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View Full Version : History of Photography (A Timeline of significant events)



ricktas
21-10-2008, 7:09pm
I wonder how many of us, have ever looked at the history behind this wonderful activity we all partake of.

I thought re-producing this here (with additions from many sources), might be of interest to members:

A Timeline of Photography.

ancient times: Camera obscuras used to form images on walls in darkened rooms; image formation via a pinhole
16th century: Brightness and clarity of camera obscuras improved by enlarging the hole inserting a telescope lens
17th century: Camera obscuras in frequent use by artists and made portable in the form of sedan chairs
1664-1666: Isaac Newton discovers that white light is composed of different colours.
1727: Professor J. Schulze mixes chalk, nitric acid, and silver in a flask; notices darkening on side of flask exposed to sunlight. Accidental creation of the first photo-sensitive compound.
1800: Thomas Wedgwood makes "sun pictures" by placing opaque objects on leather treated with silver nitrate; resulting images deteriorated rapidly, however, if displayed under light stronger than from candles.
1816: Nicéphore Niépce combines the camera obscura with photosensitive paper
1826: Niépce creates a permanent image (see below for image)
1834: Henry Fox Talbot creates permanent (negative) images using paper soaked in silver chloride and fixed with a salt solution. Talbot created positive images by contact printing onto another sheet of paper.
1837: Louis Daguerre creates images on silver-plated copper, coated with silver iodide and "developed" with warmed mercury; Daguerre is awarded a state pension by the French government in exchange for publication of methods and the rights by other French citizens to use the Daguerreotype process.
1838: Boulevard du Temple, Paris, Ille arrondissement, Daguerreotype (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Boulevard_du_Temple_by_Daguerre.jpg). The purportedly first picture of a living person. (see below for image)
1839: introduction of the word "photography" (Sir John F.W. Herschel)
1840: First American patent issued in photography to Alexander Wolcott for his camera
1841: Talbot patents his process under the name "calotype".
1844: Friedrich von Martens built a camera containing a swivelling lens that could take a panorama over an arc of 150 degrees.
1851: Frederick Scott Archer, a sculptor in London, improves photographic resolution by spreading a mixture of collodion (nitrated cotton dissolved in ether and alcohol) and chemicals on sheets of glass. Wet plate collodion photography was much cheaper than daguerreotypes, the negative/positive process permitted unlimited reproductions, and the process was published but not patented.
1853: Nada (Felix Toumachon) opens his portrait studio in Paris
1854: Adolphe Disderi develops carte-de-visite photography in Paris, leading to worldwide boom in portrait studios for the next decade
1855: Beginning of stereoscopic era
1855-57: Direct positive images on glass (ambrotypes) and metal (tintypes or ferrotypes) popular in the US.
1856: John B. Dancer, an English optical instrument maker, patented a device that took two pictures simultaneously, through two lenses set slightly apart.
1859: Panoramic camera patented - the Sutton.
1861: Scottish physicist James Clerk-Maxwell demonstrates a colour photography system involving three black and white photographs, each taken through a red, green, or blue filter. The photos were turned into lantern slides and projected in registration with the same color filters. This is the "colour separation" method. Oliver Wendell Holmes invents stereoscope viewer.
1861-65: Mathew Brady and staff (mostly staff) covers the American Civil War, exposing 7000 negatives.
1865: Photographs and photographic negatives are added to protected works under copyright.
1868: Ducas de Hauron publishes a book proposing a variety of methods for colour photography.
1870: Center of period in which the US Congress sent photographers out to the West. The most famous images were taken by William Jackson and Tim O'Sullivan.
1871: Richard Leach Maddox, an English doctor, proposes the use of an emulsion of gelatin and silver bromide on a glass plate, the "dry plate" process.
1877: Eadweard Muybridge, born in England as Edward Muggridge, settles "do a horse's four hooves ever leave the ground at once" bet among rich San Franciscans by time-sequenced photography of Leland Stanford's horse.
1878: Dry plates being manufactured commercially.
1880: George Eastman, age 24, sets up Eastman Dry Plate Company in Rochester, New York. First half-tone photograph appears in a daily newspaper, the New York Graphic.
1885: George Eastman invented roll film, the basis for the invention of motion picture film, as used by early film makers and Thomas Edison.
1888: First Kodak camera, containing a 20-foot roll of paper, enough for 100 2.5-inch diameter circular pictures. George Eastman registered Kodak as a trademark and coined the phrase "You Press The Button and We Do The Rest"
1889: Improved Kodak camera with roll of film instead of paper
1890: Jacob Riis publishes How the Other Half Lives, images of tenement life in New York City
1898: Reverend Hannibal Goodwin patents celluloid photographic film.
1900: Kodak Brownie box roll-film camera introduced
1901: Kodak introduced the 120 film.
1902: Alfred Stieglitz organises "Photo Secessionist" show in New York City; Arthur Korn devises practical photo-telegraphy 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 inter-continentally by 1922. Frank Hurley OBE (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Hurley) he bought his first camera (aged 17), a 15 shilling Kodak Box Brownie which he paid for at the rate of a shilling per week. He taught himself photography and set himself up in the postcard business.
1903: The inaugural issue of Camera Work dated January 1903 even though it mailed on 15th Dec 1902 and known for its many high quality photogravures was published by Arthur Stieglitz from 1903 - 1917
1904: Edward Steichen began experimenting with colour photography and was one of the first to use Autochrome Lumiere in America.
1905: Alfred Stieglitz and Edward Steichen open the Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession (called "291") in New York City.
1906: Availability of panchromatic black and white film and therefore high quality color separation color photography. J.P. Morgan finances Edward Curtis to document the traditional culture of the North American Indian.
1907: First commercial colour film, the Autochrome plates, manufactured by Lumiere brothers in France. Pigeon photography invented. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pigeon_photography)
1908: Kinemacolour, a two colour process that is the first commercial "natural colour" system for movies in introduced.
1909: Lewis Hine hired by US National Child Labor Committee to photograph children working mills
1910: James (Frank) Hurley who was recognised as a pioneer in Polar photography and embellished images to maximise visual impact by way of composite printing, mounted his first exhibition in Sydney.
1911: Max Dupain born http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Dupain
1912: Vest Pocket Kodak using 127 film.
1913: Kinemacolor, the first commercial "natural colour" system for movies is invented.
1914: Oscar Barnack, employed by German microscope manufacturer Leitz, develops camera using the modern 24x36mm frame and sprocketed 35mm movie film; Kodak introduced the Autographic film system
1915: 68 aerial photographs of Gallipoli are taken when aerial photography was still very experimental.
1916: Alvin Langdon Coburn's Vortographs: deliberate abstractions. Paul Strand's photographs emphasize abstract and objective qualities.
1917: Nippon Kogaku K.K., which will eventually become Nikon, established in Tokyo. Frank Hurley OBE (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Hurley) joined the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) as an honorary captain and captured many stunning battlefield scenes during the Third Battle of Ypres. In keeping with his adventurous spirit, he took considerable risks to photograph his subjects, also producing many rare colour photographs of the conflict. His period with the AIF ended in March 1918. Hurley also served as a war photographer during World War II.
1918: Photographer on the Hook of a Crane. http://www.zazzle.com.au/crazy_photographer_on_the_hook_of_a_crane_1918_poster-228272247935149544
1919: Asahi Kogaku Goshi Kausha founded by Kumao Kajiwara (later Pentax)
1920s: Yasujiro Niwa invented a device for phototelegraphic transmission through cable and later via radio
1920: The Bartlane facsimile system was named for Harry G. Bartholomew and Maynard D. McFarlane and was developed in Great Britain. It was one of the first applications of digital images as digitized newspaper pictures were sent by submarine cable between London and New York.
1921: Man Ray begins making photograms ("rayographs") by placing objects on photographic paper and exposing the shadow cast by a distant light bulb; Eugene Atget, aged 64, assigned to photograph the brothels of Paris
1922 : Kodak introduces 16mm reversal film on cellulose acetate base.
1923: Doc Harold Edgerton invents the xenon flash lamp and strobe photography. Ashai Optical manufactures "AOCO," the first projection lens for movies produced in Japan
1924: Leitz markets a derivative of Barnack's camera commercially as the "Leica", the first high quality 35mm camera.
1925: André Kertész moves from his native Hungary to Paris, where he begins an 11-year project photographing street life; Leica introduced the 35mm format to still photography; John Logie Baird successfully transmits the first television picture with a greyscale image: the head of a ventriloquist's dummy nicknamed "Stooky Bill" in a 30-line vertically scanned image, at five pictures per second. Lewis Morley born http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Morley
1926: First underwater colour photo (Charles Martin & W.H. Longley)
1927: The 79 year old Associated Press launches a photo service, however pictures are delivered by rail or in rare cases by air. Portfolio of work "Parmellian Prints of the High Sierra" by Ansell Adams is produced, the work imitates impressionist painting with soft misty effects that suppress detail. General Electric invents the modern flash bulb.
1928: Albert Renger-Patzsch publishes The World is Beautiful, close-ups emphasising the form of natural and man-made objects; Rollei introduces the Rolleiflex twin-lens reflex producing a 6x6 cm image on rollfilm.; Karl Blossfeldt publishes Art Forms in Nature
1929: Eastman Kodak introduces 16mm film with motion picture camera and projectors for home use
1930: Flashbulbs were patented by Johannes Ostermeier, they had aluminium foil in place of magnesium. Similar bulbs were introduced 7 weeks earlier by General Electric.
1931: Development of strobe photography by Harold ("Doc") Edgerton at MIT
1932: Inception of Technicolor for movies, where three black and white negatives were made in the same camera under different filters; Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham, Willard Van Dyke, Edward Weston, et al, form Group f/64 dedicated to "straight photographic thought and production".; Henri Cartier-Bresson buys a Leica and begins a 60-year career photographing people, he captures his most famous image, Behind the Gare St. Lazare, which is widely considered the greatest photo of the 20th Century. On March 14, George Eastman, aged 77, writes suicide note--"My work is done. Why wait?"--and shoots himself. First light meter with photoelectric cell introduced.
1933: Brassaï publishes Paris de nuit. Canon release their first rangefinder camera, the Canon RF, which was a Leica copy, and accommodated a Nikkor 50mm lens.
1934: Fuji Photo Film founded. By 1938, Fuji is making cameras and lenses in addition to film.
1935: Farm Security Administration hires Roy Stryker to run a historical section. Stryker would hire Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, Arthur Rothstein, et al. to photograph rural hardships over the next six years. Roman Vishniac begins his project of the soon-to-be-killed-by-their-neighbours Jews of Central and Eastern Europe.
1936: Development of Kodachrome, the first color multi-layered color film; development of Exakta, pioneering 35mm single-lens reflex (SLR) camera; ‘The Kwanon’, Japan’s first 35 mm focal plane-shutter camera, was produced in prototype form. The first Argus camera, known as the Model A, was manufactured in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It was a success as the first low-cost, easy-to-use 35mm film camera in the world. Thirty thousand cameras were sold in the first week at $12.50 each. Worldwide sales of this model continued until 1950.
1937: Max Dupain takes his iconic image "Sunbaker" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunbaker
1938: The Kodak Super Six-20 was the first still camera with autoexposure. It was very expensive for that era and relatively few were sold. Production: 1938-1944, 719 manufactured. 620 roll film. Asahi Optical Co., Ltd. is established
1939: Agfacolor negative-positive colour material, the first modern "print" film; The View-Master stereo viewer is introduced
1940: Victor Hasselblad established a camera workshop in Gothenburg called Ross AB in a shed at an automobile shop near a junkyard and working in the evenings in cooperation with an auto mechanic from the shop and his brother, began to design the HK7 camera
1941: Hasselblad had over twenty employees and the Swedish Air Force asked for another camera, one which would have a larger negative and could be permanently mounted to an aircraft; this model was known as the SKa4
1942: Kodacolor, Kodak's first "print" film; Karl Erik Hasselblad died and Victor took control of the family business. During the war, in addition to the military cameras, Hasselblad produced watch and clock parts, over 95,000 by the war's end. Chester Carlson receives patent for electric photography (xerography).
World War II:

Between 1941 and 1945, Hasselblad delivered 342 cameras to the Swedish military
Continued development of multi-layer colour negative films
Margaret Bourke-White, Robert Capa, Carl Mydans, and W. Eugene Smith cover the war for LIFE magazine


1943: French fashion photographer Patrick Demarchelier born http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Demarchelier
1944: 6th of June Robert Capa swam ashore with the second assault wave on Omaha Beach. He was armed with two Contax II cameras mounted with 50 mm lenses and several rolls of spare film. Capa took 106 pictures in the first couple of hours of the invasion. However, a staff member at Life in London made a mistake in the darkroom; he set the dryer too high and melted the emulsion in the negatives in three complete rolls and over half of a fourth roll. Only eleven frames in total were recovered.
1945: The Dancing Man is the name given to the man who was filmed dancing on the street in Sydney, Australia, after the end of World War II. On 15 August 1945, a reporter took note of a man's joyful expression and dance and asked him to do it again. The man consented and was caught on motion picture film in an Australian edition of the newsreel Movietone News. The film and stills from it have taken on iconic status in Australian history and culture, and symbolise victory in the war. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dancing_Man
1946: First photo taken from space
1947: Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa, and David Seymour start the photographer-owned Magnum picture agency; Dennis Gabor invents holography; Edgerton develops the Rapatronic camera for the U.S. government; Kwanon is renamed Canon Camera Co., Inc
1948: Hasselblad in Sweden offers its first medium-format SLR for commercial sale; Pentax in Japan introduces the automatic diaphragm; Edwin H. Land introduces the first Polaroid instant image camera; Polaroid sells instant black and white film
1949: East German Zeiss develops the Contax S, first SLR with an un-reversed image in a pentaprism viewfinder
1950: Kodak introduces a new multi-layered film stock in which emulsions sensitive to red, green, and blue are bonded together on a single roll; patented as Eastmancolor. Polaroid introduces a "electric eye shutter" that will automatically select shutter speeds 1/10 +1/1000 for fixed F5.4 lens. They also contract US Time Corp to produce Polaroid Land Cameras.
1951: Bing Crosby Laboratories introduced the video tape recorder which recorded electrical impulses on magnetic tape.
1952: Asahiflex I (Pentax) is the first Japanese 35mm SLR (Single Lens Reflex) camera. It has a cloth curtain focal plain shutter and shutter speeds range from 1/20 to 1/500 sec. (plus Bulb); The 3-D film craze begins with Bwana Devil, a low-budget polarized 3-D film, premieres in late November and starts a brief 3-D craze that begins in earnest in 1953 and fades away during 1954.
1953: Hasselblad release the 1000F
1954: Until the introduction of the Asahiflex II, professional photographers prefer 35mm rangefinder cameras over SLRs. One of the main reason that SLR cameras do not yet gain popularity is because of the "mirror blackout" problem. When the shutter release is pressed, the mirror swings up to allow the film to capture the image. The mirror remains in this up position and has to be manually brought down. This "lag" means that rapid shooting is not possible with a SLR. The Asahiflex II has the world's first instant return mirror system. Soon, all SLRs also have one, and the popularity of SLRs among professional photographers soars; Leica M Introduced; Hasselblad 1000F mated to the ground breaking new 38 mm Biogon lens designed by Dr. Bertele of Zeiss to produce the SWA (Super Wide Angle), promoted at Photokina that year. Kodak Tri-X 400 first introduced. A fast black and white film with relatively fine grain that became the favourite for photojournalists and reportage photographers throughout the world.
1955: Edward Steichen curates Family of Man exhibit at New York's Museum of Modern Art
1956: Anne Geddes is born in Queensland, Australia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Geddes
1957: Pentax with the use of a pentaprism in the viewfinder of the Asahi Pentax SLR. Before that, you held your camera at waist level and looked straight down into an open viewfinder. The pentaprism allows eye-level viewing and provides an upright and laterally correct image. It is also the first time that the name Pentax (PENTAprism refleX) is used on a camera; 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); Hasselblad release the 500C which influences their cameras for the next 40 years
1958: Edward Weston dies at age 71, he had used large format cameras with small apertures to create a new aesthetic. The Trinidad Island UFO photographic case which was observed by 47 witnesses; Mr. Baruana took 6 photos at f/8 1/125 of the UFO that was estimated to be moving at 600 -700kph the photos were declared authentic by the Brazilian Navy.
1959: Pentax K released with a semi-automatic diaphragm; Nikon F introduced. AGFA introduces the first fully automatic camera, the Optima.
1960: Garry Winogrand begins photographing women on the streets of New York City. EG&G develops extreme depth underwater camera for U.S. Navy.
1961: Canon creates an outstanding Rangefinder camera, the Canon 7, and the Canon lens 50mm 10.95 in a special bayonet mount
1962: NASA began to use Hasselblad cameras on space flights
1963: First color instant film developed by Polaroid; Instamatic released by Kodak; first purpose-built underwater introduced, the Nikonos. Lewis Morley takes his iconic image of Christine Keeler http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:CKeeler1.jpg. Cibachrome (a dye destruction positive-to-positive photographic process), now known as Ilfochrome, was first marketed by Ciba-Geigy Corporation of Switzerland.
1964: Pentax Spotmatic with the world's first TTL (through-the-lens) exposure metering system. Instead of using their separate exposure meters to take light readings, then dialing the settings into their cameras, photographers can now let the camera's internal exposure meter take the reading through the lens (i.e. using the same light that is going to strike the film)
1965: Introduction of Super 8, a new amateur format, Kodak Instamatic M2 known as the "Brick" the M2 is an example of an inexpensive Super 8 movie camera. Canon release the first SLR with a stationary mirror, the Pelix, copied by Sony in the A55 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canon_Pellix)
1966: The world's first view of Earth taken by a spacecraft from the vicinity of the Moon. The photo was transmitted to Earth by the United States Lunar Orbiter I and received at the NASA tracking station at Robledo De Chavela near Madrid, Spain.
1967: Sony introduces the first portable VTR, the DV-2400
1968: Hasselblad 500EL electric cameras were used for the first time on Apollo 8
1969: Three Hasselblad 500EL cameras were carried on Apollo 11. Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith invented the first successful imaging technology using a digital sensor, a CCD (Charge-Coupled Device). The CCD technology makes use of the photoelectric effect, as theorised by Albert Einstein and for which he was awarded the 1921 year's Nobel Prize. By this effect, light is transformed into electric signals. The challenge when designing an image sensor was to gather and read out the signals in a large number of image points, pixels, in a short time. Asahi Pentax releases the Asahi Pentax 67. A medium format camera shooting 6x7 format on 120/200 roll films. Modelled on a 35mm SLR only bigger. Like a 35mm SLR on steroids.
1970: William Wegman begins photographing his Weimaraner, Man Ray.
1971: the Pentax ES SLR camera, the world's first SLR camera with a TTL aperture-priority AE control was introduced. Pentax also introduced the Super-Multi Coating (SMC) system for the Asahi Optical Takumar lens series; Canon release the F-1, a top-end SLR (Single Lens Reflex) camera, and FD lenses are introduced
1972: 110-format cameras introduced by Kodak with a 13x17mm frame. Texas Instruments patented a film-less electronic camera
1973: C-41 color negative process introduced, replacing C-22. Polaroid introduces one-step instant photography with the SX-70 camera.
1974: Anne Geddes starts taking photographs
1975: Nicholas Nixon takes his first annual photograph of his wife and her sisters: "The Brown Sisters"; Steve Sasson at Kodak builds the first working CCD-based digital still camera
1976: First solo show of colour photographs at the Museum of Modern Art, William Eggleston's Guide; Victor Hasselblad sold Hasselblad AB to a Swedish investment company, Säfveån AB. When he died in 1978, he left much of his fortune to the Hasselblad Foundation
1977: Cindy Sherman begins work on Untitled Film Stills, completed in 1980; Jan Groover begins exploring kitchen utensils. George Eastman and Edwin Land inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
1978: Hiroshi Sugimoto begins work on seascapes.
1979: Nikon EM was intended to compete in the price range of the Canon AE-1 and Olympus OM-10.
1980: Elsa Dorfman begins making portraits with the 20x24" Polaroid. Nikon releases the Nikon F3; Nikon's first electronic professional camera with semi automatic mode, aperture priority. Also the first Nikon camera to feature the famous red stripe still seen today. Styled by Italian designer Giorgetto Giugiaro who made is name designing cars especially Ferrari, Alfa Romeo and Maserati.
1981: Pentax introduced the first through-the-lens autofocus camera, the Pentax ME-F. Sony demonstrates Mavica "still video" camera.
1982: Ken Duncan leaves Sydney to travel Australia and to photograph its famed landscapes. In five years he produced more than 80,000 images. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Duncan
1983: Kodak introduces disk camera, using an 8x11mm frame (the same as in the Minox spy camera)
1984: Pentax produced the world's first multi-mode medium format camera the Pentax 645
1985: Steve McCurry takes and publishes the Afghan Girl (http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2002/04/afghan-girl/index-text), and unknown 12yo subject until she was formally identified in early 2002; Minolta markets the world's first autofocus SLR system (called "Maxxum" in the US); In the American West by Richard Avedon is published
1986: The TIFF format is defined by Aldus (later acquired by Adobe). Kodak scientists invented the world's first megapixel sensor, capable of recording 1.4 million pixels that could produce a 5x7-inch digital photo-quality print
1987: Pentax introduced the SF-1 an autofocus camera with the world's first AF SLR with a built-in auto flash; The popular Canon EOS system introduced, with new all-electronic lens mount, CompuServe define the GIF standard
1988: Sally Mann begins publishing nude photos of her children. Anne Geddes’ image of Gemma, a little girl standing in a tutu, taken in her Melbourne garage studio, became her first published photograph
1989: Konica’s Kanpai was the world's first voice activated camera and would automatically swivel on its built-in tripod to take snapshots wherever it heard a burst of sound like laughter or cheers. The original 1989 model was red, later models were black.
1990: Adobe Photoshop released. Eastman Kodak announces Photo CD as a digital image storage medium.
1991: Kodak DCS-100, first digital SLR, a modified Nikon F3
1992: Max Dupain dies http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Dupain. JPEG standard defined.
1993: Sebastiao Salgado publishes Workers; Mary Ellen Mark publishes book documenting life in an Indian circus
1994: SanDisk specify and produce CompactFlash (CF) cards. The new head of Eastman Kodak, George M.C. Fisher, announced a major shift in the industry giant’s direction: Kodak would sell its diversified non-photographic operations and concentrate only on photography in both its traditional chemical-based and emerging electronic aspects.
1995: Material World, by Peter Menzel published; Spencer Kimball and Peter Mattis, began developing GIMP in 1995 as a semester-long project at the University of California, Berkeley
1996: Hasselblad was sold, with the new owners being UBS, Cinven, and the Hasselblad management; The first public release of GIMP (0.54) was made in January. PNG format defined as an open standard to replace GIF.
1997: Rob Silvers publishes Photomosaics
1998: ISO standard 12232:1998 is released 'Photography -- Electronic still-picture cameras -- Determination of ISO speed'. Kenwood VC-H1 combined an image-scan converter, CCD camera and LCD monitor into a single battery-operated unit. It could be connected to a transceiver to send and receive color images over the air.
1999: Nikon D1 SLR, 2.74 megapixel for $6000, first ground-up DSLR design by a leading manufacturer; SanDisk, Matsushita, and Toshiba first agreed to develop and market the SD (Secure Digital) Memory Card. Asahi Optical Co., Ltd., PENTAX Corporation's parent company, celebrates its 80th Anniversary
2000: Camera phone introduced in Japan by Sharp/J-Phone
2001: Polaroid goes bankrupt and reorganises under Chapter 11 provisions; Canon release the 1D
2002: Nikon release the D100; The Afghan Girl identified as Sharbat Gula and re-photographed by Steve McCurry for National Geographic. Introduction of the Foveon sensor. Canon 1Ds, the first 35mm sensor professional DSLR.
2003: Four-Thirds standard for compact digital SLRs introduced with the Olympus E-1; Canon Digital Rebel introduced for less than $1000. Pentax introduce the *ist D; Nikon releases the D90, the first DSLR to shoot HD video
2004: Kodak ceases production of film cameras, this event signifies a consumer quantum jump from film to digital; Eastman Kodak Company is removed from the Dow Jones Industrial Average index on April 8, having been listed for the past 74 years
2005: Canon EOS 5D, first consumer-priced 35mm digital SLR, with a 24x36mm CMOS sensor for $3000. AgfaPhoto files for bankruptcy. Production of Agfa brand consumer films ends.
2006: Sony absorb Konica/Minolta; Dalsa produces 111 megapixel CCD sensor, the highest resolution at its time. www.AusPhotography.net.au (http://www.AusPhotography.net.au) founded. Pentax go back to the K naming standard releasing the K10D and K100D
2007: Adobe release Lightroom, Nikon release D40X and D300, Canon 1Ds Mk III. Rick takes over www.AusPhotography.net.au (http://www.AusPhotography.net.au).
2008: Apple release the iPhone 3g with camera; Canon Release the 5D mk II; Pentax release the K20D, K200D and K-m; Polaroid announces it is discontinuing the production of all instant film products, citing the rise of digital imaging technology. Panasonic Lumix G1, the first DSLM camera (where M is for 'mirrorless'). Steve Parish awarded an OA http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Parish October The Impossible Project saved the last Polaroid production plant for integral instant film in Enschede (NL) and started to invent and produce totally new instant film materials for traditional Polaroid cameras.
2009: Kodak cease production of Kodachrome film, this is a significant milestone in the global transition to digital photography; In January, Kodak post a quarterly loss and plan to cut up to 4,500 jobs; Leica introduce the M9, the first 24x36mm rangefinder camera; Pentax release the K-7 & K-x both with HD video; Nikon release the D300s & D3s both with HD video; Canon release the 7D with HD video; Sony release the A850; Technology convergence is significant with the availability of HD video on DSLR cameras and advances in phone camera technologies; Patriarch Partners LLC won an auction for Polaroid Corporation's assets including the company's name, intellectual property, and photography collection. November www.AusPhotography.net.au (http://www.AusPhotography.net.au) introduces an automated competition system, a first for photography forums.
2010: Pentax release the 645D 40Mpx medium format DSLR, a first for the big 5 (CNPSO); Adobe release Photoshop CS5 and Lightroom V3; Polaroid partner with Lady Gaga, appointing her as Creative Director for the company; Sony release the A55 with fixed, pellicle-type semi-translucent mirror, Electronic viewfinder with 1.44 million dot resolution; Canon announce an APS-H CMOS 120Mpx sensor. Many new models released by manufacturers inc. Pentax K-r, K-5; Nikon D7000; Canon 60D; Sony A55, A33. In Japan 40% of new camera sales are EVIL technology. The last Kodachrome processing shop stops. (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/30/us/30film.html?_r=1)
2011: Sigma release the 15.4MP SD1 with Foveon Sensor. Pentax are acquired by Ricoh. Pentax release the Q camera. Hasselblad are acquired by Ventizz Capital Fund. AusPhotography relocates to a dedicated virtual server. Kodak plan to restructure and put patents up for sale, also sue Apple and others re: phone cameras. Nikon release the 1 series EVIL cameras. Various camera and computer manufacturers are affected by various natural disasters including the Japansese earthquake, tsunami & consequential Fukushima nuclear incident, and Thailand floods.
2012: Nikon release the D4 and D800; the 75th million Nikkor lens is shipped. Canon release 5DmkIII; 1D X; 6D. Pentax Release K-01 APS-C mirrorless K mount camera; K5II/s. January 19, 2012, Eastman Kodak Company and its U.S. subsidiaries filed voluntary petitions for Chapter 11. Apple & Google partner in a bidding war for Kodak patents. Canon release the EOS-1D C. Leica announces 'M' 24MP live view full-frame CMOS rangefinder with movies.
2013: Pentax announces the HD Pextax DA 560mm F5.6 ED AW. Nikkor Celebrates its 80th Anniversary. Nikkor 800mm f/5.6E FL ED VR released. Steve McCurry published the last roll of Kodachrome (http://stevemccurry.com/galleries/last-roll-kodachrome). Kodak Ends Production Of Acetate Film Base (http://rochesterhomepage.net/fulltext?nxd_id=394722) Kodak exit Chapter 11 in a restructured form and relist on the NYSE. Ricoh/Pentax release the K-3 (http://news.ricoh-imaging.co.jp/rim_info2/2013/20131008_004194.html) the first DSLR with an in-camera switchable micro-vibrate anti-aliasing filter.
2014: Pentax release the 645z 51Mpx CMOS (http://www.us.ricoh-imaging.com/645z/) Medium Format camera. Panasonic Lumix GH4, the first still photography camera with 4k video
2015: Dedicated camera sales decline primarily due to improved smart device cameras and the diminishing level of improvement between camera models.
2016: Pentax introduce the K-1 FF/35mm 36Mpx camera with GPS, Wi-Fi, 5 Axis 5 stops in body stabilisation, astro-tracer, pixel shift HD images, and other advanced features.
2017: Who knows?


The first photograph, by Nicéphore Niépce, from 1826. 'View from a window at Le Gras'. The first time an image had been permanently created.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5c/View_from_the_Window_at_Le_Gras%2C_Joseph_Nic%C3%A9phore_Ni%C3%A9pce.jpg/800px-View_from_the_Window_at_Le_Gras%2C_Joseph_Nic%C3%A9phore_Ni%C3%A9pce.jpg

Boulevard du Temple, Paris, IIIe arrondissement, Daguerreotype. The purportedly first picture of a living person. The image shows a busy street, but due to exposure time of more than ten minutes, the traffic was moving too much to appear.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d3/Boulevard_du_Temple_by_Daguerre.jpg/800px-Boulevard_du_Temple_by_Daguerre.jpg

The first colour photograph: Tartan Ribbon, taken by James Clerk Maxwell in 1861 (public domain)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/Tartan_Ribbon.jpg

One of the first scanned image: (Public domain image) Produced by NIST in 1957, the image shows Walden Kirsch, son of the leader of the team that developed the image scanner. This is a composite of two binary scans to produce approximate gray levels.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1a/NBSFirstScanImage.jpg

The first recorded attempt at building a digital camera was in 1975 by Steven Sasson, an engineer at Eastman Kodak. It used the then-new solid-state CCD image sensor chips developed by Fairchild Semiconductor in 1973. The camera weighed 3.6 kg, recorded black and white images to a compact cassette tape, had a resolution of 0.01 megapixels (10,000 pixels), and took 23 seconds to capture its first image in December 1975. The prototype camera was a technical exercise, not intended for production.
http://www.ausphotography.net.au/staff/technical/First%20Digital%20Camera_0001%20copy.jpg

Some images are from Wikipedia -- see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page for license information

Other history links

A History of Photography from its Beginnings Till the 1920s by Dr. Robert Leggat, now hosted by Dr Michael Prichard (http://www.mpritchard.com/photohistory/)
History of photography, by J. Monge-Najera, University of Costa Rica (http://www.tropinature.com/photohist/)
The First Photograph] at The University of Texas at Austin (http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/exhibitions/permanent/wfp/)
Photo Histories, the photographers' history of photography (http://www.photohistories.com/)
The Photo History Timeline Collection (http://www.photohistorytimeline.com/)
Niepce Museum (http://www.niepce-letters-and-documents.com)
Yosemite's First Photographers (http://www.undiscovered-yosemite.com/yosemite-photographers.html)


A nifty video...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoxGEymA8ro

hoffy
21-10-2008, 8:16pm
Good stuff.

I know I harp on about it, but everyone must watch "The Genius of Photography" at least once. It might be a bit artsy for some (very heavily leaning towards the artistic side of photography), but it does give a good insight into the direction that photography has taken

Harves
21-10-2008, 8:19pm
That's a great history of photography Rick, we have come a long way over the years. I wonder what technology will be like in another 50 years.

ShowTiyme
21-10-2008, 8:20pm
Good stuff.

I know I harp on about it, but everyone must watch "The Genius of Photography" at least once. It might be a bit artsy for some (very heavily leaning towards the artistic side of photography), but it does give a good insight into the direction that photography has taken

This was on Foxtel a couple of nights ago. Is it a series because it talked mainly about photographers from the war? I did only catch part of it though.

hoffy
21-10-2008, 8:31pm
This was on Foxtel a couple of nights ago. Is it a series because it talked mainly about photographers from the war? I did only catch part of it though.

yes, I think its 4 or 5 parts

Nanny
21-10-2008, 8:40pm
Thanks for putting this up Rick

Barchboy
21-10-2008, 10:06pm
this has not been referenced rick is it all your own work?

Ronbo
21-10-2008, 11:18pm
Thanks for posting this Rick..very interesting.

I agree would be interested in the reference as well

ricktas
22-10-2008, 5:20am
this has not been referenced rick is it all your own work?

You will notice the sentence "I re-produce this here". I am not aware of who originally compiled it, so cannot give them credit.

Bear Dale
25-08-2009, 4:47pm
I hadn't seen this sticky before.

Twas a great read!

mhb
01-10-2009, 5:58pm
Good list. For those interested in History of Photography, Jeff Curto's course is published on the net. Check out

http://photohistory.jeffcurto.com/about
http://photohistory.jeffcurto.com/

Well worth a listen. And the supporting material is fantastic.

Mark

Kym
15-10-2009, 11:43am
Thread updated with more information both old and new, plus additional interesting Public Domain images.

Three things that stand out to me are how far we have come in such a short time.
1826: Niépce creates a permanent image
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)
1999: Nikon D1 SLR, 2.74 megapixel for $6000, first ground-up DSLR design by a leading manufacturer

And today we had HD Video on a DSLR; it is amazing to see the acceleration of photographic technology.

Miaow
15-10-2009, 12:39pm
Great info there :)

Arun Gaur
07-12-2009, 5:52pm
The information is very concisely and precisely presented. Thanks for the list.
Arun Gaur

doigal
10-12-2009, 11:11pm
* 2008: Polaroid announces it is discontinuing the production of all instant film products, citing the rise of digital imaging technology

No mention of the impossible film project??

JayR
18-04-2010, 2:05pm
Its nice to know that although a much smaller company than they once used to be, Pentax had a pretty big role in the history of SLR photography. They might get a little poo-poo'ed these days by the doninant Canikon subscribers, but I like where they are...

Im quite intrigued to see how the 645D will fare, could have quite an impact on the full frame Canon/Nikon pro market at the current price bracket.

Jhpomyzen
01-05-2010, 10:43am
Its nice to know that although a much smaller company than they once used to be, Pentax had a pretty big role in the history of SLR photography. They might get a little poo-poo'ed these days by the doninant Canikon subscribers, but I like where they are...

Im quite intrigued to see how the 645D will fare, could have quite an impact on the full frame Canon/Nikon pro market at the current price bracket.
Hi Jayr,
A friend of mine is totally behind his Pentax camera. I agree it is a very good buy. Unfortunately there are a lot of us like myself who stick with Nikon because of the use of lenses one to another model. That is where the cost gets a little large. Changing Lens types to each camera. As much as I would like a change My D60 will have to do for now along with my F4 and 401Qs.
All the best with your Pentax
JH

andrask
05-05-2010, 3:45pm
Good stuff.

I know I harp on about it, but everyone must watch "The Genius of Photography" at least once. It might be a bit artsy for some (very heavily leaning towards the artistic side of photography), but it does give a good insight into the direction that photography has taken

I can endorse this - the six part series (http://www.bbc.co.uk/photography/genius/gallery/index.shtml) has been aired at least twice on ABCTV. The first two episodes should interest every photographer - I also find the art photography bias fascinating and insightful.

BTW for those in Melbourne, the National Gallery of Victoria (the 'International' in St Kilda Rd) has a special photography exhibition space on the top floor with much emphasis on historical aspects. Notable past exhibits include the earliest travel photos and one on Alfred Stieglitz (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Stieglitz) and his colleagues.

Kym
14-05-2010, 2:16pm
I've updated the list with various items.
If you know of something that should be added please let us know.
It would be nice to have at least one entry for each year since 1900.

JayR
22-05-2010, 11:29am
Hi Jayr,
A friend of mine is totally behind his Pentax camera. I agree it is a very good buy. Unfortunately there are a lot of us like myself who stick with Nikon because of the use of lenses one to another model. That is where the cost gets a little large. Changing Lens types to each camera. As much as I would like a change My D60 will have to do for now along with my F4 and 401Qs.
All the best with your Pentax
JH


cheers
i think thats what i like even more about the pentax - cheaper lenses for the same comparitive quality level, pretty much total backwards compatibility with older lenses (unlike Canon pre-EOS lenses and apparently a lot of Nikon?) and i like the idea of 'pushing' myself to use primes more - the pentax primes are pretty legendary! (and ive been getting hold of the best of them)

Kym
13-08-2010, 2:05pm
I added
1985: Steve McCurry takes and publishes the Afghan Girl, and unknown 12yo subject until she was formally identified in early 2002
etc.

Any more items for the 'missing' years?

broomage
25-08-2010, 8:50am
Worth a look at is the Alfred Stieglitz exhibition currently on at the Art Gallery of NSW in Sydney. Based around his Lake George years but covers his earlier period as well, with some real classics in there. Well worth the $10 entry, especially if you time it for 1pm when they have a free guided talk. Very informative and very inspiring the beautiful images he was able to capture in the simplist of subjects.

Kym
20-10-2010, 10:38am
Please let us know of any significant events in the years 1900-2000 especially for years we don't have an entry for.

KarenC
20-10-2010, 12:54pm
1958 - Was the Trinidad Island UFO photographic case which was observed by 47 witnesses, Mr. Baruana took 6 photos at F8 1/125 of the UFO that was estimated to be moving at 600 -700kph the photos were declared authentic by the Brazilian Navy.
1958 - Edward Weston dies at age 71 he used large format cameras with small apertures to create a new aesthetic

KarenC
20-10-2010, 1:53pm
1903 - The inaugral issue of Camera Work dated January 1903 even though it mailed on 15th Dec 1902 and known for its many high quality photogravures was published by Arthur Stieglitz from 1903 - 1917

1904 - Edward Steichen began experimenting with colour photography and was one of the first to use Autochrome Lumiere in America.

Bally
20-10-2010, 6:46pm
See the attached link Pentax Auto 110 first and possibly only 110 cartridge film format SLR (Lenses still turn up and are great for reverse attachment for macro)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentax_Auto_110

jev
20-10-2010, 7:24pm
That's an interesting timeline!

Anyway, sony mavica was not 1982 - the prototype was unveiled august 25, 1981
1926: first underwater colorphoto (Charles Martin & W.H. Longley)
1946: first photo taken from space


Further more (not in the 20th century though):
1839: introduction of the word "photography" (Sir John F.W. Herschel)
2002: introduction of the foveon sensor

TOM
20-10-2010, 7:56pm
2009: Leica introduce the M9, the first 24x36mm rangefinder camera.

magrose
20-10-2010, 7:57pm
When in England we visited Laycock Abbey and although not permitted to take pictures inside I was given permission to take this window which is the one Henry Fox Talbot used in producing his negative.
http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad312/figaro_49/PA060152.jpg
Not a wonderful shot but taken with my old Olympus P & S.

KarenC
21-10-2010, 9:52am
1908 - Kinemacolour, a two colour process that is the first commercial "natural colour" system for movies in introduced.

1922 - Kodak introduces 16mm reversal film on cellulose acetate base.

Kym
21-10-2010, 10:01am
Thanks! Updated above and keep them coming!

TOM
21-10-2010, 11:26am
1932: Henri Cartier-Bresson captures his most famous image, Behind the Gare St. Lazare, which is widely considered the greatest photo of the 20th Century.

KarenC
21-10-2010, 1:05pm
1910 - James (Frank) Hurley who was recognised as a pioneer in Polar photography and embellished images to maximise visual impact by way of composite printing, mounted his first exhibition in Sydney.

1915 - 68 aerial photographs of Gallipoli are taken when aerial photography was still very experimental.

1927 - The 79 year old Associated Press launches a photo service, however pictures are delivered by rail or in rare cases by air.
Portfolio of work "Parmellian Prints of the High Sierra" by Ansell Adams is produced, the work imitates impressionist painting with soft misty effects that suppress detail.

Nikolas
21-10-2010, 5:25pm
The photographs of Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863-1944) offer a vivid portrait of a lost world--the Russian Empire on the eve of World War I and the coming revolution. His subjects ranged from the medieval churches and monasteries of old Russia, to the railroads and factories of an emerging industrial power, to the daily life and work of Russia's diverse population.

In the early 1900s Prokudin-Gorskii formulated an ambitious plan for a photographic survey of the Russian Empire that won the support of Tsar Nicholas II. Between 1909-1912, and again in 1915, he completed surveys of eleven regions, traveling in a specially equipped railroad car provided by the Ministry of Transportation.

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/empire/gorskii.html

Boo53
21-10-2010, 7:00pm
"In 1969 Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith invented the first successful imaging technology using a digital sensor, a CCD (Charge-Coupled Device). The CCD technology makes use of the photoelectric effect, as theorized by Albert Einstein and for which he was awarded the 1921 year's Nobel Prize. By this effect, light is transformed into electric signals. The challenge when designing an image sensor was to gather and read out the signals in a large number of image points, pixels, in a short time.

The CCD is the digital camera's electronic eye. It revolutionized photography, as light could now be captured electronically instead of on film. The digital form facilitates the processing and distribution of these images. CCD technology is also used in many medical applications, e.g. imaging the inside of the human body, both for diagnostics and for microsurgery."

Boyle and Smith were awarded the nobel prize in physics for their invention in 2009

http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2009/press.html

Lance B
21-10-2010, 9:07pm
When in England we visited Laycock Abbey and although not permitted to take pictures inside I was given permission to take this window which is the one Henry Fox Talbot used in producing his negative.
http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad312/figaro_49/PA060152.jpg
Not a wonderful shot but taken with my old Olympus P & S.

We did the same in July this year and I took a photo of the display at Lacock Abbey - parts of which were used in Harry Potter - and also the window made famous by Henry Fox Talbot. When we were there, there were absolutely no restrictions of photography and we could snap away until our hearts content - my gallery of Lacock and Lacock Abbey here: http://www.pbase.com/lance_b/broadway


http://www.pbase.com/lance_b/image/127775672/original.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/lance_b/image/127775531/original.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/lance_b/image/127775497/original.jpg

nouveau1
22-10-2010, 10:49am
Hi Kym,
Around the turn of the century, through WW1 and on to the 20's/30's Albert Khan funded photographers (using autochromes) to travel the world and record people's lives (and the war). In a very rapidly changing world he wanted to record the old ways of life before they disappeared. I saw some of these extraordinary images at the museum in Paris, and they are extraordinary! - There was a doco on TV recently which touched on this - I don't know how to fit this into the timeline format in the thread, but it's definitely one of the most significant photographic projects of the 20th century. If you have some suggestions on what you'd like, I will try and dig up some background.
Cheers,
Rick

KarenC
22-10-2010, 1:33pm
1929 - Eastman Kodak introduces 16mm film with motion picture camera and projectors for home use

1930 - Flashbulbs were patented by Johannes Ostermeier, they had aluminum foil in place of magnesium. Similar bulbs were introduced 7 weeks earlier by General Electric.

[ kane ]
22-10-2010, 3:26pm
I was born in 1982 ;)
I'll tihnk of some more... jsut need some time.....

Boo53
22-10-2010, 4:12pm
;706229']I was born in 1982 ;)..

Barely out of nappies then :D

Kym
22-10-2010, 7:02pm
Looks like we have an entry for every year since 1900!! Please feel free to suggest more

yogestee
24-10-2010, 12:51am
1954 - Kodak Tri-X 400 first introduced..

A fast black and white film with relatively fine grain that became the favourite for photojournalists and reportage photographers throughout the world.

Remains relatively unchanged until today.

yogestee
24-10-2010, 1:03am
1969 - Asahi Pentax releases the Asahi Pentax 67.

A medium format camera shoooting 6x7 format on 120/200 roll films. Modelled on a 35mm SLR only bigger. Like a 35mm SLR on steroids.

Ionica
24-10-2010, 9:38am
1844 - Friedrich von Martens built a camera containing a swivelling lens that could take a panorama over an arc of 150 degrees.

1856 - John B. Dancer, an English optical instrument maker, patented a device that took two pictures simultaneously, through two lenses set slightly apart.

KarenC
24-10-2010, 11:57am
1950 - Polaroid introduces a "electric eye shutter" that will automatically select shutter speeds 1/10 +1/1000 for fixed F5.4 lens. They also contract US Time Corp to produce Polaroid Land Cameras.

yogestee
24-10-2010, 12:30pm
1980 - Nikon releases the Nikon F3.

Nikon's first electronic professional camera with semi automatic mode, aperture priority. Also the first Nikon camera to feature the famous red stripe still seen today. Styled by Italian designer Giorgetto Giugiaro who made is name designing cars especially Ferrari, Alfa Romeo and Maserati.

rafikicat
26-10-2010, 10:25am
Slightly lateral but if you are in Melbourne, the Australian Centre for the Moving Image is well worth a couple of hours.

OzzieTraveller
27-10-2010, 9:25am
G'day all ~ thanks for putting it al ltogether too

I have a soft spot for Frank Hurley. When I can get to his books I will verify ... but I think he was the 1st to use colour in wartime - to record WW-1
He was one of 8 (I think) WW-I photographers covering the Great War - 7 British + Hurley. After the war, the 7 others were knighted for their efforts. Hurley was sent home: as a 'colonial' he was not deemed 'worthy' of any awards

Regards, Phil

nouveau1
27-10-2010, 9:36am
G'day all ~ thanks for putting it al ltogether too

I have a soft spot for Frank Hurley. When I can get to his books I will verify ... but I think he was the 1st to use colour in wartime - to record WW-1
He was one of 8 (I think) WW-I photographers covering the Great War - 7 British + Hurley. After the war, the 7 others were knighted for their efforts. Hurley was sent home: as a 'colonial' he was not deemed 'worthy' of any awards

Regards, Phil

Hi Phil, thanks for the tip, I'll check it out. Thought you might be interested that some of Albert Khan's photographers used Lumiere autochrome in WW1, (but don't know who was first); anyway, some extraordinary images if you ever get the chance.

Kym
27-10-2010, 9:53am
I've put http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Hurley entries in for 1902 and 1917

Bilgola
28-10-2010, 4:36pm
As a newbie to this forum I have to say you have done a great job on the history. I thought I might be able to contribute "The Family of Man" exhibition in 1955 but you already have it. You may not know that the book of the exhibition is still available, or it was in 1994. Attached is a copy of the cover, (ISBN-0671-55411-5, Published by the Museum of Modern Art, New York, Distributed by Simon and Schuster). I saw the exhibition in England as a 15 year old and it amazed me, even then I recognised the brilliance of those photographers. All monochrome of course mostly shot on 35mm and blown up to unbelievably large sizes and technically and artistically perfect.

Keep up the good work, Mike

Kym
05-11-2010, 8:31am
Added 1838: Boulevard du Temple, Paris, Ille arrondissement, Daguerreotype. The purportedly first picture of a living person.

Kym
31-12-2010, 7:42am
Late 2010 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/30/us/30film.html?_r=1


For Kodachrome Fans, Road Ends at Photo Lab in Kansas

PARSONS, Kan. — An unlikely pilgrimage is under way to Dwayne’s Photo, a small family business that has through luck and persistence become the last processor in the world of Kodachrome, the first successful color film and still the most beloved.
Dwayne’s Photo, in Parsons, Kan., will be processing the final rolls of it Thursday.

That celebrated 75-year run from mainstream to niche photography is scheduled to come to an end on Thursday when the last processing machine is shut down here to be sold for scrap.

In the last weeks, dozens of visitors and thousands of overnight packages have raced here, transforming this small prairie-bound city not far from the Oklahoma border for a brief time into a center of nostalgia for the days when photographs appeared not in the sterile frame of a computer screen or in a pack of flimsy prints from the local drugstore but in the warm glow of a projector pulling an image from a carousel of vivid slides.

Interesting end to 2010.

Bennymiata
18-02-2011, 3:40pm
1967(?) Canon release the first SLR with a stationary mirror, the Pelix, now copied by Sony.

TOM
18-02-2011, 4:15pm
1933: Canon release their first rangefinder camera, the Canon RF, which was a Leica replica or copy, and generally accomodated a Nikkor 50mm lens.

TOM
18-02-2011, 4:20pm
Added 1838: Boulevard du Temple, Paris, Ille arrondissement, Daguerreotype. The purportedly first picture of a living person.

and have you ever seen a portrait that looks as stunning as a Dageurreotype? :th3:

Othrelos
09-05-2011, 8:41pm
In 1966 - Leica introduced the Leica Noctilux-M 50mm f/1.2 ASPH - Interestingly canon beat Leica by producing their M39 screwmount 50mm f/1.2 in 1957, What made the leica lens so exceptional at the time was that it was the first to use mass-produced hand-ground aspherical lens with two aspherical surfaces, which gave it a considerable advantage in optical performance over the canon lens. Canon held onto it's title of producer of the worlds fastest production 50mm lens they eventually produced the 50mm f/0.95 in 1961 which had a special mounting bayonet for the Canon 7s - five years before the Noctilux-M 50mm f/1.2 ASPH was produced. However the popularity of the canon 7s(z) rangefinder cameras waned with the growing popularity of SLR cameras which canon was also making at the time, and in the end, when the bottom completely fell out of the rangefinder market Leica was left standing almost completely alone in it's arena. In 1976 the Leica Noctilux-M 50mm f/1.0 was released which was to the dismay of many leica aficionados; not an aspherical design. The new noctilux was given the cold shoulder by many leicaphiles due to this perceived shortcoming and demand for the older aspherical 50mm f/1.2 was very high (good luck finding one these days) The Noctilux-M 50mm f/1.0 became known for an effect that became known as the famous leica "glow" - (which was actually caused by carefully controlled spherical abberation) it is only in fairly recent history where Leica introduced the Noctilux-M 50mm f/0.95 ASPH in 2008 - but strangely enough demand for the "classic" noctilux-M 50mm f/1.0 hasn't waned at all in fact, it has increased because of it's special optical characteristics. The Noctilux-M 50mm f/0.95 is currently the fastest 35mm 50mm lens in production, but because of it's exorbitant price the noctilux remains a niche product.

Kym
27-07-2011, 10:10am
Any interesting items to add to 2011?

unistudent1962
14-01-2012, 10:14am
I think the imminent demise of Kodak, should it eventuate, will be a significant event in the history of photography.

From http://www.livemint.com/2012/01/12160004/Views--Kodak8217s-fatal-fl.html?h=B
”You press the button, we do the rest”.
"for most of the 20th century held a dominant position in photographic film and in 1976 had a 90% market share of photographic film sales in the US"
"Around six years ago, it introduced the ‘Kodak Picture Kiosk’"
"Kodak continued to be bullish about its ”traditional” business, which dealt with analogue cameras"
"It was surprising, since Kodak invented the digital camera in 1975 when one of its engineers developed a prototype that was as big as a toaster and captured black and white images."

Kym
14-01-2012, 10:25am
A significant historical note that I received via email about Leica during WWII:


The Leica is the pioneer 35mm camera. It is a German product - precise,
minimalist, and utterly efficient.

Behind its worldwide acceptance as a creative tool was a family-owned,
socially oriented firm that, during the Nazi era, acted with uncommon
grace, generosity and modesty. E. Leitz Inc., designer and manufacturer
of Germany 's most famous photographic product, saved its Jews.

And Ernst Leitz II, the steely-eyed Protestant patriarch who headed the
closely held firm as the Holocaust loomed across Europe , acted in such
a way as to earn the title, "the photography industry's Schindler."

As soon as Adolf Hitler was named chancellor of Germany in 1933, Ernst
Leitz II began receiving frantic calls from Jewish associates, asking
for his help in getting them and their families out of the country. As
Christians, Leitz and his family were immune to Nazi Germany's Nuremberg
laws, which restricted the movement of Jews and limited their professional
activities.

To help his Jewish workers and colleagues, Leitz quietly established
what has become known among historians of the Holocaust as "the Leica
Freedom Train," a covert means of allowing Jews to leave Germany in the
guise of Leitz employees being assigned overseas.

Employees, retailers, family members, even friends of family members
were "assigned" to Leitz sales offices in France , Britain , Hong Kong
and the United States

Leitz's activities intensified after the Kristallnacht of November 1938,
during which synagogues and Jewish shops were burned across Germany ..

Before long, German "employees" were disembarking from the ocean liner
Bremen at a New York pier and making their way to the Manhattan office
of Leitz Inc., where executives quickly found them jobs in the
photographic industry.

Each new arrival had around his or her neck the symbol of freedom - a
new Leica.

The refugees were paid a stipend until they could find work. Out of this
migration came designers, repair technicians, salespeople, marketers
and writers for the photographic press.


Keeping the story quiet

The "Leica Freedom Train" was at its height in 1938 and early 1939,
delivering groups of refugees to New York every few weeks. Then, with
the invasion of Poland on Sept. 1, 1939, Germany closed its borders.

By that time, hundreds of endangered Jews had escaped to America ,
thanks to the Leitzes' efforts. How did Ernst Leitz II and his staff get
away with it?

Leitz, Inc. was an internationally recognized brand that reflected
credit on the newly resurgent Reich. The company produced range-finders
and other optical systems for the German military. Also, the Nazi
government desperately needed hard currency from abroad, and Leitz's
single biggest market for optical goods was the United States .

Even so, members of the Leitz family and firm suffered for their good
works. A top executive, Alfred Turk, was jailed for working to help
Jews and freed only after the payment of a large bribe.

Leitz's daughter, Elsie Kuhn-Leitz, was imprisoned by the Gestapo after
she was caught at the border, helping Jewish women cross into
Switzerland . She eventually was freed but endured rough treatment in
the course of questioning. She also fell under suspicion when she attempted
to improve the living conditions of 700 to 800 Ukrainian slave
laborers, all of them women, who had been assigned to work in the plant
during the 1940s.

(After the war, Kuhn-Leitz received numerous honors for her
humanitarian efforts, among them the Officier d'honneur des Palms Academic
from France in 1965 and the Aristide Briand Medal from the European Academy
in the 1970s.)

Why has no one told this story until now? According to the late Norman
Lipton, a freelance writer and editor, the Leitz family wanted no
publicity for its heroic efforts. Only after the last member of the
Leitz family was dead did the "Leica Freedom Train" finally come to light.

It is now the subject of a book, "The Greatest Invention of the Leitz
Family: The Leica Freedom Train," by Frank Dabba Smith

Also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leica_Freedom_Train
http://www.amazon.com/greatest-invention-Leitz-family-freedom/dp/B0006RZDJA (Currently out of print)

Kym
01-04-2012, 6:46pm
I know the date but I added this for 1907 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pigeon_photography

Arg
06-04-2012, 2:16pm
Thought I would share this interesting photo from a recent New Scientist.


87667

The year is 1975.

The maker is Kodak, New York, USA.

It is the first portable digital camera. Laboratory prototype, not for sale.

Resolution 0.01MP (100x100 pixels).

Black and white only.

Chief engineer was Steve Sasson. Comment from colleagues: "Why would you want to look at photos on a TV?"

I love the writing on the cassette tape: "Digital Equipment Corporation". Anyone remember DEC computers?

Kym
18-12-2012, 12:53pm
Updated 2012 -- please post any other news items that might be worth while

ameerat42
18-12-2012, 1:35pm
My humble significant milepost:

June 2010: I use raw for the first time. :2appla::2appla:
Have done so since.

Kym
18-12-2012, 2:47pm
My humble significant milepost:
June 2010: I use raw for the first time. :2appla::2appla:
Have done so since.

Great!!! Ranks up there with other 2010 events like.... Pentax release the 645D 40Mpx medium format DSLR, a first for the big 5 (CNPSO) :p

Kym
12-02-2013, 12:14pm
Minor updates and 2013 opened up

Lurchorama
18-02-2013, 8:41am
One I just thought of...
2003: Nikon releases the D90, the first DSLR to shoot HD video
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/DSLR_Liveview.jpg

Image free to use from Wikipedia -- see Wikipedia license

Kym
14-06-2013, 8:56am
Kodak To End Production Of Acetate Film Base

http://rochesterhomepage.net/fulltext?nxd_id=394722

tonic
30-08-2013, 4:26pm
Good stuff.

I know I harp on about it, but everyone must watch "The Genius of Photography" at least once. It might be a bit artsy for some (very heavily leaning towards the artistic side of photography), but it does give a good insight into the direction that photography has taken

I realise that this post was dated back in 2008, but I have only become aware of the DVD this year when I received it as a birthday present from my partner.I completely agree with the above post. I found it so interesting and the interviews are great. I am sure i will be watching it more than once.

Toni

Kym
16-10-2013, 3:19pm
2013: Ricoh/Pentax release the K-3 (http://news.ricoh-imaging.co.jp/rim_info2/2013/20131008_004194.html) the first DSLR with an in-camera switchable micro-vibrate anti-aliasing filter.

Kym
30-10-2013, 8:59am
http://www.news.com.au/business/breaking-news/eastman-kodak-to-list-shares-on-nyse/story-e6frfkur-1226749465378

EASTMAN Kodak Co says it will list its common shares on the New York Stock Exchange and begin trading on Friday as the company's recovery continues. The Rochester, NY, photography and film pioneer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2012 after failing to cope with economic, industry and competitive challenges. It has since shed its debt, sold off assets and is trying to make a comeback as a smaller company focused on commercial and packaging printing.
Eastman Kodak's stock was cancelled in September as it emerged from bankruptcy. The company issued new shares that have been trading over the counter. Its stock will move to the New York Stock Exchange and trade under the symbol "KODK".

Mat
04-12-2013, 7:57pm
Nikon releases the Df styled like a film SLR and without video.

Mat
04-12-2013, 9:37pm
1962 Ricoh releases an auto Half Frame camera with a spring motor

ps. this was my first camera :D

livio
06-12-2013, 7:30am
I love this idea, what about the introduction of the light field photographic camera, this is the one where it not only records colour but the direction of light as it enters the camera, this is how you can post process and digitally refocus an image after it is taken. Might be a bit of a gimic but it is innovative,

Kind Regards
Livio

graemelee
08-12-2013, 4:51pm
Wow what a history.Great info Rick

Kym
20-06-2014, 1:05pm
So what are the highlights for the first 1/2 of 2014?
Pentax 645z 51Mpx MF is one [updated]

Arg
25-06-2014, 4:20pm
September 23rd, 2002: Canon 1Ds, the first full frame professional DSLR.

August 22nd, 2005: Canon 5D, the first full frame DSLR for amateur photographers.

September 12th, 2008: Panasonic Lumix G1, the first DSLM camera (where M is for 'mirrorless').

February 7th, 2014: Panasonic Lumix GH4, the first still photography camera with 4k video (which has its uses for still photography).

landyvlad
25-06-2014, 6:50pm
This threads rocks!

Arg
26-06-2014, 9:59am
1996: Epson Stylus Photo, the first inkjet printer specifically targeted for photographers.

ameerat42
26-06-2014, 2:21pm
1996: Epson Stylus Photo, the first inkjet printer specifically targeted for photographers.
1999: I bought an A3 version of it.

Arg
26-06-2014, 2:56pm
Interesting, I was using the Epson Global website, stating it was 'launched' in '96.... Maybe '99 was when it arrived in your region at the time?

Kym
06-05-2015, 8:33am
Time for an update... post anything of significance that should be added to the list

Kym
19-02-2016, 12:30pm
Thanks Scott Kelby on FB...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoxGEymA8ro

Kym
18-07-2016, 8:31pm
Pentax History http://www.pentax.com/en/pentaxhistory/course/