What is the history of the photographic camera?
Since its inception, photography has been a practice developed by multiple inventors, creators and scientists at the same time. This also applies to the creation of the camera and its successors, which required almost a century of evolution to be what is known today.
The origin of photography dates back to the year 1826 when Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, a French inventor fond of chemistry, managed to create what would be considered the first photograph in history, baptized by himself as heliography. This first photograph was obtained using a camera obscura; a device that consisted of a sealed box with a small hole that allowed light to enter.
With this device in hand, Niépce mounted a special plate with a layer of bitumen on top, which hardened after approximately 8 hours of exposure to light. Later, the inventor removed the plate and removed the soft bitumen without altering the hard one, thus leaving the image of what his backyard looked like that day forever, which marked the beginning of the history of photography.
This experiment practiced by Niépce became the usual answer when asked who invented photography and it will be necessary to refer to the 18th century when investigating what its beginnings were. However, if we ask ourselves when photography as such was invented, we should not only mention Niépce, since Louis Daguerre also has a leading role in this process.
The origin of the camera
Since the invention of photography, there were not a few interested in improving the technique developed by Niépce, but one stood out among them.
Louis Daguerre is the one many name when wondering who invented the camera, and after learning of Niépce’s discoveries, he contacted him to sign an agreement and share information, since Daguerre himself was also experimenting with the camera. dark camera.
It would not be until 1839 when the first photographic camera would be created, posthumous to Niépce who had died in 1833. This would be the photography machine known as the daguerreotype, named after its inventor.
Evolution of the photographic camera
Among the old photo cameras, this new adaptation of Daguerre’s camera obscura is announced as the first, which generated a negative of the image that later had to be developed with certain chemical products for the photograph to appear.
This old camera supposed that the beginning of photography was within a category of innovation for the optical, technological and user management field, inviting many enthusiasts to put their efforts together for the development of new devices.
However, the cost of carrying out the experiments and creating the prototypes for the tests at that time exceeded the interest of the investors. So it would not be until 1888 when the Kodak company would appear with its new camera created by George Eastman, who would also be the creator of the roll of photography : two elements that began a new stage in the history of mankind.
The calotype as an alternative to the daguerreotype
Parallel to the creation of the photographic roll for the Kodak camera, the British-born scientist Henry Fox Talbot had also carried out his own tests, taking advantage of advances in the area.
This led him to announce at the same time as the birth of the daguerreotype his own breakthrough in photography: the calotype; a system that could capture the image with highly light-sensitive paper and that provided negatives with which copies of the photograph could be made.
Types of modern and important cameras in history
Starting with Eastman’s first photography machine to today’s sports and digital models, we invite you to this tour where we will review the types of cameras so you can better assess the innovation offered by each icon of its respective generation:
- kodak-camera
Eastman’s camera was a much more comfortable equipment to transport and made it easier to take pictures, since the Kodak company was in charge of developing the image. Additionally, a total of 100 captures could be made . This represented an extremely important advance, considering that practically until then, whoever wanted to take a photograph had to carry a mini-laboratory with them to be able to reveal what was captured frame by frame. Besides, it also meant access to the photographs to the general public.
- leica camera
Another option that also had a great impact on the domestic consumer market was the Leica camera developed by Oskar Barnack in 1913, since it used an innovative 35mm reel with which the image obtained could be enlarged to a size of 24 x 36mm. for better resolution .
- compact cameras
The compact cameras are based on the general idea of the Leica camera, providing ergonomic handling as well as good quality images. At this time, which began in the 1930s, the first compact instant cameras came to light , similar to the famous Polaroids that you may know.
- digital camera
With the advent of the electronic age, the digital camera also arrived. At the same time, the development of these devices was growing on a massive scale with a wide variety of companies and manufacturers competing to bring the most innovative products to market. This is how compact digital cameras appeared, which were immensely successful in both the home and professional consumer markets.
- reflex cameras
In the last thing to do digital photography are reflex cameras and their different types. In this category you can find really powerful devices that incredibly exceed what cameras could do in their beginnings, providing high definition resolutions, adjustments, editing, connectivity, among many other things.
In conclusion, and although the history of cameras includes many other categories that had impacts of varying intensity on the development of these devices, here we have been able to verify how, from a simple invention with bitumen and patience, it led to a whole new practice. that even today continues to innovate and improve.
In addition, the desire of its innovators to put technology in the hands of the common consumer, allowed our era to enjoy a high definition camera in practically any electronic device that is desired, especially in mobile phones.
