Nowadays, there are many models of cameras that help people take pictures that are of very high quality. Every year more and more new models are released, which are equipped with various functions. But, probably, in every family there are old black and white photographs that remind of significant events. Unfortunately, few people know the history of the camera. The first device was released about two hundred years ago, and the invention made a splash. But no one at that time could even suggest that soon this invention would improve and be so popular.

First camera

In the 17th century, an astronomer named Johannes Kepler put into practice the laws that spoke of the refraction of light. This made it possible to project any image onto the wall surface. But for the first time the image was captured only in 1820, it was made by Joseph Nisefor Niepse. For fixing, he used asphalt varnish. It was this installation that was called the first camera; the design of the device was very complex.

After the invention of such a camera, William Talbot began to use it. This scientist used a camera to get a negative and make the quality of the resulting image a little better. Already in 1865, T. Setton invented the mirror lens. This was one of the most important events in the history of the camera. With this device, it was already possible to take fairly good photos with high quality.

The invention of film

Another major event in the history of the camera is the appearance of the Kodak film. The film was invented in 1889. And five years later - in 1904 - a special plate was invented for the manufacture of color photographs. The Lumiere brothers came up with these plates. This was a real breakthrough in the history of the camera.

The invention of color photographs

But not only the Lumiere brothers conducted experiments and research. An excellent photographer lived in Russia, who patented several new technologies. The name of this photographer was S. M. Prokudin-Gorsky. After applying these technologies, people managed to take the first color photographs.

The first camera company - Leica

The first mass production of these products began in 1925. A 35 mm film was used for this camera. The negatives were very small, but photos from them could be made quite large. For people, this was a real miracle. Launched these cameras under the brand name Leica. These products were bought most often, and for a long time they were leaders in sales all over the world. It was this company that used focusing and delay for the camera, this helped to make clearer and better photos.

Cameras later came on sale from Polaroid. Immediately after shooting, a photograph was printed, which people undoubtedly really liked, and they began to buy these products. This event occurred in 1963. And after that, the developers began to add all kinds of functions for the camera and make it more modern. This product has become more functional, with various additions. After a while, the first digital camera was released.

With the help of a camera, a photograph of the starry sky was taken, this happened in 1974. And in 1980, manufacturers began to sell digital video cameras. Now everyone is familiar with this thing and knows how to use it. Cameras are built into various office equipment in our time, devices are improved every year.

Nowadays, there are many camera companies, here are some of the most popular brands:

The history of the camera is quite interesting, but not very long. Humanity needed to spend only 150 years to create the perfect camera, which will help to keep in memory all the important events in human life. Nowadays, many people make money with the camera. They work as photojournalists and film weddings or birthdays.

Nowadays, you will not surprise anyone with a digital camera, and photography has long ceased to be something unusual and rare. Now almost everyone can take thousands of pictures on their phone or on any other equipment with a camera function. However, before the advent of such opportunities, photographic equipment has come a long way.

The prototype of the camera was a pinhole camera

For centuries, people have been trying to find a way to perpetuate the moments of their lives. In addition to paintings, photography became such a means. The first technical device that helped her to be born was a pinhole camera. She became the prototype of all modern cameras, lacking only a photosensitive film. A pinhole camera is a box with a very small hole in one of the walls. Rays of light passing through this hole illuminated on the opposite wall of the camera an image of objects located outside. When drawing this image with any device, the artist received a documentary drawing. Such cameras had different sizes - from the whole room to very small devices.

In 1822, Joseph Nieps, as a photosensitive material, took a plate covered with asphalt and put it on a window in a pinhole camera facing the street. With the help of asphalt varnish, the image took the form and became visible. After eight hours of exposure, he took this plate and processed it in lavender oil, which he mixed with kerosene. Thus, the dark areas of the object, on which the light did not fall, dissolved and "left." For the first time, Niepce got a picture painted not by a man, but by the incident rays of light in refraction.

In 1861, T. Setton created the first SLR camera

Louis Daguerre continued to perfect the open Niepce technique. He managed to reveal his plates with mercury vapor. In 1837, after eleven years of experimentation, he began to heat up mercury, the vapors of which showed an image. Using a strong solution of ordinary salt and hot water to wash off particles of silver iodide not exposed to light, he perfectly captured the picture. The result was a single photograph - positive. It was possible to see it only with certain lighting. Under direct sunlight, it became just a shiny plate of metal. Improvements in image quality were achieved by William Talbot. He invented the imprint of a photograph - a negative. Pictures could now be copied.

In 1861, T. Setton created the first SLR camera. It was a large box with a lid, standing on a tripod. Thanks to the lid, the light could not get inside, but through it it was possible to conduct observation. It was possible to catch the focus with the help of a lens on the glass, on it, by means of mirrors, an image was formed.

In 1883, George Eastman replaced glass plates with photographic film. A flexible film with a photosensitive emulsion was rolled up, allowing you to take several pictures without recharging the camera. Five years later, he invented the first Kodak lightweight camera. Subsequently, the name became the name of the future large company, and photography conquered the whole world.

In 1888, the first Kodak camera was released

In the mid-twenties of the twentieth century, the Leica brand began mass production of cameras. This happened in connection with the invention of thirty-five millimeter film. Such a film allowed photographers to get small negative, after which, to print large images of excellent quality from it. Further, the company invented a focusing system and a delay mechanism when shooting.

In the 1930s, Agfa invented the first color film. But despite this, in Russia the first color photograph appeared in 1908. On it, in the journal Notes of the Russian Technical Society, the writer Leo Tolstoy was captured. Due to the fact that at the beginning of the twentieth century there were no multilayer colored materials, the Russian inventor Prokudin-Gorsky began his experiments. He projected black and white negatives, located on one photographic plate one above the other, through color photo filters.

Thus, color images were obtained. In 1909, Prokudin-Gorsky received an audience with Emperor Nicholas II, who instructed him to film all kinds of aspects of life in all areas of the Russian Empire. The collection of these photos was bought from his heirs in 1948 by the library of the US Congress, and for a long time remained unknown to the general public.

In 1963, Polaroid introduced its camera, which instantly prints photos with the click of a button. It was enough just to wait a few minutes for the contours of images to begin to be drawn on a blank print, and then a fully color photo of good quality appeared. It was a real revolution in the idea of \u200b\u200bfast printing images.

Polaroid Upgrades Quick Print

The next significant event was the emergence of digital images and cameras. In 1974, using the electronic astronomical telescope, the first digital photograph of the starry sky was obtained. In 1980, Sony launched a digital video camera. Eight years later, Fujifilm officially launched the first digital camera, where photographs were stored electronically in digital form. In 1991, Kodak released a SLR camera with a set of functions ready for professional shooting.

By the beginning of the 21st century, the demand for film cameras fell significantly. This was followed by many other inventions that allow you to make even better frames.

Updated 09.24.2017

Everyone has modern digital cameras. But earlier (30 years ago) only very wealthy people could afford a camera. And this device was then considered a sign of luxury. Owners of digital cameras were forced to carry large hard drives with batteries, for which special backpacks were created separately. Over time, devices began to decrease and have changed a lot since then.

By the way, the very first camera looked like this (see photo below). There was no matrix or film in it. The image was printed on a metal tile, and it was possible to see it after further processing.

100 years have passed since the invention of the very first camera. Then came the first digital cameras. Matrices, known and widely used in all digital cameras today, were invented in the late 60s.

The very first and most complete digital camera is Dycam model 1. Also called him Logitech FotoMan FM-1. A little later, in 1981, Sony created the MAVICA camera. In this camera, frames were recorded on 3.5-inch floppy disks, and then this was the last word in technology. Now there are almost no computers that would "eat up" floppy disks.

Dycam model 1   (the very first digital camera) cost about $ 1,000. At that time it was a lot of money. Even today, $ 1000 for the camera is a very big price, and for this money you can buy a pretty good SLR for yourself. However, today expensive cameras can cost 40-50 thousand dollars. Opportunities Dycam model 1   were dull: they used a matrix with a resolution of 376x240 pixels, there was only 1 MB of memory and a simple lens with a fixed focal length.

In the mid-eighties, Sony's example was followed by the well-known brands Canon and Nikon, as well as the now little-known company Asahi. So the light appeared electronic video and cameras. These were analog cameras, they were expensive and had a resolution of 0.3-0.5 megapixels.

Despite the fact that the first devices appeared in the early 80s, their widespread production falls precisely in the first half of the 90s. But even these cameras were dull and did not provide the photographer with wide opportunities. The problem was that approaching the production of digital cameras was difficult. At that time, analog cameras developed well and their operating time was not suitable for implementing the ideas of digital cameras. As a result, there was failure after failure. One example is the DSLR. Kodak DCS-100   worth 25 thousand dollars. It implemented the principle of mechanical copying (without a clue what this means). Even if you drop the huge price, the camera was uncomfortable - you had to carry bags for the power supply and hard drive. Moreover, the image quality was poor.

The only element that could remain on a film camera and be used digitally is the lens. Its working principle has not changed at all.

There was another problem - wearing digital information. Cameras needed large and small digital media, and in 1994, SanDisc implemented the CompactFlash standard. It is used today, although it is somewhat modified. This was a rather big step in the practice of the development of photographic equipment. As a result, digital cameras appeared, which were both compact and really affordable. In addition, they used more or less good matrices with normal resolution.

Today, there are at least 8 camera companies that compete with each other. There are also other small brands compared to these giants. Previously, there was no such fierce competition - among themselves competed:

• Pentax;
• Kodak;
• Canon;
• Olympus;
• Pentax;
• Nikon;
• Minolta.

A little later they entered the struggle SonyCasio andFuji. These companies, by the way, continue to create cameras today (perhaps, except for the company Minolta).

Of all these brands, Kodak was the leader. This company was the leader in the field of technical achievements in photographic equipment. What is the model worth? DC-20released in 1995. It has become a truly compact and convenient digital camera. She weighed 120 grams and was the size of a regular deck of cards. Costing only $ 200, it was considered a "budget option" and was actively in demand. The resolution of the matrix used was 0.18 MP, which allowed us to obtain images with a maximum resolution of 493 × 373.

Later, Kodak introduced the model to the market. Here a vario lens with a focusing system was first used. Now the owner did not need to manually adjust the sharpness of the frame. Also available was an option to select image compression (good, best, maximum). Due to the maximum compression, space was freed up on the memory card, and instead of the standard 22 pictures, 99 frames can already be placed.

However, other companies also did not stand still. In 1997, FujiFilm introduced a camera with a resolution of more than one megapixel. However, at that time, few people had computers, and users could not fully appreciate all the benefits of switching to a new standard. In addition, the calculations showed that in order to get an excellent picture in 10 × 15 cm format, the resolution of the matrix should be approximately 2.1 MP.

Therefore, in 1998, Sony created a matrix ICX 224   with a resolution of 2 megapixels. Models using this matrix were the first digital cameras to be very popular and more similar to modern devices. Then their mass production began.

The best model of the last century is Olympus D-200L. They made sharp and accurate frames, also had an optical viewfinder and a liquid crystal display. Well, then it started ...

Over time, matrices with a resolution of 3-5 megapixels began to appear. Then there was stagnation in terms of increasing resolution, because its increase did not give improvements in picture quality. Although the quality of the picture and the improvement of color reproduction were improved.

The first SLR digital cameras

Simple digital soap dishes really won the market and the attention of buyers. But professional photographers did not seek to switch to digital cameras. Manufacturers until 2011 were engaged only in compact cameras, and the professional market was not disturbed. But it could not go on forever.

In 2001, Minolta created a camera with a 6 megapixel sensor. This was the first and very serious bid to win and occupy a key stake in this niche. This camera had quite impressive characteristics, which was immediately noticed by professional photographers. Later Canon and Nikon and even Pentax joined.

Result: in 2003, the device appeared, and it can be considered the first SLR camera with a removable lens that is available to a wide consumer. This camera was also promoted by the fact that it was possible to “screw” a lens from a film camera into it.

In 2003, a Pentax camera was also announced, and a few years later the Olympus E-1 model with a different lens mount technology was born. This technology was free and after it was picked up by other independent manufacturers of cameras and optics.

Finally, in 2005, Canon showed the world the first affordable camera with a full-frame sensor and a resolution of 12.7 megapixels. It was a model Eos 5D, and it cost about $ 3,000. This device at that time was out of competition, and even now it is better than many modern SLR cameras.

It is this camera () that can be considered a reference point. After it, those SLRs that we see at the moment on store shelves began to appear. Nikon succeeded quite well in this - after 2 years the brand created worthy competitors with full-frame matrices - a camera D3   and D700.

Canon answered with dignity - presented the camera Canon 5D Mark II. This model was superior in some respects to the Nikon model, although it could not show anything new a priori. And so began the era of improving SLR cameras, and we are witnessing this struggle of giants to this day.

In 1604, the German astronomer Johannes Kepler established the mathematical laws of light reflection in mirrors, which subsequently formed the basis of the lens theory, according to which another Italian physicist Galileo Galilei created the first telescope to observe celestial bodies. The principle of refraction of the rays was established, it only remained to learn how to somehow save the resulting image on prints not yet discovered chemically.

In the 1820s Joseph Nisephor Niepce discovered a way to save the resulting image by treating the incident light with asphalt varnish (an analog of bitumen) on a glass surface in the so-called pinhole camera. With the help of asphalt varnish, the image took the form and became visible. For the first time in the history of mankind, it was not the artist who painted the picture, but the incident rays of light in refraction.

In 1835, the English physicist William Talbot, studying the capabilities of the Nieps camera obscura camera, was able to improve the quality of photo images, using his invented photo print - a negative. Thanks to this new feature, snapshots could now be copied. telescope camera lens

In his first photograph, Talbot captured his own window, which clearly visible window grille. In the future, he wrote a report where he called art photography the world of beauty, thus laying the future principle of printing photographs in the history of photography.

In 1861, a photographer from England, T. Setton, invented the first camera with a single SLR lens. The scheme of operation of the first camera was as follows, a large box with a lid on top was fixed to the tripod, through which light did not penetrate, but through which it was possible to observe. The lens caught focus on the glass, where an image was formed using mirrors.

In 1889, the name of George Eastman Kodak was fixed in the history of photography, which patented the first film in the form of a roll, and then the Kodak camera, designed specifically for film. Subsequently, the name "Kodak" became the brand of the future large company. Interestingly, the name does not have a strong semantic load, in this case Eastman decided to come up with a word beginning and ending with the same letter.

In 1904, the Lumiere brothers under the brand name "Lumiere" began to produce plates for color photography, which became the founders of the future color photography.

In 1923, the first camera appears, which uses a 35 mm film taken from the cinema. Now it was possible to get small negatives, then looking through them to choose the most suitable for printing large photographs. After 2 years, Leica cameras are launched into mass production.

In 1935, Leica 2 cameras were equipped with a separate video detector, a powerful focusing system, combining two pictures into one.

A little later, in the new Leica 3 cameras, it becomes possible to use exposure time adjustment. For many years, Leica cameras have remained integral tools in the art of photography in the world.

In 1935, Kodak launched mass production of Kodakchrom color film. But for a long time when printing they had to be given for revision after development, where color components were already superimposed during development.

In 1942, Kodak launched the production of Kodakcolor color film, which over the next half century became one of the most popular film for professional and amateur cameras.

In 1963, the idea of \u200b\u200bquick photo printing was turned over by the Polaroid cameras, where the photo was printed instantly after the received image with one click. It was enough just to wait a few minutes for the contours of images to begin to be drawn on a blank print, and then a fully color photo of good quality appeared. For another 30 years, Polaroid universal cameras will occupy the most popular places in the history of photography to give way to the era of digital photography.

In the 1970s the cameras were equipped with a built-in exposure meter, autofocus, automatic shooting modes, amateur 35 mm cameras had a built-in flash. A little later, by the 80s, cameras began to be equipped with LCD panels that showed the user software settings and camera modes. The era of digital technology has just begun.

In 1974, using the electronic astronomical telescope, the first digital photograph of the starry sky was obtained.

In 1980, Sony was preparing to launch the Mavica digital camcorder on the market. The captured ideo was stored on a flexible floppy disk, which could be eternally erased for a new recording.

In 1988, Fujifilm officially launched the first Fuji DS1P digital camera, where photographs were stored electronically in digital form. The camera had 16Mb of internal memory.

In 1991, Kodak launched the Kodak DCS10 digital SLR camera with 1.3 mp resolution and a set of predefined functions for professional digital shooting.

In 1994, Canon supplied some models of its cameras with an optical image stabilization system.

In 1995, the company "Kodak", following Canon, discontinued the release of its last half-century film of its branded cameras.

2000s Rapidly developing on the basis of digital technologies from Sony Corporation, Samsung is absorbing a large part of the digital camera market.

New amateur digital cameras quickly crossed the technological frontier of 3 megapixels and matrices easily compete with professional photographic equipment in sizes from 7 to 12 megapixels.

Despite the rapid development of technologies in digital technology, such as: face recognition in the frame, correction of skin tones, elimination of the red-eye effect, 28x zoom, automatic shooting scenes, and even the camera triggering at the time of a smile in the frame, the average price in the digital camera market continues to fall, especially since in the amateur segment cameras began to resist mobile phones equipped with built-in cameras with digital zoom.

Demand for film cameras has plummeted, and now there is another tendency to increase the price of analog photography, which is becoming a rarity.

It is fascinating, because the invention of the first camera allowed people not to use the services of artists to capture the bright moments of life. Innovators who worked in various fields: physicists and chemists, engineers, and even a doctor, worked on the creation of a photographic apparatus and film. In this article, you will learn how the path to progress was, what the first cameras were and how they worked.

Who invented the camera and when?

The starting station leading to the invention of the first camera was the observation that dissolved iron salts change color in the light. Since 1800, many tried to create a photograph, but only twelve years later, J.N. Neps, the inventor of a pinhole camera equipped with a lens and a sliding tube, succeeded in this. It was he who came up with a working camera, on which they made the first black and white photo.

Then Niepce was engaged in the modernization of his brainchild: thanks to his efforts in 1826 he improved the invention by adding a tin plate to it, which was covered with a thin asphalt layer.

Interesting: the resulting photo has been preserved until today. The photo had a peculiarity: before the asphalt pavement, the photographer had the opportunity to multiply the picture. This could be realized due to the fact that the image had a relief surface.

The creator of the first photographic apparatus called his invention a heliograph. This device was the first that allowed to get an image without an artist, so it caused a real delight among connoisseurs of progress.

A little later, the camera was improved, supplementing the apparatus with a copper plate equipped with a silver coating. So, William Tabolt used paper, which was impregnated with saline and silver nitrate. This improved the quality of the photos.

The invention of film

Just like the creation of the camera, a lot of people worked on the invention of the film. The first film was invented by a doctor from England, named R. Madox, in 1871. This film for the camera belonged to the type of dry. It was made using an emulsion of gelatin, “aging” of silver and bromine.

A little later, two years later, the German scientist-innovator Vogel was able to reduce the exposure time period, thanks to which he achieved an increase in the sensitivity of photographic materials.

Four years later, an improved film was invented, made on a nitrocellulose, flexible lining. The history of photography owes this breakthrough to Priest Goodwin.

All these modernizations led to the 1880 super-breakthrough Eastman made: taking the work of his predecessors as a basis, he created dry plates for photographic cameras, and then rolls of film. The cameras were heavy, so they were mounted on.

Interesting: a little later, after the invention of the film, Eastman developed and released a special camera designed to work with roll film. It was this man who became the founder of the now popular manufacturer of reliable cameras - Kodak.

First color photos

The appearance of photographs, not in black and white, but in color, has become no less significant. So, the first persistent photograph, displaying a color picture, appeared thanks to James Maxwell, in 1861.

First, in order to get a picture in color, three cameras were used, in which they put multi-colored light filters. Due to the fact that each camera was equipped with a different color (one was red, the second was blue, and the third was green), the photographers received a color image at the output.

Interesting:s. Prokudin-Gorsky improved this technique, creating developments that allowed to reduce shutter speed, and also increased the circulation of images.

The possibilities of the photoemulsion, which was mentioned above, were limited, which hampered the development of color images, since it distorted the green color. However, this problem was solved by G. Vogel, whose work prompted the creation of a modernized staff. The new emulsion was characterized by a correct reaction to green.

In 1907, the Lumiere brothers patented and began selling photographic plates called “Autochrome,” which facilitated the creation of color photographs. Almost thirty years later, improved alternative versions began to appear, for example, Agfacolor and Kodachrome, and after about thirty years later Polaroid appeared.

Leica - the first camera company

As the birthplace of a 35 mm format application, Leica launched the first camera model in the masses in 1925. Sheathed in metal, the compact camera possessed completely non-heavy-duty technical parameters. Then the ratio of 6x9 cm was considered a small format: professionals used the minimum format of 9x12 cm.

Therefore, at first the cameras released by the Leica brand were not popular: only 850 cameras of this company “came out”. However, after two years, sales of “watering cans” began to grow, and quickly: in seven years, people began to buy up four times as many cameras.

Interesting: in addition to the standard eight camera modifications manufactured by the company, Leica created custom-made cameras for the war years. They were used by collectors and military personnel.

The cameras of this company were popular among residents all over the world until the 60s of the twentieth century, and then no less high-quality, cheaper models of Japanese manufacturers began to appear on the market. Despite this, Leica’s rangefinders are also equal in optical and mechanical design, recognizing the products of the first camera manufacturer as a standard.

The advent of digital cameras

As a result, although digital photographic devices arose in the 80s of the twentieth century, they began to be mass-produced only ten years later. Cameras gave users the opportunity to create black and white frames (“color” models appeared a little later), equipped with a CDD type sensor, which is used in modern devices.

A full-fledged digital camera that stores photos and also has a video recording function, together with Toshiba, and the first color digital camera appeared in 1994.