Shawn Cannon - DSLR Photography for Beginners: : Master Your DSLR Camera & Improve Your Digital SLR Photography Skills and Knowledge

Before we delve and become more familiar with the DSLR camera, lets try to look at the different types of cameras as it made its way into the 21 st century, way before photography became an art form.

1. Camera Obscura

Origin:

This was the first recorded camera that existed which possibly dates back to the ancient Greeks and ancient Chinese people. In 1021 AD, the creation of the first pinhole camera was published by Ibn al-Haytham after he observed that the light that travelled through a window shutter had an effect of mirroring the image seen and the smaller the hole of the box, the sharper the images were.

Function:

These early versions of the camera were actually the size of a small room where two people can fit in. The reason for this space is for the person to manually trace the image they are seeing but this soon became impractical so people have developed smaller and more compact versions of it as the centuries progressed.

1. Early Fixed Images

Origin:

Nicephore Niepce invented his own portable camera in 1816 and the first photograph made by a camera was then released using this camera. It was a partial success because the materials used by Niepce were not permanent making the image unrecognizable after being exposed to light.

Function:

Niepce used a portable camera to capture the image but the camera had paper in it which was coated with silver chloride. This chemical darkens when it is exposed to light so when the image was captured, the silver chloride reacted with the paper, darkening it in the portions where there was an image but the surrounding areas eventually darkened altogether after being exposed to light after some time.

1. Daguerreotypes and Calotypes

Origin:

Louis Daguerre, Niepces partner, continued developing Niepces work after he died in 1833 and after 4 years, Daguerre finally developed the first process of practical photography, the Daguerreotype, but only released it publicly in 1839. The calotype was later on perfected by Henry Fox Talbot in 1840 which was a different version of the process.

Function:

Daguerre developed a process where the paper used inside the camera device was coated with silver iodide which was light-sensitive making it possible for the image to be developed by mercury vapor and a strong mixture of sodium chloride or salt. The calotype also used two nested boxes as the camera, same as the one used by Daguerre, but Talbots version had a few more steps to it.

1. Dry plates

Origin:

The emergence of dry plates started in 1855 by Desire van Monckhoven which was then later on improved and developed by other inventors until 1878 where the most advanced dry plate camera came to life.

Function: