The Story of Communication:
Photography—Timeline
1038: Arab scholar, Alhazen, describes a room-size camera
obscura.
1267: Roger Bacon builds a camera obscura to show optical illusions.
1290: French astronomer Guillaume de Saint Cloud conceives
of a camera.
1342: In France, mathematician Levi ben Gershon writes theory
of photography.
1544: Illustration of a camera obscura, used to trace scenes,
is published in Holland.
1550: Milanese scientist Geralamo Cardano describes a camera
obscura with a lens.
1558: Giovanni della Porta recommends camera obscura as an
aid to artists.
1568: Daniele Barbari describes a camera obscura with lens
and diaphragm.
1657: Camera obscuras shrink from room size, can be carried
under one arm.
1727: Johann Schulze sees silver nitrate darken, begins science
of photochemistry.
1777: Ammonia is used to block the darkening of silver salts.
1802: Thomas Wedgewood produces silhouettes with silver nitrate,
but they darken.
1807: Camera lucida is invented. It improves image tracing.
1816: Joseph Niépce captures a negative image on paper,
but it darkens.
1819: John Herschel publishes work on photographic chemical
processes.
1822: Joseph Niépce is able to photograph an engraving
superimposed on glass.
1825: Copy of a Dutch print. It is now claimed to be the first
true photograph.
1826: Using a camera obscura, Niépce makes a true photograph
on a pewter plate.
1829: Louis Daguerre joins Niépce to pursue photographic
inventions.
1835: In England, W. H. Fox Talbot produces his first photographs.
1837: Daguerre creates daguerreotype, begins photography craze.
1838: In England, Charles Wheatstone’s stereoscope shows
pictures in 3-D.
1839: The first camera manufactured for sale, the Giroux Daguerreotype.
1839: Fox Talbot’s calotype method prints photographs
from paper negatives.
1841: Petzval of Austria builds an f/3.6 lens.
1843: In the U.S., the photographic enlarger.
1842: Cyanotype film printing: white image on blue background.
Still used.
1844: Fox Talbot publishes The Pencil of Nature, a book with
photographs.
1845: Mathew Brady opens a portrait studio in New York.
1848: Egg whites are discovered to hold photo negatives on
glass plates.
1849: The photographic slide.
1849: Photographs of Egyptian pyramids begin travel photography.
1849: Twin-lens camera can take pictures for stereoscopic viewing.
1851: Archer invents wet-plate photography process.
1851: In England, Talbot takes a flash photograph.
1861: First chemical means to color photography.
1861: Mathew Brady and others begin to photograph the American
Civil War.
1865: Experimental photograph is developed inside a camera.
1854: Carte-de-visite process simplifies photography.
1856: Poitevan starts photolithography.
1856: Photojournalism begins with pictures of the Crimean War.
1859: Camera gets a wide-angled lens.
1860: Frenchman Rene Dagron invents “microfilm” technique
using glass plates.
1860: The first aerial photographs are taken from a balloon
over Paris.
1869: From France, color photography using the subtractive
method.
1873: A photograph is reproduced using halftone method.
1878: Karl Klic produces a commercially successful means of
photogravure printing.
1878: Dry-plate photography replaces messy, inconvenient wet
plates.
1879: George Eastman builds a machine to mass produce photographic
dry-plates.
1881: The first photographic roll film.
1884: The Stebbing Automatic Camera, first production model
to use roll film.
1885: Transparent film negatives are sold.
1887: Cellulose photographic film is developed.
1888: “Kodak” box camera simplifies picture taking. “Snapshot” is
born.
1888: $25 Kodak takes 100 pictures on a roll.
1889: Eastman’s cellulose film can be bought on a roll.
1891: Diazotype put photographs onto fabric.
1891: Telephoto lens is attached to the camera.
1891: Photographers can load camera film in daylight, not just
in a darkroom.
1892: Frederick Ives invents natural color photographic system.
1896: X-ray photography.
1898: Photographs taken by artificial light.
1900: Kodak’s $1 Brownie puts photography within almost
everyone’s reach.
1902: Germany’s Zeiss invents the four-element Tessar
camera lens.
1902: Etched zinc photoengravings.
1902: Images can be transferred by photoelectric scanning.
1902: Film can be developed in a machine without a darkroom.
1902: Alfred Stieglitz publishes Camera Work to promote photography
as art.
1903: London Daily Mirror now illustrates only with photographs,
not drawings.
1907: Lumière brothers invent still color photography
process.
1908: In France, Gabriel Lippmann improves color photography,
wins Nobel Prize.
1905: Alfred Stieglitz and Edward Steichen open photo art gallery
in New York.
1911: Rotogravure aids magazine production of photos.
1912. The Speed Graphic camera introduced, will become newspaper
standard.
1913: For professional photographers, sheet film instead of
glass plates.
1914: In Germany, the 35mm still camera, a Leica.
1916: Cameras get optical rangefinders.
1926: Kodak manufactures 16 mm film stock.
1930: Photo flashbulbs replace dangerous flash powder.
1931: Exposure meters go on sale.
1932: Zoom lens is invented, but a practical model is 21 years
off.
1933: Multiple-flash sports photography.
1935: German single lens reflex roll film camera synchronized
for flash bulbs.
1935: Kodachrome is the first successful amateur color film.
1936: Life magazine is published; introduces photo essays.
1938: Chester Carlson makes a “dry copy,” the start
of xerography.
1942: Kodacolor Film for prints is the first true color negative
film.
1947: Dennis Gabor, Hungarian engineer in England, invents
holography.
1948: Edwin Land’s Polaroid camera prints pictures in
a minute.
1951: Still cameras get built-in flash units.
1954: Kodak introduces Tri-X, high speed black-and-white film.
1959: High speed Ektachrome film.
1960: Invention of laser light will be important for holography.
1962: Holograms are created with lasers.
1963: Instamatic cameras with drop-in cartridges; more than
50 million will be sold.
1963: Polaroid instant photography adds color.
1972: Polaroid camera can focus by itself.
1973: Associated Press plans to store news photos in its computers.
1976: Steadicam, a camera stabilizing system,
1976: A still camera, Canon AE-1, uses a microprocessor.
1978: Xerox manufactures the first laser printer.
1978: From Japan’s Konica, the point-and-shoot, autofocus
camera.
1981: Hologram technology improves, now in video games.
1981, The Sony Mavica, the first electronic camera.
1982: From Japan, a camera with electronic picture storage,
no film.
1982: Kodak camera uses film on a disc cassette.
1984: National Geographic puts a hologram on its cover.
1984: Canon sells an electronic still camera.
1989: Vacationers can buy single use, throwaway cameras.
1989: TV Guide cover puts Oprah Winfrey’s head on Ann-Margaret’s
body.
1989: Photos can be digitally manipulated on a home computer.
1990: Kodak introduces the Photo CD player.
1991: An x-ray photograph is taken of the brain recalling a
word.
1993: Photojournalists, studio photographers switch to specialized
digital cameras.
1994: Digital cameras reach the home market, attach to computers.
1996: Advanced Photo System offers a choice of print formats.
1997: From Kodak, the first point-and-shoot digital camera.
1998: Megapixel cameras available at consumer level.
2001: Ixus digital camera produces color prints without computer.
2004: Wi-fi cellphone/cameras are replacing some computers.
2004: London police use tiny, hidden wireless cameras to catch
drug dealers.
2004: Photos by two rover vehicles beamed back from Mars.
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