History of Camera Film
If you are still using a film camera--and it's OK to admit it if you are--you probably make sure you have plenty of film on hand before a vacation or family get-together. In the 1870s, a New York banker named George Eastman wanted to do the same for his upcoming vacation to the Dominican Republic, but film did not yet exist. So, he invented film, introduced the $1 Brownie camera, and over the course of a few decades made photography the "everyday affair" we now know and enjoy.
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Before Film
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Eastman, founder of what is today the Kodak company, was not a photographer, reports the Kodak website, and so had to buy what he needed. In 1877, that included a camera the size of a microwave oven, and "a pack-horse load" of chemicals, plates, plate holders and the other equipment used to capture an image at the time.
Early media for taking photographs were chemically-treated glass or metal plates, which were exposed to light, developed, and then "contact-printed" onto a light-sensitive material to create a photograph. Exposures could take hours, according to the American Museum of Photography, and negatives and photographs faded quickly.
First Negatives
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French gentleman and hobby lithographer Joseph Nicephore Niepce discovered a solution to the problem of fading negatives in 1824, reports the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin website. In 1826, Niepce created the first permanent negative of an image from the window of his home. His medium was a pewter plate coated with bitumen, which hardened with exposure to light. After exposing the scene for a full day, Niépce washed the plate in a solution that removed all but the light-hardened bitumen, leaving a negative image that can still be seen today at the Harry Ransom Center.
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Progress
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In the 40 years following Niepce's discovery, photographers made advances in their art that included capturing the first images of people, lightning, battle (the Mexican-American War in 1847) and a tornado, according to National Geographic's History of Photography. The media for photographic negatives also advanced. In the 1850s, negatives were on "wet plates," which required nearly all of developing to be done immediately before or after exposure. By the late 1870s, according to the Kodak website, the more-convenient dry plates were generally available.
First Film
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Eastman originally learned the wet-plate process for photography, and became so absorbed in the process he canceled his trip, and began working on ways to make photography cheaper and more convenient. Dry plate photography, introduced in 1871 by R.L. Maddox, was more convenient, but not the solution Eastman sought. He wanted a lightweight and flexible negative, so he tried coating paper strips with light-sensitive silver bromide salts, and then with a layer of gelatin.
These "paper negatives" worked as Eastman wanted them to, but the grain of the paper was often reproduced in the photographs, reports the Kodak website. He added another layer of gelatin to the negatives, making them strong enough that he could peel the negatives from the paper after they were exposed and developed. Eastman then transferred the image to another sheet of gelatin and sealed it with the adhesive collodion, making a durable, cheap, clear and flexible modern camera film.
Today
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Digital cameras and camera phones may have surpassed film cameras in popularity, but film is still strong in several niche markets, including the hobby photographers who created the Analog Photography Users Group website, and in movies. According to the Kodak website, "film remains the primary medium for capture and projection of motion pictures," and, as of 2008, all 80 Best Picture Oscar winners were shot on Kodak film.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit film 2 image by jimcox40 from Fotolia.com
