The History of photography. From 35mm to Digital

{Part one of three}

In my world the history of photography started with my Aunt’s film SLR back in the early 90’s. I loved the way the steel body felt and was fascinated by the sounds it made but in 2002 I got given my first camera, a 3.2 megapixel Sony and there were so many wonderful moments captured with it. For me the passion for the art started with that digital camera and I have seen incredible growth in technology since that analogue SLR to the latest 80 megapixel camera used by Ken Duncan.

But as for world history we must go back much further than that.

Eastman/Kodak brought photography to the masses making it simple for people to capture what they saw in the world. 35mm film has shown us all some amazing and unforgettable moments in time. We know the photo by Steve McCurry captured on Kodak kodachrome film in 1984 of an Afghan girl in a refugee camp.

Kodachrome film was the standard amongst professionals and sophisticated amateurs alike since it was released in 1935 till its death in 2010 after a steady decline in sales due to its time consuming developing process and the surge in digital technology. A surge that would eventually be the end of Kodak.

It’s little known that the first digital camera was created by Kodak in 1975 but it was not till the late 90’s that the technology became accessible to the public and the developments since then have been amazing.

Swedish camera maker Hasselblad offer a 200 megapixel camera that’s costs AU$43,000 while you can find spy cameras built into a pen on ebay for $20.

These days almost everyone with a mobile phone will have a small camera in the back of it and they can be up to 8MP that can instantly upload to Flickr. But the new kid on the block is the Lytro “light field” camera. It does not work with pixels but with light vectors and is literally the birth of a new and monumentally mesmerizing technology. The future is most exciting.

So in conclusion.

Eastman/Kodak started it all in the late 1890’s and sadly they are now a bankrupt company that failed to move with technology despite inventing an abundance of it, the same can be said for Poloaroid, a fun and instant way of taking a picture that is now seen as overly expensive and pointless with the new generation. Even optics giant Olympus is having a very public battle with the bean counters.

So will the Lytro camera make it in this new tech world? The film world rejected the digital revolution and thus far the digital world is not warming to this new invention. It remains to be seen but if history has taught me anything it’s that if I don’t keep up with the ever changing utensils of the trade I risk appearing out of touch with the world I have so much passion for, luckily I’m a techno nerd.

References:

ª     Kodak/George Eastman website

ª     Lytro.com

ª     Hasselblad.com

ª     Ebay.com.au

ª     Stevemccurry.com

ª     Cnet.com.au

ª     Smh.com.au

ª     Personal conversations with Ken Duncan