the Brownie. Ten years later, the first developments of a 35mm camera followed by the German engineer Oskar Barnack. These developments resulted in the Leica I in 1925.
Another German development was the first medium format camera with two lenses, the Rolleiflex by Franke & Heidecke, in 1929. This was followed in 1948 by the first single-lens reflex camera with instant-return mirror, Gamma Duflex. This model was built in Hungary. Also in 1948, the first instant camera was introduced. The American Ediwn Land presented the Polaroid SX-70 Land Camera.
The first digital camera system was developed by Kodak engineers in 1975. Of course, digital photography became really popular years later.
Over the decades, more and more innovations and attempts to create the perfect camera followed.
Here you can find an overview of a fraction of these models. Some of them have become legendary, others could not establish themselves in the masses, but they should not be forgotten.
