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History of First Camera of the World

Did you know?

A camera has proven itself as a great tool in mass media and visual arts. It is exciting to know about the history of the first camera, whether you are a professional photographer or an amateur photographer. The history of the camera shows us how today’s cameras are different from old cameras.

The old cameras are dominated by the new feature (single lens) of the latest cameras. With the passage of time many changes like low weight, digital innovation, etc. have occurred. Now the question remains, what kind of cameras we had used in ancient time, and who had made it?

First Camera

The very first camera of the history was the camera Obscura or the pinhole camera. This camera has a timeline of the history of Greek and China.

The camera Obscura had not used any lens. It had used a pinhole which works as a lens. The Camera Obscura work on the principle of natural optics, that occurs when the image of the scene at the other side of the screen is projected through a small hole in the screen forming an inverted image in the opposite side of the opening. The description of this principle was written by the Chinese philosopher Mozi.

According to Mozi, the Obscura's image was inverted because of the light traveling in a straight line from its source. The camera obscura was a chamber or dark room which was also called a pinhole camera.

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First Image

The first successful image with the camera was made in 1816 by Nicephore Niepce using a small camera which he had made himself. He coated it with Silver Chloride which got darkened when exposed to light. But the photos produced by this technique were not permanent. They got dimmed with the passage of time.

In 1820, Niepce used a camera made by a Persian optician. This camera was like a box and was coated with bitumen. The image captured by this camera was permanent and did not get deteriorated with the passage of time.

Further in 1857 dry plates were used in the camera box with tripod stand. A cameraman had to cover himself with a cloth to take a perfect photo while capturing an image.

In 1885, Geroge Eastman had used the photographic film in his camera which he had named Kodak. It was a small camera with a fixed focus lens and a single shutter speed. The Kodak camera was preloaded with 100 exposers. When all the exposers got finished, the camera had to be sent back to the factory in order to reset it.

Further, as the technology got developed, 35mm film for still photography was used. TLR and SLR were introduced which made the complicated photography of the ancient time very easy.