“The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera”- Dorthea Lange. Our world has seen new ideas and inventions in every field including the world of art. Right from the first camera to DSLR, photography has contributed its part to the advancement to the evolution of mankind.

Let us take a tour through the generation of camera and photography.

Obscura Camera

The concept of the first camera was given by Alhazen, an Iraqi scientist in 1500 AD. Obscura was incapable of storing an actual image. It used to project the inverted image into the darkened area. But in the late 1830s, Joseph Nicephore Niepce was successful in recording the first image that did not fade away quickly. After this success, he tried out various other experiments which added to the evolution of photography.

Daguerreotype Camera

This was a result of an experiment conducted by Joseph in collaboration with Louis Jacques Daguerre. This invention of the first true camera was announced by the French Academy of sciences in 1839 AD. This camera used a special copper plate to capture the light from the image but it used to take almost 15 minutes of light exposure to fully capture the image.

Later, an updated version was invented by Alexander Wolcott. This type used a concave mirror in front of the daguerreotype plate to prevent further exposure after capturing the image. Daguerreotype Camera with a mirror became the first camera to receive a US patent for photography.

Panoramic Camera

This was the first film camera to be invented in the year 1859 by Thomas Sutton. A panoramic camera was the first to capture the wide-angle view.

Stereo Camera

When George Hare presented his invention to the world, there was huge chaos because this was the first camera to hold up to 100 photos. Later on, he updated this camera and launched The Brownie in the market. It was a basic cardboard box camera with a meniscus lens that was able to take 117 pictures.

Polaroid Camera

This was the first instant camera and was invented by Dr Edwin Herbert Land. Polaroid Cameras were capable of developing a picture in one minute.

Konica C35 AF

This became the very first camera to hold the distinction of autofocus camera. It was launched by Konica and was able to set a milestone.

Sony Mavica

It was launched as the world’s first electronic still video camera. Sony Mavica would record images into a small disk and then put them into a video reader.

Kodak DCS

This was the first professional digital camera system to be used by photo-journalist.

Minolta RD-175 

Introduced by Minolta, this was the first digital SLR camera with a three-way splitter giving 1.75M pixel resolution.

Mirrorless Camera

Smaller than DSLR, this camera produces images with the equal quality as the DSLR. This camera is popular among all types of photographers who want great pictures without lugging a giant DSLR around.