Light, chemistry & cameras

Photography Through Time

103 discoveries, cameras and formats, from the camera obscura to computational photography, on one line of time. Stars above the line are discoveries and inventions; stars below are cameras, formats and products that photographers could buy. Hover a star for a summary and to light up everything it built on; click it to read the full entry.

Above: discovery or inventionBelow: camera, format or productImpact: changed photography for everyone · major · significant · nicheIn use · niche today · obsolete · revivedBuilt on · made possible by · replacedLandmark photograph or event

Entry	When	Kind	Family	Status
The camera obscura principle	c. 400 BCE	Discovery or invention	Optics & lenses	Still in use
Ibn al-Haytham's Book of Optics	c. 1011–21	Discovery or invention	Optics & lenses	Still in use
Spectacle lenses	c. 1286	Discovery or invention	Optics & lenses	Still in use
The lens and the diaphragm in the camera obscura	1550–68	Discovery or invention	Optics & lenses	Still in use
Kepler's optics	1604	Discovery or invention	Optics & lenses	Still in use
Snell's law of refraction	1621	Discovery or invention	Optics & lenses	Still in use
Zahn's reflex camera obscura	1685	Camera, format or product	Cameras	Obsolete
Newton's spectrum	1666–1704	Discovery or invention	Colour	Still in use
Silver salts darken in light	1717	Discovery or invention	Light-sensitive chemistry	Still in use
The achromatic lens	1733–58	Discovery or invention	Optics & lenses	Still in use
Scheele's experiments on silver chloride	1777	Discovery or invention	Light-sensitive chemistry	Still in use
Wedgwood and Davy’s sun prints	1802	Discovery or invention	Light-sensitive chemistry	Obsolete
Niépce's heliography and the oldest surviving camera photograph	c. 1826–27	Discovery or invention	Light-sensitive chemistry	Obsolete
Hércules Florence's photographie in Brazil	1833–34	Discovery or invention	Light-sensitive chemistry	Obsolete
The daguerreotype	1839	Discovery or invention	Light-sensitive chemistry	Niche today
The Giroux daguerreotype camera	1839	Camera, format or product	Cameras	Obsolete
Hypo fixer and the words of photography	1819 / 1839	Discovery or invention	Light-sensitive chemistry	Still in use
The Petzval portrait lens	1840	Camera, format or product	Optics & lenses	Revived
Talbot's photogenic drawing and the calotype negative	1835–41	Discovery or invention	Light-sensitive chemistry	Obsolete
The cyanotype	1842	Discovery or invention	Light-sensitive chemistry	Niche today
The albumen print	1850	Discovery or invention	Prints & sharing	Niche today
The stereograph	1849–51	Camera, format or product	Prints & sharing	Niche today
The wet collodion process	1851	Discovery or invention	Light-sensitive chemistry	Revived
The ambrotype and the tintype	1854–56	Camera, format or product	Light-sensitive chemistry	Revived
The carte de visite	1854	Camera, format or product	Prints & sharing	Obsolete
Maxwell's three-colour photograph	1861	Discovery or invention	Colour	Still in use
Ducos du Hauron and subtractive colour	1868–69	Discovery or invention	Colour	Still in use
Colour sensitising: orthochromatic and panchromatic emulsions	1873–1906	Discovery or invention	Light-sensitive chemistry	Still in use
The gelatin dry plate	1871–78	Discovery or invention	Light-sensitive chemistry	Still in use
Halftone printing	1880	Discovery or invention	Prints & sharing	Still in use
Scientific lens design (Abbe, Zeiss and Schott)	1872–86	Discovery or invention	Optics & lenses	Still in use
Magnesium flash powder	1887	Discovery or invention	Exposure, light & focus	Obsolete
The Kodak camera	1888	Camera, format or product	Cameras	Obsolete
Mechanical shutters: focal-plane and leaf	1880s	Discovery or invention	Exposure, light & focus	Niche today
Transparent celluloid roll film	1889	Camera, format or product	Light-sensitive chemistry	Still in use
Lippmann colour photography	1891	Discovery or invention	Colour	Obsolete
35mm cine film	1892	Camera, format or product	Formats & sensors	Still in use
The Cooke triplet	1893	Discovery or invention	Optics & lenses	Still in use
Velox and gaslight paper	1893	Camera, format or product	Prints & sharing	Obsolete
The Kodak Brownie	1900	Camera, format or product	Cameras	Obsolete
120 roll film	1901	Camera, format or product	Formats & sensors	Still in use
The Zeiss Tessar	1902	Camera, format or product	Optics & lenses	Still in use
The Autochrome Lumière	1907	Camera, format or product	Colour	Obsolete
The Speed Graphic press camera	1912	Camera, format or product	Cameras	Obsolete
The Leica I	1925	Camera, format or product	Cameras	Obsolete
The flashbulb	1929	Camera, format or product	Exposure, light & focus	Obsolete
The Rolleiflex twin-lens reflex	1929	Camera, format or product	Cameras	Niche today
Electronic flash	1931	Discovery or invention	Exposure, light & focus	Still in use
The photoelectric exposure meter	1932	Camera, format or product	Exposure, light & focus	Niche today
135 film and the 24 × 36 mm frame	1925–34	Camera, format or product	Formats & sensors	Still in use
Kodachrome	1935	Camera, format or product	Colour	Obsolete
Anti-reflection lens coating	1935	Discovery or invention	Optics & lenses	Still in use
Wirephoto	1935	Discovery or invention	Prints & sharing	Obsolete
Agfacolor Neu: dye couplers in the film	1936	Discovery or invention	Colour	Still in use
The Kine Exakta	1936	Camera, format or product	Cameras	Obsolete
Automatic exposure	1938	Discovery or invention	Exposure, light & focus	Still in use
The Argus C3	1939	Camera, format or product	Cameras	Obsolete
The Zone System	1939–40	Discovery or invention	Exposure, light & focus	Niche today
Colour negative film and C-41	1942–72	Camera, format or product	Colour	Still in use
The Hasselblad system camera	1948	Camera, format or product	Cameras	Niche today
Instant photography	1947–48	Discovery or invention	Light-sensitive chemistry	Still in use
The pentaprism eye-level viewfinder	1949	Discovery or invention	Cameras	Niche today
The instant-return mirror	1954	Discovery or invention	Cameras	Niche today
The Leica M3	1954	Camera, format or product	Cameras	Niche today
The first digital image	1957	Discovery or invention	Digital imaging	Obsolete
The Nikon F	1959	Camera, format or product	Cameras	Obsolete
The Olympus Pen half-frame camera	1959	Camera, format or product	Cameras	Obsolete
The zoom lens for still cameras	1959	Camera, format or product	Optics & lenses	Still in use
The Kodak Instamatic	1963	Camera, format or product	Cameras	Obsolete
Through-the-lens metering	1963	Discovery or invention	Exposure, light & focus	Still in use
The charge-coupled device (CCD)	1969	Discovery or invention	Digital imaging	Niche today
110 cartridge film	1972	Camera, format or product	Formats & sensors	Niche today
The Polaroid SX-70	1972	Camera, format or product	Cameras	Revived
Sasson's digital camera	1975	Discovery or invention	Digital imaging	Obsolete
The Bayer filter	1976	Discovery or invention	Digital imaging	Still in use
The Canon AE-1	1976	Camera, format or product	Cameras	Obsolete
Autofocus	1977	Discovery or invention	Exposure, light & focus	Still in use
The Sony Mavica	1981	Camera, format or product	Digital imaging	Obsolete
Kodak Disc film	1982	Camera, format or product	Formats & sensors	Obsolete
The first megapixel sensor	1986	Discovery or invention	Digital imaging	Obsolete
Canon EOS and the electronic lens mount	1987	Camera, format or product	Cameras	Still in use
Adobe Photoshop	1990	Camera, format or product	Digital imaging	Still in use
Inkjet fine-art printing	1990s	Discovery or invention	Prints & sharing	Still in use
The Kodak DCS 100	1991	Camera, format or product	Digital imaging	Obsolete
JPEG compression	1992	Discovery or invention	Digital imaging	Still in use
The CMOS active-pixel sensor	1993	Discovery or invention	Digital imaging	Still in use
Image stabilisation	1994–95	Discovery or invention	Exposure, light & focus	Still in use
APS film (Advanced Photo System)	1996	Camera, format or product	Formats & sensors	Obsolete
The APS-C digital sensor	1999–2000	Camera, format or product	Formats & sensors	Still in use
The Nikon D1	1999	Camera, format or product	Digital imaging	Obsolete
The camera phone	1999–2000	Camera, format or product	Cameras	Still in use
The full-frame digital sensor	2002	Camera, format or product	Formats & sensors	Still in use
Four Thirds and Micro Four Thirds	2003	Camera, format or product	Formats & sensors	Still in use
Online photo sharing	2004	Camera, format or product	Prints & sharing	Still in use
Raw files and DNG	2004	Discovery or invention	Digital imaging	Still in use
The iPhone	2007	Camera, format or product	Digital imaging	Still in use
The Panasonic Lumix G1	2008	Camera, format or product	Cameras	Still in use
The Fujifilm X100	2011	Camera, format or product	Cameras	Still in use
The Sony α7	2013	Camera, format or product	Cameras	Obsolete
Computational photography	2013–18	Discovery or invention	Digital imaging	Still in use
The film revival	2010s–	Camera, format or product	Light-sensitive chemistry	Still in use
Stacked and global-shutter sensors	2017	Discovery or invention	Digital imaging	Still in use
Generative AI and Content Credentials	2022	Discovery or invention	Digital imaging	Still in use

Drag across the overview to zoom into a period, or ctrl-scroll / pinch on the chart.

Time is stretched toward the present, so the crowded last two centuries have room.