Timeline: History of Cameras

Jan 1, 1500

First Camera

The first pinhole camera (also called the Camera Obscura) was invented by Alhazen (Ibn Al-Haytham).

Nov 30, 1839

Daguerrotype Camera

The Daguerreotype Camera was announced by the French Academy of Sciences. One of these inventions is now the world’s most expensive cameras.

Nov 30, 1840

First American Patent

The first American patent issued in photography to Alexander Wolcott for his camera.

Nov 30, 1859

First Panoramic Camera

The panoramic camera patented by Thomas Sutton.

Nov 30, 1888

First Kodak Camera

George Eastman patents Kodak roll-film camera. Eastman was a pioneer in photographic films usage. He also started manufacturing paper films in 1885. His first �Kodak� box camera was very simple and very cheap.

Nov 30, 1900

First Mass-Marketed Camera

First mass-marketed camera – the Brownie � was presented by Eastman. It was on sale until 1960s.

Nov 30, 1900

First Travel Camera

The Raisecamera (travel camera) was invented. Extreme light weight and small dimensions when it is folded made this photo camera the most desirable thing for landscape photographers.

Nov 30, 1913

First 35mm Camera

The first 35mm still camera (also called �candid� camera ) developed by Oskar Barnack of German Leica Camera. Later it became the standard for all film cameras.

Nov 30, 1948

First Polaroid Camera

Edwin Land invented the Polaroid camera which could take a picture and print it in about one minute.

Dec 1, 1978

First point-and-shoot camera

Konica introduces the first point-and-shoot, autofocus camera Konica C35 AF. It was named “Jasupin”.

Dec 1, 1981

First Digital Electronic Still Camera

Sony demonstrates the Sony Mavica – the world’s first digital electronic still camera. Digital photography and television images are related to the same technology, so this camera recorded images into a mini disk and then put them into a video reader. Images could be displayed to a television monitor or color printer.

Dec 1, 1991

First DCS

Kodak released the first professional digital camera system (DCS) which was of a great use for photojournalists. It was a modified Nikon F-3 camera with a 1.3 megapixel sensor.

Dec 1, 1994

First consumer-level digital cameras

1994-1996 The first digital cameras for the consumer-level market that worked with a home computer via a serial cable were the Apple QuickTake 100 camera (February 17 , 1994), the Kodak DC40 camera (March 28, 1995), the Casio QV-11 (with LCD monitor, late 1995), and Sony’s Cyber-Shot Digital Still Camera (1996).