When was the camera invented? — Before the camera
Before any camera technology was invented, we created images in many different ways. Our ancestors left behind paintings on the walls of caves. They painted pictures of themselves, animals, plants, and more. Other ancient civilizations painted or drew on tablets or papyrus. They created sculptures by carving them into rock or wood. These art forms remain popular even today, though we use paper, canvas, or even digital devices like tablets for drawing and painting. However, the first camera-like device was invented shortly before Anno Domini began. It was called the camera obscura.
When was the camera obscura invented?
The camera obscura dates back to the 5th century BC. It was made up of darkened rooms or enclosed boxes with a tiny opening on one wall or side. When light passed through this small hole, it projected a blurry image of the outside world onto a screen or wall. ‘Camera obscura’ translates to ‘dark chamber’. Ancient philosophers like Aristotle noted this process.
But when was the camera obscura invented, exactly? Unfortunately, there are no records of its invention. The first complete account of how it worked comes from the 11th century, many centuries after its use was first noted.
The camera obscura was used throughout the Middles Ages and even the Renaissance. Inventors embellished the invention by adding biconvex lenses in the second half of the 16th century. These lenses allowed the images projected by the camera obscura to be brightened. Once particular use of the camera obscura was its ability to enable the viewer to see the solar eclipses without hurting their eyes. This proved helpful for astronomers. The camera obscura was also used by artists as an aid for drawing and painting. The projected image could be traced, which helped artists with their graphical perspective in the artwork of landscapes or similar.
Developments of the camera obscura technology meant that the camera obscura became closer and closer to what we think of as a ‘camera’ today.
But when was the first proper camera invented? Well, many inventors managed to ‘capture’ images in one way or another. For example, Johann Heinrich Schulze captured an image of cut-out letters on a bottle of a light-sensitive slurry in 1717. He had discovered that silver salts darkened when exposed to light. However, this was not durable.
Thomas Wedgwood, the son of famous potter and entrepreneur Josiah Wedgwood, conducted many early photography experiments. He is the first to have considered creating permanent photographs; however, his attempts were largely unsuccessful. He created ‘photograms,’ but these were not light-fast (resistant to light).
When was the camera invented? — The first camera
In 1826, Joseph Nicéphore Niépce was the first to capture an image with a camera permanently.
He used a camera obscura and a pewter plate. This pewter plate was coated with a light-sensitive material called Bitumen of Judea to capture and ‘fix’ the image. However, this process took at least eight hours of exposure, and the picture he created was unclear or refined.
Niépce’s associate, Louis Daguerre, was inspired by his findings. The daguerreotype only needed minutes of camera exposure. This was a drastic improvement over Niépce’s method. Daguerre’s invention also produced much clearer and more detailed results. The details of this method were announced to the world in 1839. This is the year typically accepted as the birth year of practical photography.
Photography Facts
What was the first photograph of?
The first photograph taken by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce was of the view from a window of his family’s home. This view was of the courtyard. The image is titled ‘View from the Window at Le Gras.’
What was the first photograph taken in color?
In 1861, James Clerk Maxwell produced the first color photograph. He captured an image of some tartan ribbon. His technique involved photographing the ribbon through red, yellow, and blue filters, then combining those separate images.
In 1907, the French Lumière brothers began to market their ‘Autochrome’ invention. They could produce vivid colors in their images using dyed potato starch. This technique remained the most popular color film technique until Kodachrome film came along in 1935.
When was the camera invented? — Other advancements in camera technology
In the 1830s, the British inventor William Henry Fox Talbot showed off his photographic process called the ‘Calotype.’ This method used high-quality photosensitive paper instead of metal sheets like the daguerreotype. When exposed to light, the paper produced a hidden image that could be developed and preserved when rinsed with hyposulphite. The results were a bit fuzzier than daguerreotypes, but they were much easier to reproduce. In addition, with the Calotype, infinite copies could be made with just one negative.
However, Daguerreotypes and Calotypes became obsolete in 1851.
Frederick Scott Archer had come up with a brand new photographic method that combined considerably improved image quality with negatives that could be easily copied. Archer had discovered that a chemical called collodion, usually used in the medical field, could create ‘wet plates’ made of glass. These wet plates had an exposure time of mere seconds. This process was cheap and produced great images. However, setting up the plates was more complex and meant that photographers needed to transport portable darkroom tents or wagons around with them if they wanted to take pictures outside of their homes or studio. Despite this drawback, the wet-collodion process was incredibly successful.
However, early to mid-19th-century photography was limited because photographers needed a good understanding of chemistry to take photographs. This changed when Robert L. Maddox invented his ‘dry plates.’ Preserved silver salts were encased in gelatin. These dry plates retained light-sensitivity for a good while, which meant that they could be pre-packaged and, therefore, mass-produced and sold to excited customers. No more prepping wet plates and lugging around portable dark rooms! Also, because dry plates allowed for much quicker exposures, they could capture moving objects better than ever.
However, it wouldn’t until around 1885 that photography became accessible to hobbyists. The invention that allowed this was camera film. George Eastman invented film on rolls and began producing it to be bought by anyone who could afford the camera. The film was much lighter and easier to transport than any previous option. In addition, as it was stored on a roll, multiple photos could be taken quickly. This helped sell the first Kodak camera, another of Eastman’s inventions. However, customers could not take out the film and take it to be developed.
At first, the camera could take 100 pictures and then need to be sent back to the manufacturer to develop the images. The camera would then be reset and ready to take 100 photographs. These cameras were convenient and easy to use, but the photos were low-quality. Celluloid was invented not long after this camera came out, and that changed the game entirely. Film quality improved significantly, and celluloid film remained all the rage until digital cameras broke onto the scene.
When were digital cameras invented?
The first digital camera was invented in 1975. Its creator was Steve Sasson, an engineer at Kodak. This camera took 0.01-megapixel images. For comparison, many modern mobile phones have a camera that takes pictures of 12 megapixels or more!
The first digital camera could only take black-and-white photos. Time was an issue too. It took 23 seconds to take a single image. However, in 1991, Nikon released the Nikon F3; this was the first digital camera that could be bought easily by the public. However, it was a bit ahead of its time and was not immediately popular. By 1995, sales of consumer digital cameras began to increase drastically. In 1997, the first image taken by a camera phone was sent to over 2000 people. Soon after, many mobile phone manufacturers would design their camera phones. Of course, nowadays, almost every mobile phone has at least one camera. Some have two or three, even!
