Timeline of photography technology
Encyclopedia
Timeline
of photography
technology
Timeline
A timeline is a way of displaying a list of events in chronological order, sometimes described as a project artifact . It is typically a graphic design showing a long bar labeled with dates alongside itself and events labeled on points where they would have happened.-Uses of timelines:Timelines...
of photography
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
- 1822 – Nicéphore NiépceNicéphore NiépceNicéphore Niépce March 7, 1765 – July 5, 1833) was a French inventor, most noted as one of the inventors of photography and a pioneer in the field.He is most noted for producing the world's first known photograph in 1825...
takes the first fixed, permanent photographPhotographA photograph is an image created by light falling on a light-sensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic imager such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are created using a camera, which uses a lens to focus the scene's visible wavelengths of light into a reproduction of...
, of an engraving of Pope Pius VII, using a non-lens contact-printing "heliographic process", but it was destroyed later; the earliest surviving example is from 1825. - 1826 – Nicéphore NiépceNicéphore NiépceNicéphore Niépce March 7, 1765 – July 5, 1833) was a French inventor, most noted as one of the inventors of photography and a pioneer in the field.He is most noted for producing the world's first known photograph in 1825...
takes the first fixed, permanent photographPhotographA photograph is an image created by light falling on a light-sensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic imager such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are created using a camera, which uses a lens to focus the scene's visible wavelengths of light into a reproduction of...
from nature, a landscape that required an eight hour exposure. - 1835 – William Fox TalbotWilliam Fox TalbotWilliam Henry Fox Talbot was a British inventor and a pioneer of photography. He was the inventor of calotype process, the precursor to most photographic processes of the 19th and 20th centuries. He was also a noted photographer who made major contributions to the development of photography as an...
creates his own photography process. - 1839 – Louis DaguerreLouis DaguerreLouis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre was a French artist and physicist, recognized for his invention of the daguerreotype process of photography.- Biography :...
patents the daguerreotypeDaguerreotypeThe daguerreotype was the first commercially successful photographic process. The image is a direct positive made in the camera on a silvered copper plate....
. - 1839 – William Fox TalbotWilliam Fox TalbotWilliam Henry Fox Talbot was a British inventor and a pioneer of photography. He was the inventor of calotype process, the precursor to most photographic processes of the 19th and 20th centuries. He was also a noted photographer who made major contributions to the development of photography as an...
invented the positive / negative process widely used in modern photography. He refers to this as photogenic drawingCalotypeCalotype or talbotype is an early photographic process introduced in 1841 by William Henry Fox Talbot, using paper coated with silver iodide. The term calotype comes from the Greek for 'beautiful', and for 'impression'....
. - 1839 – John HerschelJohn HerschelSir John Frederick William Herschel, 1st Baronet KH, FRS ,was an English mathematician, astronomer, chemist, and experimental photographer/inventor, who in some years also did valuable botanical work...
demonstrates hyposulfite of sodaSodium thiosulfateSodium thiosulfate , also spelled sodium thiosulphate, is a colorless crystalline compound that is more familiar as the pentahydrate, Na2S2O3•5H2O, an efflorescent, monoclinic crystalline substance also called sodium hyposulfite or “hypo.”...
(also known as hypo, or sodium thiosulfate) as a fixer, and makes the first glass negative. - 1851 – Introduction of the collodion processCollodion processThe collodion process is an early photographic process. It was introduced in the 1850s and by the end of that decade it had almost entirely replaced the first practical photographic process, the daguerreotype. During the 1880s the collodion process, in turn, was largely replaced by gelatin dry...
by Frederick Scott ArcherFrederick Scott ArcherFrederick Scott Archer invented the photographic collodion process which preceded the modern gelatin emulsion. He was born in Bishop's Stortford in the UK and is remembered mainly for this single achievement which greatly increased the accessibility of photography for the general public.tyler was...
. - 1854 – André-Adolphe-Eugène DisdériAndré-Adolphe-Eugène DisdériAndré-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri was a French photographer who started his photographic career as a daguerreotypist but gained greater fame for patenting his version of the carte de visite, a small photographic image which was mounted on a card...
credited with introduction of the carte de visiteCarte de visiteThe carte de visite was a type of small photograph which was patented in Paris, France by photographer André Adolphe Eugène Disdéri in 1854, although first used by Louis Dodero...
(French "visiting card"). Disdéri introduced a cameraCameraA camera is a device that records and stores images. These images may be still photographs or moving images such as videos or movies. The term camera comes from the camera obscura , an early mechanism for projecting images...
with multiple lenses, which could reproduce eight individually exposed images on a single negative. After printing on albumen paper, the images were cut apart and glued to calling card-sized mounts. - 1861 – The first color photograph, an additive projected image of a tartan ribbon, is shown by James Clerk MaxwellJames Clerk MaxwellJames Clerk Maxwell of Glenlair was a Scottish physicist and mathematician. His most prominent achievement was formulating classical electromagnetic theory. This united all previously unrelated observations, experiments and equations of electricity, magnetism and optics into a consistent theory...
. - 1868 – Louis Ducos du HauronLouis Ducos du HauronLouis Arthur Ducos du Hauron was a French pioneer of color photography. He was born in Langon, Gironde and died in Agen....
patents a method of subtractive colorSubtractive colorA subtractive color model explains the mixing of paints, dyes, inks, and natural colorants to create a full range of colors, each caused by subtracting some wavelengths of light and reflecting the others...
photography. - 1871 – The gelatin emulsionPhotographic filmPhotographic film is a sheet of plastic coated with an emulsion containing light-sensitive silver halide salts with variable crystal sizes that determine the sensitivity, contrast and resolution of the film...
is invented by Richard Maddox. - 1876 – F. Hurter & V. C. Driffield begin systematic evaluation of sensitivity characteristics of photographic emulsions – science of sensitometrySensitometrySensitometry is the scientific study of light-sensitive materials, especially photographic film. The study has its origins in the work by Ferdinand Hurter and Vero Charles Driffield with early black-and-white emulsions...
. - 1878 – Eadweard MuybridgeEadweard MuybridgeEadweard J. Muybridge was an English photographer who spent much of his life in the United States. He is known for his pioneering work on animal locomotion which used multiple cameras to capture motion, and his zoopraxiscope, a device for projecting motion pictures that pre-dated the flexible...
made a high-speed photographic demonstration of a moving horse, airborne during a trot, using a trip-wire system. - 1887 – CelluloidCelluloidCelluloid is the name of a class of compounds created from nitrocellulose and camphor, plus dyes and other agents. Generally regarded to be the first thermoplastic, it was first created as Parkesine in 1862 and as Xylonite in 1869, before being registered as Celluloid in 1870. Celluloid is...
film baseFilm baseA film base is a transparent substrate which acts as a support medium for the photosensitive emulsion that lies atop it. Despite the numerous layers and coatings associated with the emulsion layer, the base generally accounts for the vast majority of the thickness of any given film stock...
introduced. - 1887 – Gabriel LippmannGabriel LippmannJonas Ferdinand Gabriel Lippmann was a Franco-Luxembourgish physicist and inventor, and Nobel laureate in physics for his method of reproducing colours photographically based on the phenomenon of interference....
invents a "method of reproducing colours photographically based on the phenomenon of interference". - 1888 – Kodak n°1 box camera is mass marketed; first easy-to-use camera.
- 1888 – Louis Le PrinceLouis Le PrinceLouis Aimé Augustin Le Prince was an inventor who is considered by many film historians as the true father of motion pictures, who shot the first moving pictures on paper film using a single lens camera....
makes Roundhay Garden SceneRoundhay Garden SceneRoundhay Garden Scene is an 1888 short film directed by inventor Louis Le Prince. It was recorded at 12 frames per second, runs for 2.11 seconds and is the oldest surviving film.-Overview:...
, considered the first film ever made. - 1891 – William Kennedy Laurie Dickson develops the "kinetoscopic cameraKinetoscopeThe Kinetoscope is an early motion picture exhibition device. Though not a movie projector—it was designed for films to be viewed individually through the window of a cabinet housing its components—the Kinetoscope introduced the basic approach that would become the standard for all cinematic...
" (motion pictures) while working for Thomas EdisonThomas EdisonThomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. In addition, he created the world’s first industrial...
. - 1895 – Auguste and Louis LumièreAuguste and Louis LumièreThe Lumière brothers, Auguste Marie Louis Nicolas and Louis Jean , were among the earliest filmmakers in history...
– Invented the cinématographeCinematographeA cinematograph is a film camera, which also serves as a film projector and developer. It was invented in the 1890s.Note that this was not the first 'moving picture' device. Louis Le Prince had built early devices in 1886. His 1888 film Roundhay Garden Scene still survives.There is much dispute as...
. - 1898 – Kodak introduced their FoldingFolding cameraA folding camera is a camera that can be folded to a compact and rugged package when not in use. The camera objective is sometimes attached to a pantograph-like mechanism, in which the lid usually is a component. The objective extends to give correct focus when unfolded. A cloth or leather bellows...
Pocket Kodak. - 1900 – Kodak introduced their first BrownieBrownie (camera)Brownie is the name of a long-running and extremely popular series of simple and inexpensive cameras made by Eastman Kodak. The Brownie popularized low-cost photography and introduced the concept of the snapshot. The first Brownie, introduced in February, 1900, was a very basic cardboard box camera...
. - 1901 – Kodak introduced the 120 film120 film120 is a film format for still photography introduced by Kodak for their Brownie No. 2 in 1901. It was originally intended for amateur photography but was later superseded in this role by 135 film...
. - 1902 – Arthur KornArthur KornArthur Korn was a German-born physicist, mathematician and inventor, who was of Jewish ancestry...
devises practical phototelegraphy technology (reduction of photographic images to signals that can be transmitted by wire to other locations); Wire-Photos in wide use in Europe by 1910, and transmitted intercontinentally by 1922. - 1907 – The Autochrome LumièreAutochrome LumièreThe Autochrome Lumière is an early color photography process. Patented in 1903 by the Lumière brothers in France and first marketed in 1907, it was the principal color photography process in use before the advent of subtractive color film in the mid-1930s....
is the first color photography process marketed. - 1908 – KinemacolorKinemacolorKinemacolor was the first successful color motion picture process, used commercially from 1908 to 1914. It was invented by George Albert Smith of Brighton, England in 1906. He was influenced by the work of William Norman Lascelles Davidson. It was launched by Charles Urban's Urban Trading Co. of...
, a two-color process that is the first commercial "natural color" system for movies, is introduced. - 1909 – Kodak introduces a 35 mm "safety" motion picture film on an acetate base as an alternative to the highly flammable nitrate base. The motion picture industry discontinues its use after 1911 due to technical imperfections.
- 1912 – Vest Pocket Kodak using 127 film127 film127 is a film format for still photography. The image format is usually a square 4×4 cm, but rectangular 4×3 cm and 4×6 cm are also standard. Oddly, C. F. Foth & Co. used 36×24 mm for its first “Derby” model....
. - 1912 – Kodak introduces the 22 mm amateur motion picture format, a "safety" stock on acetate base.
- 1913 – Kodak makes 35 mm panchromatic motion picture film available on a bulk special order basis.
- 1914 – Kodak introduced the Autographic film system.
- 1914 – The World, the Flesh and the DevilThe World, the Flesh and the Devil (1914 film)The World, the Flesh and the Devil was a British silent drama film, and was the world's first dramatic feature film to be photographed in color...
, the first dramatic feature filmFeature filmIn the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
in color (Kinemacolor), is released. - 1920s – Yasujiro NiwaYasujiro Niwawas a Japanese electrical scientist. In the 1920s, he invented a simple device for phototelegraphic transmission through cable and later via radio, a precursor to mechanical television. He later became the Director of the Department of Electronic Engineering of University of Tokyo. He was awarded...
invented a device for phototelegraphic transmission through cableCableA cable is two or more wires running side by side and bonded, twisted or braided together to form a single assembly. In mechanics cables, otherwise known as wire ropes, are used for lifting, hauling and towing or conveying force through tension. In electrical engineering cables are used to carry...
and later via radioRadioRadio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
. - 1922 – Kodak makes 35 mm panchromatic motion picture film available as a regular stock.
- 1922 – Kodak introduces 16 mm reversal film, on cellulose acetate (safety) base.
- 1923 – Doc Harold Edgerton invents the xenon flash lamp and strobe photography.
- 1925 – The Leica introduced the 35mm format to still photography.
- 1926 – Kodak introduces its 35 mm Motion Picture Duplicating Film for duplicate negatives. Previously, motion picture studios used a second camera alongside the primary camera to create a duplicate negative.
- 1932 – The first full-color movie, the cartoon Flowers and TreesFlowers and TreesFlowers and Trees is a 1932 Silly Symphonies cartoon produced by Walt Disney, directed by Burt Gillett, and released to theatres by United Artists on July 30, 1932...
, is made in TechnicolorTechnicolorTechnicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
by Disney. - 1932 – First 8 mm8 mm film8 mm film is a motion picture film format in which the filmstrip is eight millimeters wide. It exists in two main versions: the original standard 8mm film, also known as regular 8 mm or Double 8 mm, and Super 8...
amateur motion-picture film, cameras, and projectors are introduced by Kodak. - 1934 – The 135 film135 filmThe term 135 was introduced by Kodak in 1934 as a designation for cartridge film wide, specifically for still photography. It quickly grew in popularity, surpassing 120 film by the late 1960s to become the most popular photographic film format...
cartridge was introduced, making 35mm easy to use. - 1935 – Becky Sharp, the first feature filmFeature filmIn the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
made in full color (Technicolor), is released. - 1936 – Introduction by IHAGEE of the Ihagee Kine ExaktaExaktaThe Exakta is a pioneer brand camera produced by the Ihagee Kamerawerk in Dresden, Germany, founded as the Industrie und Handels-Gesellschaft mbH, in 1912.- Characteristics :Highlights of Exakta cameras include:...
1, the first 35mm. Single Lens reflex camera. - 1936 – Development of KodachromeKodachromeKodachrome is the trademarked brand name of a type of color reversal film that was manufactured by Eastman Kodak from 1935 to 2009.-Background:...
multi-layered reversal color film. - 1937 – Agfacolor-NeuAgfacolorthumb|An Agfacolor slide dating from the early 1940s. While the colors themselves hold up well after 60 years, damages visible include dust and [[Newton's rings]].Agfacolor is a series of color photographic products produced by Agfa of Germany...
reversal color film. - 1939 – AgfacolorAgfacolorthumb|An Agfacolor slide dating from the early 1940s. While the colors themselves hold up well after 60 years, damages visible include dust and [[Newton's rings]].Agfacolor is a series of color photographic products produced by Agfa of Germany...
negative-positive color material, the first modern "print" film. - 1939 – The View-MasterView-MasterView-Master is a device for viewing seven 3-D images on a paper disk. Although the View-Master is now considered a children's toy, it was originally marketed as a way for viewers to enjoy stereograms of colorful and picturesque tourist attractions.-1939–66: stereoscopic sightseeing:In 1911,...
stereo viewer is introduced. - 1942 – KodacolorKodacolorKodacolor is a brand-name owned and used by Kodak. In general, it has been used for three technologically-distinct purposes:* Kodacolor Technology is the collective branding used for several proprietary inkjet printer technologies....
, Kodak's first "print" film. - 1947 – Dennis GaborDennis GaborDennis Gabor CBE, FRS was a Hungarian-British electrical engineer and inventor, most notable for inventing holography, for which he later received the 1971 Nobel Prize in Physics....
invents holographyHolographyHolography is a technique that allows the light scattered from an object to be recorded and later reconstructed so that when an imaging system is placed in the reconstructed beam, an image of the object will be seen even when the object is no longer present...
. - 1947 – Edgerton develops the Rapatronic cameraRapatronic cameraThe rapatronic camera is a high-speed camera capable of recording a still image with an exposure time as brief as 10 nanoseconds ....
for the U.S. government. - 1948 – The HasselbladHasselbladVictor Hasselblad AB is a Swedish manufacturer of medium-format cameras and photographic equipment based in Gothenburg, Sweden.The company is best known for the medium-format cameras it has produced since World War II....
camera was introduced. - 1948 – Edwin H. LandEdwin H. LandEdwin Herbert Land was an American scientist and inventor, best known as the co-founder of the Polaroid Corporation. Among other things, he invented inexpensive filters for polarizing light, a practical system of in-camera instant photography, and his retinex theory of color vision...
introduces the first PolaroidPolaroid CorporationPolaroid Corporation is an American-based international consumer electronics and eyewear company, originally founded in 1937 by Edwin H. Land. It is most famous for its instant film cameras, which reached the market in 1948, and continued to be the company's flagship product line until the February...
instant image cameraInstant cameraThe instant camera is a type of camera that generates a developed film image. The most popular types to use self-developing film were formerly made by Polaroid Corporation....
. - 1949 - The Contax S camera was introduced, the first 35mm SLRSingle-lens reflex cameraA single-lens reflex camera is a camera that typically uses a semi-automatic moving mirror system that permits the photographer to see exactly what will be captured by the film or digital imaging system, as opposed to pre-SLR cameras where the view through the viewfinder could be significantly...
camera with pentaprismPentaprismA pentaprism is a five-sided reflecting prism used to deviate a beam of light by 90°. The beam reflects inside the prism twice, allowing the transmission of an image through a right angle without inverting it as an ordinary right-angle prism or mirror would.The reflections inside the prism are not...
for eye-level viewing. - 1952 – The 3-D film3-D filmA 3-D film or S3D film is a motion picture that enhances the illusion of depth perception...
craze begins. - 1954 – Leica M Introduced
- 1957 – First Asahi PentaxAsahi PentaxThe Asahi Pentax series, by the , was a pivotal development in modern photography. It was the first model of Pentax camera.- Background :In 1957, the Asahi Optical Company introduced the Pentax, a 35 mm Single-lens reflex camera camera which was so well received that it influenced the design...
SLRSingle-lens reflex cameraA single-lens reflex camera is a camera that typically uses a semi-automatic moving mirror system that permits the photographer to see exactly what will be captured by the film or digital imaging system, as opposed to pre-SLR cameras where the view through the viewfinder could be significantly...
introduced. - 1957 – First digital image produced on a computer by Russell Kirsch at U.S. National Bureau of Standards (now known as the National Institute of Standards and Technology, or NIST).
- 1959 – Nikon FNikon FThe Nikon F camera, introduced in 1959, was Nikon's first SLR camera. It was one of the most advanced cameras of its day. Although most of its concepts had already been introduced elsewhere, it was the first camera to combine them all in one camera. It was produced until October 1973 and was...
introduced. - 1959 – AGFAAgfa-GevaertAgfa-Gevaert N.V. is a European multinational corporation that develops, manufactures, and distributes analogue and digital imaging products and systems, as well as IT solutions. The company has three divisions. Agfa Graphics offers integrated prepress and industrial inkjet systems to the...
introduces the first fully automatic camera, the Optima. - 1963 – Kodak introduces the InstamaticInstamaticThe Instamatic was a series of inexpensive, easy-to-load 126 and 110 cameras made by Kodak beginning in 1963. The Instamatic was immensely successful, introducing a generation to low-cost photography and spawning numerous imitators....
. - 1964 – First Pentax SpotmaticPentax SpotmaticThe Pentax Spotmatic is a range of 35mm single-lens reflex cameras manufactured by the Asahi Optical Co. Ltd., later known as Pentax Corporation, between 1964 and 1976. The original 1964 Spotmatic was one of the first SLRs to offer a through-the-lens exposure metering system, initially using...
SLRSingle-lens reflex cameraA single-lens reflex camera is a camera that typically uses a semi-automatic moving mirror system that permits the photographer to see exactly what will be captured by the film or digital imaging system, as opposed to pre-SLR cameras where the view through the viewfinder could be significantly...
introduced. - 1973 – Fairchild SemiconductorFairchild SemiconductorFairchild Semiconductor International, Inc. is an American semiconductor company based in San Jose, California. Founded in 1957, it was a pioneer in transistor and integrated circuit manufacturing...
releases the first large image forming CCDCharge-coupled deviceA charge-coupled device is a device for the movement of electrical charge, usually from within the device to an area where the charge can be manipulated, for example conversion into a digital value. This is achieved by "shifting" the signals between stages within the device one at a time...
chipMicroprocessorA microprocessor incorporates the functions of a computer's central processing unit on a single integrated circuit, or at most a few integrated circuits. It is a multipurpose, programmable device that accepts digital data as input, processes it according to instructions stored in its memory, and...
; 100 rows and 100 columns. - 1975 – Bryce Bayer of Kodak develops the Bayer filterBayer filterA Bayer filter mosaic is a color filter array for arranging RGB color filters on a square grid of photosensors. Its particular arrangement of color filters is used in most single-chip digital image sensors used in digital cameras, camcorders, and scanners to create a color image...
mosaic pattern for CCD color image sensors. - 1986 – Kodak scientists invent the world's first megapixel sensor.
- 2005 – AgfaPhotoAgfaPhotoAgfaPhoto GmbH is a European photographic company, formed in 2004 when Agfa-Gevaert sold their Consumer Imaging division. Agfa had for many years been well known as a producer of consumer-oriented photographic products including films, photographic papers and cameras...
files for bankruptcy. Production of Agfa brand consumer films ends. - 2006 – DalsaDalsaTeledyne DALSA is a Canadian company specializing in the design and manufacture of specialized electronic cameras.The company was founded in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada in 1980 by imaging pioneer Dr. Savvas Chamberlain, a former Professor in Electrical Engineering at the University of Waterloo...
produces 111 megapixel CCDCharge-coupled deviceA charge-coupled device is a device for the movement of electrical charge, usually from within the device to an area where the charge can be manipulated, for example conversion into a digital value. This is achieved by "shifting" the signals between stages within the device one at a time...
sensor, the highest resolution at its time. - 2008 – PolaroidPolaroid CorporationPolaroid Corporation is an American-based international consumer electronics and eyewear company, originally founded in 1937 by Edwin H. Land. It is most famous for its instant film cameras, which reached the market in 1948, and continued to be the company's flagship product line until the February...
announces it is discontinuing the production of all instant film products, citing the rise of digital imaging technology. - 2009 - Kodak announces the discontinuance of Kodachrome film.
External links
- The Photo History Timeline Collection
- More about the earliest photograph
- In the eye of the camera — Illustrated historical essay about early photography
- Lippmann's and Gabor's Revolutionary Approach to Imaging