1900 - The Kodak Brownie

The Kodak Brownie was a highly popularised low cost camera, and was the first camera to introduce the idea of a snapshot. It was named “Brownie” because it was a brown leatherette covered cardboard box with a wooden film carrier.  The Brownie was produced cheaply so that anyone could afford to own one, and it was also very simple and easy for even a novice photographer to use. It used to cost only $2.00 for the camera, film and to get the film processed once the pictures had been taken

Pros:

-          Cheap

-          Easy to use

-          Film was easily accessible

Cons:

-          It was quite a large box

1844 - The Megaskop Camera

The Megaskop camera was the first camera that was able to take a panoramic image. The lenses were able to rotate 110 degrees to 360 degrees to get a quality image of the landscape. It was operated by a handle and gears and used the same copper plates as the Daguerrotype Camera.

Pros:

-          First camera to get a detailed panoramic image

Cons:

-          Uses a very poisonous chemical (mercury) to pruduce the image

-          Takes 3 hours to hand polish one plate

1839 - Daguerrotype Camera

The Daguerrotype Camera was developed by a man named Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre and Joseph Nicéphorre Niéce. They were both inventors, and discovered that if a copper plate coated with silver iodine was exposed to the light in a camera, fumed with mercury vapour and made permanent by a solution of salt, that a permanent image would be created.

Pros:

-          Very good, clear image

-          Unlimited dynamic range

Cons:

-          Uses a very poisonous chemical (mercury) to produce the image

-          Take 3 hours to hand polish one plate