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The Kodak Camera
From: Science Museum
| By:
Colin Harding |
EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION |
The invention of the Kodak camera marks a turning point in the history of photography. Previously the development and printing of
films had to be done by photographers themselves using a darkroom and all the requisite knowledge and skills. The Kodak camera allowed this process to take place in a central factory. Colin Harding of the Science Museum tells the story of the camera that brought the pleasures of photography to the people. |
 ust over 100 years ago, there appeared a camera that was to change the course of photography. Popular photography can properly be said to have started in 1888 with the introduction of the Kodak. |
 The Kodak camera was the invention of an American, George Eastman (1854-1932). Advertised as 'the smallest, lightest and simplest of all Detective cameras' (a popular term of the 1880s for hand-held cameras), it was a simple wooden box six and a half inches long, three and three-quarter inches high and three and a quarter inches wide. It was small and light enough to be held in the hands while in use. |
The name 'Kodak' is now synonymous with popular photography and is a household word all over the world. It was the success of the original Kodak camera which laid the foundations for Eastman to build an enormous international business empire. He chose the name for his new camera with great care: 'The letter K had been a favourite with me--it seems a strong, incisive sort of letter. It became a question of trying out a great number of combinations of letters that made words starting and ending with K. The word Kodak is the result'. Eastman later explained to the British Patent Office: 'This is not a foreign name or word; it was constructed by me to serve a definite purpose. It has the following merits as a trade-mark word: first it is short; second, it is not capable of mispronunciation; third, it does not resemble anything in the art and cannot be associated with anything in the art.' |
Taking a photograph with the Kodak camera was very easy, requiring only three simple actions: turning the key (to wind on the film); pulling the string (to set the shutter); and pressing the button (to release the shutter and make the exposure). It was, in many respects, the forerunner of today's point-and-shoot cameras. The lens fitted to the Kodak had a considerable depth of field, objects being in focus from as close as four feet, and giving a wide (sixty degree) angle of view. This meant that no viewfinder was needed, the camera was simply pointed at the subject to be photographed. Poor definition at the edge of the image area, however, meant that a circular mask had to be used in the camera, placed in front of the film. This accounts for the distinctive round (two-and-a-half-inch-diameter) photographs which the Kodak camera produced. |
Ingenious, compact and simple to use though it was, the Kodak camera did not embody any revolutionary technological innovations. It was not the first hand camera, nor indeed was it the first camera to be made solely for roll film. The true significance of the camera, which makes it a landmark in the history of photography is that it was the first stage in a complete system of amateur photography. In Eastman's own words: 'The Kodak camera renders possible the Kodak system whereby the mere mechanical act of taking a picture, which anyone can perform, is divorced from all the chemical manipulations of preparing and finishing pictures, which only experts can perform....We furnish anybody, man, woman or child, who has sufficient intelligence to point a box straight and press a button ... with an instrument which altogether removes from the practice of photography the necessity for exceptional facilities or in fact any special knowledge of the art.' |
The Kodak camera was sold already loaded with enough film to take 100 photographs. After the film had been exposed, the entire camera was posted to the factory where it was unloaded and the film developed and printed. The camera, reloaded with fresh film, was then returned to its owner together with the negatives and a set of prints. Previously, photographers had no choice but to do their own developing and printing, needing a darkroom and the knowledge and skill to perform complex chemical manipulations. This, more than any other factor had delayed the popularization of photography. With the Kodak system, Eastman had not only removed this barrier but also founded the modern developing and printing industry. To promote the Kodak camera, Eastman devised the brilliantly simple sales slogan that summed up his new system: 'You press the button, we do the rest.' |
This new convenience, however, did not come cheap. In Britain the Kodak camera sold for five guineas (£5.25). The developing and printing service cost a further two guineas (£2.10). In 1888, £1 was a week's wage for many workers. Through a combination of pioneering mass-production methods and imaginative marketing techniques, Eastman was able to continue the successful process of turning photography into a truly popular pastime. Improved versions of the Kodak camera were produced and costs were greatly reduced. In 1900 the five shilling (25p) 'Brownie' camera was introduced. For the first time the pleasures of photography had been brought within reach of almost everyone. |
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