The word photography
comes from the Greek words photos ("light") and graphein ("to draw"),
and means - "writing with light". It is a method of recording
images by the action of light, or related radiation, on a sensitive
material (plate, film or digital sensor).
History of Photography
Timeline:
* 5th-4th Centuries
B.C. Chinese and Greek philosophers describe the basic principles
of optics and the camera.
* 1664-1666 Isaac
Newton discovers that white light is composed of different colors.
* 1727 Johann
Heinrich Schulze discovered that silver nitrate darkened upon exposure
to light.
* 1794 First
"Panorama" opens, the forerunner of the movie house invented
by Robert Barker.
* 1814 Joseph
Nicéphore Niépce achieves first photographic image with camera obscura
- however, the image required eight hours of light exposure and later
faded.
* 1837 Daguerre’s
first daguerreotype - the first image that was fixed and did not fade,
and needed under thirty minutes of light exposure.
* 1840 First
American patent issued in photography to Alexander Wolcott for his
camera.
* 1841 William
Henry Talbot patents the Calotype process - the first negative-positive
process making possible the first multiple copies.
* 1843 First
advertisement with a photograph made in Philadelphia.
* 1851 Frederick
Scott Archer invented the Collodion process - images required only
two or three seconds of light exposure.
* 1859 Panoramic
camera patented - the Sutton.
* 1861 Oliver
Wendell Holmes invents stereoscope viewer.
* 1865 Photographs
and photographic negatives are added to protected works under copyright.
* 1871 Richard
Leach Maddox invented the gelatin dry plate silver bromide process
- negatives no longer had to be developed immediately.
* 1880 Eastman
Dry Plate Company founded.
* 1884 George
Eastman invents flexible, paper-based photographic film.
* 1888 Eastman
patents Kodak roll-film camera.
* 1898 Reverend
Hannibal Goodwin patents celluloid photographic film.
* 1900 First
mass-marketed camera—the Brownie.
* 1913-1914 First
35mm still camera developed.
* 1927 General
Electric invents the modern flash bulb.
* 1932 First
light meter with photoelectric cell introduced.
* 1935 Eastman
Kodak markets Kodachrome film.
* 1941 Eastman
Kodak introduces Kodacolor negative film.
* 1942 Chester
Carlson receives patent for electric photography (xerography).
* 1948 Edwin
Land markets the Polaroid camera.
* 1954 Eastman
Kodak introduces high speed Tri-X film.
* 1960 EG&G develops
extreme depth underwater camera for U.S. Navy.
* 1963 Polaroid
introduces instant color film.
* 1968 First photograph
of the Earth from the Moon.
* 1973 Polaroid
introduces one-step instant photography with the SX-70 camera.
* 1977 George
Eastman and Edwin Land inducted into the National Inventors Hall of
Fame.
* 1978 Konica
introduces first point-and-shoot, autofocus camera.
* 1980 Sony demonstrates
first consumer camcorder.
* 1984 Canon
demonstrates first digital electronic still camera.
* 1985 Pixar
introduces digital imaging processor.
* 1990 Eastman
Kodak announces Photo CD as a digital image storage medium, and Adobe
Adobe Photoshop 1.0 image manipulation program is introduced for Apple
Macintosh computers.
* 1993 Adobe
Adobe Photoshop is made available for MS-Windows computers.
* 1993 NCSA Release
the first World Wide Web browser.
* 1996 APS Advanced
Photo System (APS) is introduced.
* 1996 Microsoft
Release their WWW browser called Internet Explorer.
* 1998 The first
consumer megapixel cameras were introduced.
* 2000 Canon
introduced the EOS D30, the first digital SLR for the consumer market
with a CMOS sensor. Sharp and J-Phone introduced the first camera-phone
in Japan, and began the trend for camera-phones.
* 2002 Contax
Contax introduced the NDigital, the first SLR digital camera with
a CCD the same size as a 35 mm frame.
* 2003 More than
80% of Canon and Nikon's camera sales are of digital cameras. Nikon's
35mm SLR sales shrunk by 25%.
* 2004 Sales
of new point and shoot cameras are 90% digital. Nikon completely stops
new production of point and shoot 35mm film cameras. New York City
proposes a ban on photography in its subways citing post 9/11 security
concerns.
* 2005 Samsung
introduces the world's first 7 megapixel camera phone. It is also
the first camera phone to offer controls such as manual focus, AE
lock, shutter priority, and the ability to use wide angle and telephoto
converter lenses. Kodak announces it will discontinue production of
its black and white photographic printing papers. Canon releases its
17.2MP 1Ds Mark II Camera which effectively gives approximately the
same resolution as 35mm film.
