Most of us are using cameras these days in one form or other. The cameras are an excellent piece of technology that has evolved through human story. It started with the concepts of optics in China and Greece around 4th century B.C and developed to include all the major sciences known to human to make the camera that we use today. It took centuries to capture a fixed image which could not be copied reproduced and just another 150 years (in 1984) to develop the ancestor of our modern day electronic camera.
We always look forward to the technologies that are being innovated but scarcely give a look at the past to see what all has gone into making the present possible. Lets take a break and have a look at the history of photography and camera.
| 4 B.C. | Principles of optics: Chinese and Greek philosophers |
| 1665 | Light is composed of colors: Sir Issac Newton |
| 1727 | Silver nitrate is darkened on light exposure: Johann Heinrich Schulze |
| 1814 | First photographic image: Joseph Nicéphore Niépce |
| 1837 | First fixed image: Daguerre |
| 1840 | First American patent (US1582) on camera: Alexander Wolcott |
| 1841 | Patent on Calotype process (photo negatives): William Henry Talbot |
| 1851 | Collodion process invented: Frederick Scott Archer |
| 1859 | Patent on Panoramic Camera: Thomas Sutton |
| 1861 | Invention of stereoscope viewer: Oliver Wendell Holmes |
| 1865 | Photographic works covered under copyrights |
| 1871 | Invention of Silver Bromide Process: Richard Leach Maddox |
| 1880 | Eastman Company founded |
| 1884 | Invention of paper-based photographic film: George Eastman |
| 1888 | Patent (US471469) on Kodak roll film Camera: Eastman |
| 1898 | Patent on celluloid photographic film: Reverend Hannibal Goodwin |
| 1900 | First camera marketed: Kodak Brownie |
| 1927 | Invention of flash bulb: General Electric |
| 1942 | Patent (US2297691) on electric photography: Chester Carlson |
| 1960 | Underwater camera developed: EG&G |
| 1968 | First photograph of Earth from Moon |
| 1973 | Introduction of instant photography: Polaroid |
| 1978 | First point and shoot, autofocus camera: Konica |
| 1980 | First consumer camcorder: Sony |
| 1984 | First digital electronic still camera: Canon |
| 1985 | Introduction of digital image processor: Pixar |
| 1990 | PhotoCD as a storage medium: Eastman Kodak |
| 1994 | First digital camera that worked with a home computer: Apple |
| 2000 | First commercial camera phone: Sharp |
| 2005 | First planet outside solar system photographed: 2M1207b |
The latest trend in camera (well almost in everything today) is towards miniaturization. Successful experiments have already been conducted to implant cameras inside human eyes to enable blinds to see. Images from the satellites and orbiters of a far distant galaxy or new planet are almost a regular phenomena these days. The last major innovation in camera technology was the electronic camera in 1970s. The consumer cameras are mostly increasing in this megapixels and software features, but we are not aware of any innovative technology that can give photogrpahy a complete new direction.
In todays world where everything is going too fast...are we going fast or slowing down in terms of innovation?
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