DigiCamHistory.Com is a non-profit, educational site provided for the free use of all digital camera enthusiasts.  Material on this site is provided for the free use of interested persons and we do not require that you obtain our permission to use any part of this site.  On the contrary, site operators in non-English speaking countries are encouraged to copy and translate site contents into their native language.   Unlike some similar sites, we provide reference URL links so that researchers can easily obtain additional information or photos of each of the items shown on our site.  Visitors, including manufacturers, are encouraged to submit topics or photos concerning the historical development of consumer digicams for inclusion on this site as well as  corrections, and/or additional information.  Please provide sources such as URLs that can be easily verified, or arrange to mail hard copies of articles, photocopies of book pages, etc.

R

email - Rodger L. Carter

 

Future of the DigiCamHistory.Com camera collection?
When we began the collection many years ago we naively assumed that a future organization or museum would be happy to obtain it for our out-of-pocket costs (now about $65K) and without renumeration for the thousands of hours spent researching and amassing the collection, especially as the original MSRPS of the items in the collection exceeds $1.4 million when adjusted for inflation.  In actuality, only one museum (located in England) has shown interest in the collection.  Mr.Winkleman, who is opening a digital photography exhibition in South Carolina, has given no indication that he wishes to have a digicam collection as part of his museum.

Since we humans have a limited lifespan, it will be necessary to eventually find a new home for the collection or leave it to our heirs who will most likely place it up for sale piecemeal on eBay thereby negating the years of effort spent building it, a collection which contains many rare and even unique items.  If you are aware of any organization that might be interested in obtaining such a collection for a fraction of its true cost, please have them contact us.  Unlike some others who have have purchased rare digicams over the years with a profit motive, it was never our intent to do so, but only to save early model digicams for the enjoyment of future generations.  All items in the collection are securely boxed and labeled with the name of the manufacturer, model number and date of marketing.  Individual cameras in the collection are shown on our site with the yellow icon, "Museum Collection".       

Our 20th Anniversary - 5 Sep 2001 - 5 Sep 2021

Now averaging more than a 5 million hits per year.

DigiCamHistory.Com Stats as of February 2022:

        (Updated from  February 2018)

Photos on Site - 2379
     (Up 252 from 2018)

Digicams Shown / Reported on - 566
    (New item since 2018)

Links to Other Sites - 1573
   (Up 377 from 2018)

Cameras in Collection - 568
    (Up 83 from 2018)

Technological Firsts Shown - 308
    (Up 161 from 2018)

Technological Firsts in Collection - 110
     (New item since 2018)

Spacecraft / Astronomical Imagers - 42
     (Courtesy of James Janesick)

Above figures do not include other equipment such as recorders/players,
projectors, etc., nor historical books, magazines and other collectible items.

Space Technology Donations

A total of 42 items have been donated by James R. Janesick from his personal collection of  astronomical and spacecraft vidicon tubes and CCD/CMOS imagers.    You can go directly to the Janesick extension page by clicking on the link above the Hubble Space Telescope shown near the top of this page.

  Jim was awarded the 2019  International Image Sensor Society Exceptional Lifetime Achievement Award for work done in field of solid-state image sensors, especially development of the Photon Transfer Curve which is recognized world-wide as "THE STANDARD" for characterizing image sensors.  He also has an asteroid named after him, 4558 Janesick, in honor of his contributions  to the development of CCDs for astronomy and  the education of astoromers  in use of  CCDs  for their work.

 
Thirty-seven of the items  sent by Jim have been placed in a shadow box and wall mounted - click on  photos to see large images.

Check this site out - www.digicammuseum.de - A must-visit site for those interested in digital camera collecting, camera repair and many other subjects.  Covers many topics not available on our own site.   Operated by Boris Jakubaschk with input by noted photographer Ralf Jannke and others .  It is a German site, but  available in various languages including English.  We give it a 10 out of 10 rating.  Once you visit there you will go back again and again. English: https://www-digicammuseum-de.translate.goog/?_x_tr_sl=de&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc

Want to buy a new camera? By far the best site for camera reviews, forums, etc. is DPReview at http://www.dpreview.com

The best technical site for digital camera historical information is the Digital Kamera Museum at: https://www.digitalkameramuseum.de

Click on images below to see attached photo albums

 Ohio Swim                   Man on the Moon                                  MX Underground Missile Test Project              ICBM Minuteman II Launch Control Facility

3 Pages

2013 inflation adjusted values of original MSRPs of cameras in the DigiCamHistory.Com collection at that time.

HELP WANTED!  Click here to assist in identifying unknown digicams.

Article:
F-Stops Defined (F-stops simplified). This article appeared in the April / May 2000 issue of MAV! online magazine.  It provides an explanation of f-stops, how they were derived and why they are used.

Cameras: If you are looking for a particular camera click on the "FINDER" page in the below table.  It will take you to the page of any camera listed.

THE AMERICAN CONNECTION: U.S. technology and research was the driving force behind the development of today's digital photography. Click on the blue lettering to see a list of more than fifty major American contributions leading to the digital cameras now used throughout the world.

Know Someone Who Wants to Become Immortral?  Click Here Now!

Why stop at 1998?  Except for a few  cameras we purchased after 1998,  this site  is dedicated to those digicams that came before 1999.  There are several reasons for this.  The first is that current popular photography sites such as DP Review are not historical sites, thus do not have a section devoted to the very early digicams, nor to the film cameras that came before them.  The second reason is that, beginning about 1998, there was an explosion in the popularity of digital photography and sites such as DP Review have covered all new digicams of significance since that time.  Of course, they do not cover minor brands or very inexpensive models that are of no interest to serious historians as some sites do.   

A word about dates.  When known, the earliest applicable date is shown.  This is usually the date of introduction, announcement, or when the camera first appeared at one of the various technical shows.  Since any particular digicam took some time to engineer and prepare even in prototype form, a date of one year prior to an announcement date is also appropriate in many cases.   Dates shown on other web sites are usually the market introduction date in a particular country and sometimes fall into a calendar year following the date shown on our site.

CAMERA OBSCURA - 1490. Leonardo da Vinci wrote the first detailed description of camera obscura in his Atlantic Codex, a 1,286 page collection of drawings and writings. The principle of camera obscura involves punching a hole in a dark box and putting a piece of light-sensitive material on the other side thereby providing a photo-like image, but upside down. The first picture of a pinhole camera obscura is a drawing by Gemma Frisus' De Radio, an astronomer (above left). He used the pinhole in his darkened room to study the solar eclipse of 1544. Viist the web site of Stewart Lewis Woodruff at users.rcn.com/ stewoody/quote.htm and learn how to build and use pinhole cameras (camera obscuras).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camera_obscura#/media/File:Camera_Obscura_box18thCentury.jpg

https://www.britannica.com/technology/camera-obscura-photography

1800s

FIRST PERMANENT CAMERA PHOTOGRAPHS - 1825-26.  Photographic history has recently been rewritten following the discovery of what is now considered to be the world's oldest photograph.  The image, a reproduction of a 17th century Dutch print, predates by one year Frenchman Niepce's previous heliogravure of the view from his window at Le Gras, regarded until now as the earliest surviving photographic image.

In the early 1800s, Joseph Nicephore Niepce experimented with lithography at his home near Chalon, France.  Nicephore explored light-sensitive varnishes, trying to find a coating that would record drawings after exposure to light.  In 1816, he took photos using a camera and paper sensitized with silver chloride.  He had some success, but was dissatisfied because the images were reversed (negatives) and could not be made permanent.  He had tried to produce a positive print, but was unable to do so.  He did find that nitric acid helped to preserve images for a while, but would not prevent eventual fading.  Niepce's breakthrough came in 1822 when he made a permanent image using a camera obscura.  After exposing coated pewter plates to a camera image, he used the vapors from heated iodine crystals to darken the silver and heighten contrast.  The method would later inspire Louis Daguerre's successful mercury vapor development process.  Within a few years the two inventors would become partners.  Niepce was able to produce a copy of an engraving by passing light through the original photo onto a piece of glass coated with bitumen of Judea, a type of asphalt.  Light hardens bitumen of Judea, so when Niepce washed the plate with solvent only the unexposed portions were removed, leaving a permanent image on the plate.  He named this process heliography or sun-writing.  He made numerous heliographs during the next several years and continued his attempts to produce a permanent camera image.  In 1825, he was successful.

Oldest known photos, 1825 and 1826.  Click on images for enlarged views.

The first image is a reproduction of a 17th century Dutch engraving showing a man leading a horse.  The photograph was sold at Sotheby's in Paris on March 21, 2002, to the French National Library for  $443,000.  The Niepce correspondence that accompanied the print gave a step-by-step account of how Niepce made his discovery. The print is the only surviving testament to Niepce's achievement in the summer of 1825 using light alone to make a plate from which an image could be printed.

The world's second oldest known permanent camera image, bitumen on pewter, is a view taken from Niepce's second floor window.  The exposure took approximately eight hours.  The third image was reportedly also made in 1826.

Additional information concerning Joseph Niepce can be found at:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/world/europe/1885093.stm

http://www.artsjournal.com/archives/zvisual%20arts%2003-02.htm
http://www.photogallery.it/storia/icrono.html
http://www.olinda.com/Art/art_lectures.htm
http://www.olinda.com/Art/Beginnings/early_photography.htm
http://www.chez.com/photoimage/niepceet.htm

WILLIAM HENRY FOX TALBOT FIRST NEGATIVE - 1835.   The inventor of calotype process, the precursor to most photographic processes of the 19th and 20th centuries. He was also a noted photographer who made major contributions to the development of photography as an artistic medium. His work in the 1850s on photo-mechanical reproduction led to the creation of the photoglyphic engraving process, the precursor to photogravure. Talbot is also remembered as the holder of a patent which, some say, affected the early development of commercial photography in Britain.

Talbot's original contributions included the concept of a negative from which many positive prints can be made (although the terms negative and positive were coined by Herschel).   Talbot's negative/positive process eventually succeeded as the basis for almost all 19th and 20th century photography. The daguerreotype, although stunningly beautiful, was rarely used by photographers after 1860, and had died as a commercial process by 1865.

The photograph on the left is of Talbot in 1864 by John Moffat. The photo on the right is a print from a Talbot negative, the oldest known negative in existence.

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

FIRST PRODUCTION CAMERA - 1839.  Daguerrotype cameras of 1839 produced by Giroux in Paris.  They weighed 120 pounds each and cost 400 Francs (about $50).  See the George Eastman Photography Collections Online for much additional information concerning this camera as well as excellent photos and detailed information regarding many other early cameras. 

https://www.eastman.org/collection-highlights-technology

https://www.eastman.org/search-collections

ALEXANDER S. WOLCOTT - First Photography Patent - 1840.  Alexander Simon Wilcott was born in 1804, in New York.  He was a dentist by trade and machinist.  On May 8, 1840 Alexander Wolcott, with the assistance of John Johnson Sr., received the first American patent for photography (US Patent No. 1582) for their Daguerreotype mirror camera, which did not have a lens. The camera was based on a concave reflecting mirror built by an associate Mr Henry Fitz, similar to those used for making celestial telescopes. The Wolcott & Johnson patent camera enabled the successful taking of life portraiture by significantly reducing the subjects sitting time from 30 minutes to only 5 minutes, while still using Daguerre's chemical formula. Mr Johnson Sr. paid Daguerre 150 pounds for the use of his process.  Wolcott and Johnson patented the camera which became known as "Wolcott's camera" and the "mirror camera".  In March 1840, they opened what is considered to be the world's first portrait studio. It was called the Daguerreian Parlor.  Wolcott died at the age of 40.

https://silverhalloffame.com/bios/alexander-wolcott/#google_vignette

FIRST PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE MOON, FEMALE FACE, PEOPLE - 1839-40.  Daguerre himself is believed to be the first person to take a photograph of the moon, using his daguerreotype process, on January 2, 1839. Unfortunately, in March of that same year, his entire laboratory burnt to the ground, destroying all his written records and much of his early experimental work and that historical image of the moon. A year later, John William Draper, an American doctor and chemist, took his own daguerreotype of the moon.  John William Draper (1811-1882) was an American scientist, philosopher, physician, chemist, historian and photographer. He is also credited with producing the first clear photograph of a female face when he took a photo of his  sister and assistant, dorothy.  Daguerre is credited with the first photograph of people as seen in the lower left of the photo above.

http://time.com/3805947/the-first-photograph-of-the-moon/

https://ragingfluff.wordpress.com/2014/03/23/the-first-photo-of-the-moon-march-23rd-1840/

BAIN'S TELEGRAPH - FIRST FACSIMILE (FAX) - 1843.  In 1843, Scotsman Alexander Bain patented a design for a mechanical device which used a stylus attached to an electromagnetic pendulum to send typed words over a telegraph line.  The first commercial fax service was opened between Paris and Lyon, France, in 1865.  Popularity of facsimile machines increased significantly in 1906 and thereafter when they were employed for transmitting newspaper photos.  For many interesting photographs and a complete history of facsimile machines see
http://www.hffax.de/html/hauptteil_faxhistory.htm 

SHELLAC CONDUCTING ROLLER - 1847. Frederick Bakewell, England, improved upon Bain's design by using a clock mechanism and was the first to demonstrate a facsimile transmission.

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

PHOTOGRAPHY - 1850.  Above, early photographer's portrait studio. The complete photographist kit as found in an 1850 catalog:  (Kit in this case would mean a horse-drawn wagon!)  Estimate for a complete Daguerreotype Apparatus, suitable for the professional photographist, consisting of a large-sized camera and compound lens for large views, portraits, and groups; small size camera, with large aperture and short focus combination of lenses, for taking portraits up to 4 inches by 3 inches in dull weather; polishing lathe, with series of circular buffs; three hand buffs; set of metal plate holders and supports; heating stand; large bromine and iodine apparatus and set of frames; set of plate boxes to hold two dozen each; table stand for camera and rollers; adjusting chair, with head rest; adjusting head rest, with heavy iron foot for full-length portraits, &c.; large mercury box for the different sized plates; lantern, with yellow glass shade; metal still and worm tub for obtaining distilled water; a large and small gilding stand; stoneware barrel and cock for holding distilled water; porcelain dishes; filtering stand; funnels and filtering paper; spirit lamps; set of daguerreotype colours and brushes, and flexible India-rubber bottle; glass measures; two painted back grounds, &c., with a full supply of all the necessary chemicals, polishing materials, &c., complete, Wills, Camfield and Deirdre.  History of Photography: Techniques and Equipment.  Exeter Books.  New York.  1980.   Pages 13, 24.

PONTI MEGALETOSCOPIO - 1859.  The interesting device, built by Carlo Ponti, allowed the owner to view his photographs in black and white in the daytime and in color at night. This was accomplished by coloring the back of photographs and then viewing them when lit from behind during darkness (one wonders why they didn't just color the front of the photographs rather than build such and elaborate device). The model shown is unique in that almost all other similar models made by Ponti were of plain design while the above model was inlaid with ivory as was the photo storage stand. This model was in the Thurman Naylor Collection and on 19 October 2007 was auctioned off for $42,500. http://shutterbug.com/features/0906treasure/

PANTELEGRAPH - 1861. Giovanni Caselli, Italy, developed the first commercial fax machine, sending messages between Paris and Lyon France.

BUSINESS CARD - 1880s. Photographer's business card, 1800s style. Advertisement on the front, sample print on the back. Some business cards at that time were a little larger than today's credit-card sized models. This one is 4 x 6.5 inches.
 

ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL - 1880s.   Bell proposed an optical system for transmitting telephone signals without wires.  Additional information concerning Alexander Graham Bell can be found at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Graham_Bell

 

PAUL NIPKOW - 1884.  Nipkow, a German inventor, developed and patented the world's first electromechanical television system, however, he had no method of amplifying the very weak signals (produced by a selenium cell) needed to build a workable receiver.  Nipkow used a rotating disk to send pictures over a wire in 1884.  This early idea of "cable television" was abandoned as impractical since the receiving screen couldn't be any bigger than one square inch!  Additional information concerning Paul Nipkow can be found at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Gotlieb_Nipkow

FIRST KODAK PATENT - KODAK NUMBER 1 - 1888.  Copy of the first page of George Eastman's first patented camera design. Eastman coined the slogan, 'You press the button, we do the rest,' when he introduced the Kodak camera in 1888 and within a year it became a well-known phrase.  He designed and patented the camera in 1886. It was a box-box with a roller cassette designed for 48 (100 when it went on sale) negatives of 4 x 5 inches format, with a focusing optics.  After several improvements, in 1888 George Eastman released the revolutionary amateur camera Kodak number 1. The camera lens transmitted a circular image of 2.25 inches in diameter onto the film (1888 photo, girl on a couch).  At $25 it was much cheaper than other cameras of the time. After the film was full, the buyer mailed the device along with the roller to Eastman Company in Rochester, New York, where the film was taken out, developed, printed, and the device was recharged, for which the client paid $ 10.

http://inventors.about.com/od/estartinventors/ss/George_Eastman.htm

https://www.brownie-camera.com/5.shtml

https://www.mikeeckman.com/2021/03/kepplers-vault-88-the-first-kodak/

BOUTAN-CHAUFFOUR FLASH BULB - 1893.  The first flash bulb was designed by Frenchman Chauffour for use by underwater photographer Louis Boutan.  It contained magnesium inside a glass bulb filled with oxygen under pressure.  A platinum wire heated by passing an electric current through it ignited the magnesium.  Additional information concerning Louis Boutan can be found at:

http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Flashbulbs

http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/articles/pages/1249/Twentieth-Century-Photographic-Lighting.html
 

AMSTUTZ ELECTRO-ARTROGRAPH - 1895.  The cover story of a Scientific American issue described the Amstutz Electro-Artrograph which could scan photographs and transmit them over wire.  Illustrations showed a photograph, drawings of the devices on route to the destination, and the photo as reproduced by a receiving device. Drawings of transmitter and receiver shown above.  Scientific American, April 1985, page 12. "Digital Deal: Anniversaries Everywhere for Everything," Don Sutherland, Photo Trade News, August 2000.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-amstutz-electro-artograph/ 
 

 
THE CATHODE RAY TUBE (CRT) - 1897.   Electronic television is based on the development of the cathode ray tube (the picture tube found in television sets until LED came along).  Cathode rays were first identified in 1859 by Julius Plucker, a German mathematician and physicist, but it was not until 1878 before William Crookes, a British chemist, would confirm the existence of cathode rays by building a tube that displayed them.  English physicist Ambrose Flemming, working with Crookes' tube, would discover that cathode rays could be deflected and focused.  This was accomplished by wrapping the tube with wire and passing an electric current through it creating a magnetic field.  In 1897, German physicist Karl Braun developed the first cathode ray oscilloscope.  Braun illuminated the cathode rays by placing fluorescent materials at the end of the tube.  As time passed these developments would be applied to the scanning system for the first television sets.  Additional information concerning the cathode ray tube can be found at:
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blcathoderaytube.htm
 

POULSEN TELEGRAPHONE - 1898.  On December 1st 1898, Valdemar Poulsen filed a patent in Denmark for the Telegraphone, the first device in history to use magnetic sound recording.  An extract from his patent reads: "The invention based upon the fact that when a body made of magnetisable material is touched at different points and at different times by an electromagnet included in a telephonic or telegraphic circuit, its parts are subject to such varied magnetic influences that conversely by the action of the magnetisable body upon the electromagnet the same sounds or signals are subsequently given out in the telephone or recording instrument as those which previously caused the magnetic action upon the magnetisable body."  At the 1900 Paris Exposition Poulsen recorded the voice of Emperor Franz Joseph, creating what is believed to be the earliest surviving magnetic recording.  Additional information concerning Valdemar Poulsen can be found at:

http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist/poulsen.html
http://toutelatsf.free.fr/poulsen.htm

1800s