LARGE FORMAT CAMERAS
(Film format > 60 x 90 mm)
The large format camera is a direct successor of the early plate cameras and remain in use for high quality photography and for technical, architectural and industrial photography.
There are three common types, the monorail camera, the field camera and the press camera. All use large format sheets of film, and have an extensible bellows with the lens and shutter mounted on a lens plate at the front.
These cameras have a wide range of movements allowing very close control of focus and perspective.
MEDIUM FORMAT BOX CAMERAS
(Film format < 60 x 90 mm and >24 X 36 mm)
(Early versions approx. 1890s – 1950s)
The box camera is a camera in its simplest form. The form of the classic box camera is no more than a cardboard or plastic box with a lens in one end and a 120 or 220 roll film at the other.
Box cameras were introduced as a budget level camera and had few if any controls. The most common image sizes being 6 x 4.5 cm, 6 x 6 cm and 6 x 9 cm. The original box Brownie models had a small reflex viewfinder mounted on the top of the camera and had no aperture or focusing controls and just a simple shutter.
During the type’s commercial life span, box cameras with photographic flash, shutter and aperture adjustment were introduced, allowing indoor photos.
(Film format < 60 x 90 mm and >24 X 36 mm)
(approx. 1930s – onwards)
Twin-lens reflex cameras used a pair of nearly identical lenses, one to form the image and one as a viewfinder. The lenses were arranged with the viewing lens immediately above the taking lens. The viewing lens projects an image onto a focusing screen with a pop-up hood around it.
Some TLR had interchangeable lenses but as these had to be paired lenses they were relatively heavy and did not provide the range of focal lengths that the SLR could support.
The typical TLR is medium format, using 120 roll film with square 6 x 6 cm images.
(Film format < 60 x 90 mm and >24 X 36 mm)
(approx. 1890s – onwards)
A single-lens reflex (SLR) camera is a camera that uses a semi-automatic moving mirror system which permits the user to see exactly what will be captured by the film.
Single-lens reflex cameras have been made in several formats including 220/120 taking 8, 12 or 16 photographs on a 120 roll and twice that number of a 220 film. These correspond to 6 x 9, 6 x 6 and 6 x 4.5 cm respectively.
Notable manufacturers of large format SLR include Hasselblad, Mamiya, Bronica and Pentax. However the most common format of SLRs was 35 mm.
top quality medium format SLR camera
Did you know that there are 12 Hasselblad cameras currently sitting on the surface of the moon? The cameras that shot those iconic images of the moon’s surface between 1969 and 1972 were left there to allow for the 25kg of lunar rock samples that were brought back instead. Only the film magazines were brought back. So…the cameras are free but the trip there is not that cheap!
(Film format 24 X 36 mm)
(approx. 1930s – onwards)
SLRs have been made for every film size, from 5 x 7 inches down to 16 mm, but the 35 mm SLR clearly predominates. Over its near 80 year history the SLR has seen many innovations.
It’s popularity is due mainly to three refinements, all concerned with the viewfinder:
First, the instant-return mirror reduced the user’s “temporary blindness” from seconds to milliseconds (1947 Hungarian Duflex, 1954 Asahiflex).
Second, the automatic diaphragm, which is wide open for bright viewing/focussing (Minolta SR-2, Miranda B, Zunow, 1958).
Third, the roof pentaprism affords eye-level viewing of an upright, laterally correct image (Contax-S, 1950).
EARLY 35MM FILM FORMAT CAMERAS
(approx. 1920s – 1930s)
This film format was introduced into photography as early as 1913 but first became popular with the the launch of the Leica camera.
Although Oskar Barnack designed his Leica-prototype around 1913, the first experimental production run did not take place until 1923. Full scale production of the Leica did not begin until 1925. By that time there were at least a dozen other 35 mm cameras available, but Leica was a success, and came to be associated with the format.
The first big-selling 35 mm camera was the American Tourist Multiple, which appeared in 1913, at a cost of $175. Finally, the Furet camera (made and sold in France in 1923) took full frame 24×36 mm negatives and was the first cheap small 35 mm camera to look vaguely like today’s models.
35MM POINT-AND-SHOOT (COMPACT) CAMERAS
Film format 24 X 36 mm)
(approx. 1960s – onwards)
A point-and-shoot camera, also called compact camera, is primarily designed for simple operation.
Point-and-shoots are by far the best selling type of camera and popular with people who don’t consider themselves photographers but want an easy to use camera for vacations, parties and other events.
The lowest-end compact cameras have focus-free lenses with fixed apertures and can be reloaded. Because of the fixed apertures, models with flash have no way of controlling the exposure from the flash. Advanced models of point-and-shoot cameras use automatic focus, have a built-in flash and have variable apertures. They all have light meters.
SUBMINIATURE CAMERAS
(approx. 1890s – onwards)
At the beginning of photography, a film format of 9 x 12cm or 4 x 5inch was considered normal, so the first cameras using the 35mm film were called miniature cameras. This is why all the cameras with a smaller format have been called subminiature cameras.
Some people consider the 18 x 24mm format (half-frame format) as subminiature. The real half film format was 17.5 mm, very popular after Worldwar II in Japan.
CONCEILED CAMERAS
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the development of a satisfactory dry-plate process gave a fresh impetus to camera design. The shorter exposure times now required provided the stimulus for the appearance of a new generation of hand cameras.
Inspired by the twin possibilities of portability and concealment, inventors came up with numerous disguised and concealed cameras, including such curiosities as the hat camera, cravat camera, book camera, gun camera, watch camera and walking stick camera.
Probably the best known of these concealed cameras is Stirn’s waistcoat camera – invented by an American but turned into a commercial success by a German.
INSTANT CAMERAS
(approx. 1950s – onwards)
The instant camera is a type of camera with self-developing film. The best known are those manufactured by Polaroid between the years of 1947 and 1983.
The first commercially available model was the Polaroid Model 95, which produced prints in about 1 minute, and was first sold to the public in 1948. After Polaroid’s patent was brought to market, many imitators surfaced, some using Polaroid-compatible film and equipment, such as cameras by Keystone, Konica, and Minolta.
Others were incompatible with Polaroid cameras and film, the most notable of these being made by Kodak, such as the Kodamatic.
PANORAMIC CAMERAS
Although the public liked panoramic pictures from the early beginnings of photography, it was not until 1896 that the first camera to be widely sold was patented. It was the American “Al Vista”.
In the Al Vista the lens rotated as the exposure was made and recorded the image on rollfilm. Kodak used the same principle for his Panoram cameras which were made from 1899-1928.
These two cameras dominated the early market but from 1930s onwards the camera design with a very wide angle lens had a revival. The Russian Horizont camera (1966), which was of the rotating lens design, used 35mm film for image recording.
STEREOSCOPIC CAMERAS
(approx. 1850s – onwards)
A stereo camera is a type of camera with two or more lenses with a separate film frame for each lens. This allows the camera to simulate human binocular vision, and therefore gives it the ability to capture three-dimensional images, a process known as stereo photography.
In the beginning of the last century, stereoscopic photography was very popular and various designs of cameras and viewers were made. Jules Richard, France specialized in this equipment. Gradually interest in steroscopic photography declined until after WWII when several new cameras appeared. Worthwhile mentioning is the View-Master. These toys first became available in the 1940’s and are still available today.
WATERPROOF AND SPLASH PROOF CAMERAS
(approx. 1950s – onwards)
The story of mass produced waterproof cameras started from the year 1958 when the huge Healthways Mako Shark was released which cost around $25.
This has been seconded in 1957 by the very important invention for underwater photography history from Belgian inventor Jean de Wouters, who created together with a famous French underwater explorer named Jacques-Yves Cousteau the CalypsoPhot, which is the first waterproof 35mm range finder camera that can be used either above or under water.
His technology led to Nikon’s commercialization of the Nikonos camera series that dominated the underwater film photography market until the digital camera became famous.
This era in underwater photography history started with the release of compact digital still cameras in the late 1990s. This first waterproof digital camera was made by Kodak but the cameras was soon recalled as there were customers that reported that the cameras shocked them. Nowadays, you can find that there are a lot of waterproof cameras being produced by a lot of manufacturers under the various brands.
However, it is the Japanese manufacturers like Canon, Fuji, Olympus, Pentax and Sony who perfected and succeeded in marketing waterproof digital cameras to the mass market.
‘TOY’ CAMERAS
(approx. 1960s – onwards)
A toy camera is a simple, inexpensive film camera. Despite the name, toy cameras are fully functional and capable of taking photographs, though with optical aberrations due to the limitations of their simple lenses. They are usually made in China, Hong Kong, Southeast Asia, or the former Soviet Union.
Although always a hit with children, toy cameras have also been revered by collectors and photographers who welcome the artistic challenge of shooting with a plastic box that offers only a fixed focus and single shutter speed. Such as 1970s Mick-A-Matics and Gobots Cameras (1985) to Tamagotchi Cameras (1997) and Lego Digital Cameras (2011).
From the 1990s onward, there has been interest in the artistic use of such cameras, both those designed for children such as the Diana, and others originally intended as mass-market consumer cameras, such as the Lomo LC-A, Lubitel, and Holga.
Many professional photographers have used toy cameras and exploited the vignetting, blur, light leaks, and other distortions of their inexpensive lenses for artistic effect to take award-winning pictures.
Toy camera photography has been widely exhibited at many popular art shows, such as the annual “Krappy Kamera” show at the Soho Photo Gallery in the Tribeca neighborhood of New York City. Nowadays we could add many early-generation digital cameras to the category, e.g. for VGA-format images (640×480 pixels) as well as many novelty keychain or pen cameras, or even the poorer of today’s ubiquitous cell-phone cameras. In each case image pixelation, noise, and color response may be so flawed as to become an interesting, desired effect.
DISC-CAMERAS
(as from 1982 – onwards)
The Kodak Disc camera was introduced with great fanfare in 1982. The new cameras were lightweight, foolproof (with auto-exposure and built-in flash), affordable, and used a brand new kind of film cartridge.
As you can see, this was film mounted on a disc — which looked a lot like one of the old View-Master reels — rather than the traditional type of film that was spooled in a cartridge and returned as negatives in strips.
As simple and convenient as using the camera was, there were quality issues that came along with using a negative that was just 8mm x 10.5mm in size.
As a result, pictures too often ended up being grainy, having poor color or a lack of definition — all of which led to the Disc’s quick demise. Production on Kodak’s Disc camera stopped in 1988, although the company continued to manufacture the film for another decade.
APS CAMERAS
(FROM 1986 UP TO 2004)
The Advanced Photo System (APS) was introduced in 1986 by Kodak, Fujifilm, Minolta, Nikon, Canon and others. APS was mainly used for point and shoot amateur cameras, although some SLR systems were also created: Canon EOS IX, Minolta Vectis, Nikon Pronea with Nikon IX lenses. APS SLR cameras were too expensive for the high-end amateur market when they first appeared, and professional photographers stuck with 35 mm cameras, which offered greater image quality and resolution.
The Advanced Photo System was an attempt at a major upgrade of photographic technology for amateurs, but was soon overtaken by the popularity of digital photography. Despite the added features, APS never really caught on with professional photographers because of the significantly smaller film area (58% of 135 film).
The (discontinued) APS film format was marketed by Eastman Kodak under the brand name Advantix, by FujiFilm under the name Nexia, by Agfa under the name Futura and by Konica as Centuria. Unlike 135 film, processed APS film is stored in the original cartridge. For identification, every roll of APS film has a six-digit ID code on the label, which is also stored magnetically and is visible on either end of the processed negative.
APS cameras found most of their success among the consumer point and shoot camera market, but this was too little too late: within five years of the format’s launch, sales had dropped significantly. This was mainly due to the increasing quality and falling prices of digital cameras. In January 2004, Kodak announced it was ceasing APS camera production. Both Fuji and Kodak, the last two manufacturers of APS film, discontinued production in 2011.
HOLOGRAPHIC PHOTOGRAPHY
(approx. 1950s – onwards)
Holography is a method to go beyond the options of classic photography. In contrast to photography, which creates a two dimensional image on film called a negative, holography not only records the intensity of light, but also its difference of phase. In other words all information reflected by the object, length, width and depth, are recorded on a piece of film.
The most famous person linked to the history of holography is its inventor: the physician Dennis Gábor. In fact his discovery in 1947, was not supposed to display 3D-objects, but to improve the capacity of microscopes. Yuri Denisyuk, Sovjet Union, and Emmett Leith and Juris Upatnieks, USA recorded the first 3D-objects on holographic material in 1962.
(EARLY) DIGITAL CAMERAS
Digital cameras differ from analog cameras primarily in that they do not use film, but capture and save photographs on digital memory cards or internal storage instead.
The marketplace for consumer digital cameras was originally simple cameras built for utility. In 1997 the first megapixel cameras for consumers were marketed. Nowadays the digital camera market can be subdivided in camera phones, simple compact cameras, more sophisticated bridge cameras and (semi-) professional SLR cameras with interchangeable lenses, etc.
Digital compact cameras have become widespread consumer products outselling film cameras with features like video and audio recording.
