Camera has been an essential tool for creating digital media, and visual arts. It can capture any still photographs either on film or digitally. It innovated and inspired a lot of other technology. The biggest revolutionary aspect of the camera has been the digital camera, and the camera phone. The majority of the people in this digital age use it for a variety of reason. Its a tool that people can’t live without. You can share all kinds of life moment for yourself to remember by or share with others, communicate with other with both visual and audio, and create unique visual arts, the possibility for it is endless. However, the function of the camera doesn’t just capture a single still image, it can capture a lot of still images to create a film. While the camera is an innovative technology device, but what it produces signify how important it is. Video and photo become a necessary to communication, education, and preservation of history.
A camera is an instrument for capturing still images or recording sequences of images constituting into a video or movies. Which can be stored locally on a drive or transmitted to another location through wi-fi. The way the camera takes a photo is when it captures the light that reflects through the lens. Then it records the image by the actions of light or other forms of radiation on to a sensitive material. All cameras have the same basic design. It makes use of the lenses for focus, mirrors to reflects the light into the camera, a shutter mechanism that controls the length of time that light can enter the camera. The term photography comes from two Greek words, “Photos” which mean lights, and “graphein” which mean draw. So together it means to draw the light in. The function of the camera works similar to the human eye.
The first camera came from camera obscura or the pinhole camera. Its is also the Latin name for “dark room”. Camera obscura is a phenomenon that occurs when the image is projected through a small hole in the device and project an upside-down image on to the opposite surface. The oldest practice of this phenomenon was by a Han Chinese philosopher Mozi during 470 B.C to 391 B.C. While Mozi discovered that the camera obscura image is inverted due to the light travel in a straight line, it was the Arab Physicist Ibn al-Haytham, Alhazen, that created the pinhole camera in the 11th century. However, at first it wasn’t able to preserve the image in a photographic form, and it was mainly used to watch the solar eclipses. It wasn’t until the early 1800s, that the inventor Nicephore Niepce came up with heliographs which used light to capture the image in prints. He experimented with a sliding wooden box camera and used light to imprint the image on different type of materials, which works like an engraving on to a plate. His ideas were further expanded by his former partner, Louis Daguerre. He created the first practical photographic process called the daguerreotype. The process consisted of a silver-plated copper sheet and coated with silver iodide. In 1841, Henry Fox Talbot simplified the printing process by transferred the resulting image onto a sheet of paper.
Over the course of the photography history, film has been a major part of the history of cameras. The application of film is still being used today. The techniques for making better quality photos improved, and colored photos was made possible due to film. George Eastman was responsible for pioneering the photography with his film and camera. In 1885, he developed paper film, and later used celluloid film a few years later. His camera “Kodak” was the first major portable, affordable, and easy to use camera in the market. It had a fixed focus and a single shutter speed setting. The Kodak had 100 exposures film and need to send back to the factory for processing. However, his camera is popular for its low-cost.
The next type of camera that gain popularity was the single lens reflex camera. It has a mirror that redirect the light from the lens to the viewfinder prior to releasing the shutter. The mirror flips up and allow a specific set of exposure. The significant design of the SLR camera is the finger pressure on its shutter release button. Asahiflex, made by Asahi company, was well known for its SLR camera, during mid-1900s. Other camera brands like Canon, Nikon and Yashica later entered the camera market. Nikon later developed the first interchangeable components camera and established a strong reputation for manufacturing professional cameras.
The most modern and innovative cameras are the digital cameras that we are all familiar with and used today. The most significant photography advancement of digital cameras is that it no longer required film to store images, instead the images can be stored digitally through a memory cards, or internal storage. The image can still be printed, and they can also be viewed on the camera display screen. The photographer can view the picture right after it was taken. There are many models, gadgets, and other features that can be added or integrated into the cameras. Digital cameras are being powered with replaceable, and rechargeable batteries. There are more advance settings to capture different types of picture and in under different circumstances. For example, ISO, white balance, focus, shutter speed, image resolution, aperture, and other cameras controls can all be adjusted. While most digital cameras are aiming to be more compacted and portable, there are still cameras for professional uses. The digital single lens reflex camera (DSLR) is more bulky and expensive than other smaller models. However, it has more features to capture high quality image, and with different variation.
While the digital camera bought popularity of photography in the early 2000s, it was the smartphone camera that bought digital photography into masses. It created a huge impact on professional photographers. While before, photographers won’t waste a single film unless they are confidence that it would work. Now, people can take unlimited photos on their phone with ease. The number of photographs and the quality increased dramatically.
Photos and videos taken from camera are used to communicate, often to tell stories. There is a cliché that a picture is worth a thousand words. It’s a tool to capture events and people. It shows us what is important to us. Its like a record memory that is irreplaceable, and precious to us. Pictures can be our personal story, a timeline of our lives. Not only can it represent your personal stories, it can last a life time, and become a legacy for future generations. Images are more than records. We tend to have the desire to share what we found interesting, funny, beautiful, or sad. Photographs allow people to share and communicate on a personal level. It also allows us to be artists, and enable us to express our feelings, and emotions. People can create breathtaking art with people, things that we interacted with every day. Photography make us appreciate how amazing and beautiful life is.
Camera has come a long way, from a tool to view the solar eclipse to a device that are used to capture life movement or share artworks with others. It has become part of our life on how we preserve memories, in both digital and printed form. The technology of photography is continuing to advance just like other modern digital technology. I hope there are more creative and different ways to alter photos and videos.
Work Cited:
A Brief History of the Camera, Photography Basics,
https://www.photography-basics.com/history-of-the-camera/
Five ways the digital camera changed us, Castella Tom De, BBC News Magazine, Feb 28 2012, http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-16483509
Why is the Camera Important?, Kichline Patrisha, Techwalla, https://www.techwalla.com/articles/why-is-the-camera-important
The history of the Camera, Jade, History Things, April 1, 2016
The Comic Book Story of Video Games, Hennessey Jonathan and Mcgowan Jack, Ten Speed Press, 2017