117-515: High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) is a camera experiment on Mars Express . A version for Earth called HRSC-AX was also developed, as was a version for Mars 96 . It has four main parts: camera head, super resolution channel, instrument frame, and digital unit. At an altitude of 250 km from Mars , SRC can produce images with a resolution of 2.3 meters / pixel of 2.35 km square Mars terrain. It has 9 channels and can produce digital terrain models. A typical image from HRSC of Mars has
234-486: A subtractive color image. Maxwell's method of taking three separate filtered black-and-white photographs continued to serve special purposes into the 1950s and beyond, and Polachrome , an "instant" slide film that used the Autochrome's additive principle, was available until 2003, but the few color print and slide films still being made in 2015 all use the multilayer emulsion approach pioneered by Kodachrome. In 1957,
351-452: A 120 roll, and twice that number of a 220 film. These correspond to 6x9, 6x7, 6x6, and 6x4.5 respectively (all dimensions in cm). Notable manufacturers of large format and roll film SLR cameras include Bronica , Graflex , Hasselblad , Seagull , Mamiya and Pentax . However, the most common format of SLR cameras has been 35 mm and subsequently the migration to digital SLR cameras, using almost identical sized bodies and sometimes using
468-540: A camera obscura device. He did not manage to properly fix his images and abandoned the project after hearing of the Daguerreotype process in 1839 and did not properly publish any of his findings. He reportedly referred to the technique as "photographie" (in French) as early as 1833, also helped by a suggestion of De Mello. Some extant photographic contact prints are believed to have been made in circa 1833 and kept in
585-417: A certain range, providing the convenience of adjusting the scene capture without moving the camera or changing the lens. A prime lens, in contrast, has a fixed focal length. While less flexible, prime lenses often provide superior image quality, are typically lighter, and perform better in low light. Focus involves adjusting the lens elements to sharpen the image of the subject at various distances. The focus
702-454: A commonplace activity. The century also marked the rise of computational photography , using algorithms and AI to enhance image quality. Features like low-light and HDR photography , optical image stabilization, and depth-sensing became common in smartphone cameras. Most cameras capture light from the visible spectrum , while specialized cameras capture other portions of the electromagnetic spectrum , such as infrared . All cameras use
819-521: A critical role as it determines how much of the scene the camera can capture and how large the objects appear. Wide-angle lenses provide a broad view of the scene, while telephoto lenses capture a narrower view but magnify the objects. The focal length also influences the ease of taking clear pictures handheld, with longer lengths making it more challenging to avoid blur from small camera movements. Two primary types of lenses include zoom and prime lenses. A zoom lens allows for changing its focal length within
936-407: A facsimile of the image. The mirror represents images faithfully, but retains none; our canvas reflects them no less faithfully, but retains them all. This impression of the image is instantaneous. The canvas is then removed and deposited in a dark place. An hour later the impression is dry, and you have a picture the more precious in that no art can imitate its truthfulness." De la Roche thus imagined
1053-464: A filter of a yellowish-orange color was required to keep the photograph from coming out excessively blue. Although necessary, the filter had the effect of reducing the amount of light that was absorbed. Another drawback was that the image could only be enlarged so much before the many dots that made up the image would become apparent. Competing screen plate products soon appeared, and film-based versions were eventually made. All were expensive, and until
1170-467: A fixer, because the highly acclaimed scientist Davy had already tried and failed. Apparently the article was not noted by Niépce or Daguerre, and by Talbot only after he had developed his own processes. French balloonist, professor and inventor Jacques Charles is believed to have captured fleeting negative photograms of silhouettes on light-sensitive paper at the start of the 19th century, prior to Wedgwood. Charles died in 1823 without having documented
1287-582: A free gift. Complete instructions were made public on 19 August 1839. Known as the daguerreotype process, it was the most common commercial process until the late 1850s when it was superseded by the collodion process . French-born Hércules Florence developed his own photographic technique in 1832 or 1833 in Brazil, with some help of pharmacist Joaquim Corrêa de Mello (1816–1877). Looking for another method to copy graphic designs he captured their images on paper treated with silver nitrate as contact prints or in
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#17327758169771404-505: A large number of positive prints by simple contact printing . The calotype had yet another distinction compared to other early photographic processes, in that the finished product lacked fine clarity due to its translucent paper negative. This was seen as a positive attribute for portraits because it softened the appearance of the human face . Talbot patented this process, which greatly limited its adoption, and spent many years pressing lawsuits against alleged infringers. He attempted to enforce
1521-400: A magnifier loupe, view finder, angle finder, and focusing rail/truck. Some professional SLRs can be provided with interchangeable finders for eye-level or waist-level focusing, focusing screens , eyecup, data backs, motor-drives for film transportation or external battery packs. In photography, the single-lens reflex camera (SLR) is provided with a mirror to redirect light from the lens to
1638-399: A mechanical or electronic shutter, the latter of which is common in smartphone cameras. Electronic shutters either record data from the entire sensor simultaneously (a global shutter) or record the data line by line across the sensor (a rolling shutter). In movie cameras, a rotary shutter opens and closes in sync with the advancement of each frame of film. The duration for which the shutter
1755-404: A mirror-like silver-surfaced plate that had been fumed with iodine vapor, which reacted with the silver to form a coating of silver iodide . As with the bitumen process, the result appeared as a positive when it was suitably lit and viewed. Exposure times were still impractically long until Daguerre made the pivotal discovery that an invisibly slight or "latent" image produced on such a plate by
1872-659: A more efficient alternative to his original hot salt water method. In 1837, mineralist-writer Franz von Kobell shot finely detailed salt-paper negatives of different perspectives of the Munich Frauenkirche and other local buildings. Kobell revealed his work in 1839, together with Carl August von Steinheil . The "Steinheil method" produced pictures with a diameter of 4 cm, and negatives were rephotographed to create positive versions. Talbot's early silver chloride "sensitive paper" experiments required camera exposures of an hour or more. In 1841, Talbot invented
1989-480: A mosaic of tiny color filters overlaid on the emulsion and view the results through an identical mosaic. If the individual filter elements were small enough, the three primary colors of red, blue, and green would blend together in the eye and produce the same additive color synthesis as the filtered projection of three separate photographs. Autochrome plates had an integral mosaic filter layer with roughly five million previously dyed potato grains per square inch added to
2106-489: A much shorter exposure could be "developed" to full visibility by mercury fumes. This brought the required exposure time down to a few minutes under optimum conditions. A strong hot solution of common salt served to stabilize or fix the image by removing the remaining silver iodide. On 7 January 1839, this first complete practical photographic process was announced at a meeting of the French Academy of Sciences, and
2223-425: A pencil produced a contour line on a plate within a few minutes. A camera lucida is an optical device used as a drawing aid by artists . The camera lucida projects an optical image of the subject being viewed, on the surface upon which the artist is drawing. The artist sees both scene and drawing surface simultaneously, as in a photographic double exposure. This allows the artist to duplicate key points of
2340-487: A process for making glass plates with an albumen emulsion; the Langenheim brothers of Philadelphia and John Whipple and William Breed Jones of Boston also invented workable negative-on-glass processes in the mid-1840s. In 1851, English sculptor Frederick Scott Archer invented the collodion process . Photographer and children's author Lewis Carroll used this process. Carroll refers to the process as "Talbotype" in
2457-589: A process that made use of a special substance in combination with the qualities of a mirror, rather than the camera obscura. The dark place in which the pictures dried suggests that he thought about the light sensitivity of the material, but he attributed the effect to its viscous nature. In 1777, the chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele was studying the more intrinsically light-sensitive silver chloride and determined that light darkened it by disintegrating it into microscopic dark particles of metallic silver. Of greater potential usefulness, Scheele found that ammonia dissolved
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#17327758169772574-483: A resolution ranging from 12.5 for nadir (directly down) to 25 m/pixel for the farthest off-nadir shots, which can be up to 18.9 degrees. By 2012, about 61.5% of the surface of Mars was mapped at a resolution of at least 20 meters per pixel by the Mars Express mission using this camera. Another area of study is repeat imaging, to allow the study of dynamic processes on Mars. Another trick is to make short videos of
2691-561: A set of three color-filtered black-and-white photographs in color without having to project them, and for using them to make full-color prints on paper. The first widely used method of color photography was the Autochrome plate, a process inventors and brothers Auguste and Louis Lumière began working on in the 1890s and commercially introduced in 1907. It was based on one of Louis Duclos du Haroun's ideas: instead of taking three separate photographs through color filters, take one through
2808-409: A short burst of bright light during exposure and is a commonly used artificial light source in photography. Most modern flash systems use a battery-powered high-voltage discharge through a gas-filled tube to generate bright light for a very short time (1/1,000 of a second or less). Many flash units measure the light reflected from the flash to help determine the appropriate duration of the flash. When
2925-517: A silver nitrate solution. Attempts to preserve the results with their "distinct tints of brown or black, sensibly differing in intensity" failed. It is unclear when Wedgwood's experiments took place. He may have started before 1790; James Watt wrote a letter to Thomas Wedgwood's father Josiah Wedgwood to thank him "for your instructions as to the Silver Pictures, about which, when at home, I will make some experiments". This letter (now lost)
3042-429: A small display, offering a wider range of information such as live exposure previews and histograms, albeit at the cost of potential lag and higher battery consumption. Specialized viewfinder systems exist for specific applications, like subminiature cameras for spying or underwater photography . Parallax error , resulting from misalignment between the viewfinder and lens axes, can cause inaccurate representations of
3159-512: A small opening onto an opposite surface. This principle may have been known and used in prehistoric times. The earliest known written record of the camera obscura is to be found in the 4th century BCE, in two different places in parallel: by Aristotle in Greece and by Mozi in China. Alhazen (or Ibn al-Haytham) is said to be the first that actually built a camera obscura. Until the 16th century
3276-405: A specialized trade in the 1850s, designs and sizes were standardized. The latter half of the century witnessed the advent of dry plates and roll-film , prompting a shift towards smaller and more cost-effective cameras, epitomized by the original Kodak camera, first produced in 1888. This period also saw significant advancements in lens technology and the emergence of color photography, leading to
3393-690: A stereoscope with lenses and a binocular camera in 1844. He presented two stereoscopic self portraits made by John Adamson in March 1849. A stereoscopic portrait of Adamson in the University of St Andrews Library Photographic Archive, dated "circa 1845', may be one of these sets. A stereoscopic daguerreotype portrait of Michael Faraday in Kingston College's Wheatstone collection and on loan to Bradford National Media Museum, dated "circa 1848", may be older. A practical means of color photography
3510-563: A surge in camera ownership. The first half of the 20th century saw continued miniaturization and the integration of new manufacturing materials. After World War I, Germany took the lead in camera development, spearheading industry consolidation and producing precision-made cameras. The industry saw significant product launches such as the Leica camera and the Contax , which were enabled by advancements in film and lens designs. Additionally, there
3627-476: A team led by Russell A. Kirsch at the National Institute of Standards and Technology developed a binary digital version of an existing technology, the wirephoto drum scanner, so that alphanumeric characters, diagrams, photographs and other graphics could be transferred into digital computer memory . One of the first photographs scanned was a picture of Kirsch's infant son Walden. The resolution
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3744-470: A ubiquitous everyday practice around the world. The coining of the word "photography" is usually attributed to Sir John Herschel in 1839. It is based on the Greek φῶς ( phōs ; genitive phōtos ), meaning "light", and γραφή ( graphê ), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing of light". A natural phenomenon, known as camera obscura or pinhole image, can project a (reversed) image through
3861-430: A very broad interpretation of his patent, earning himself the ill will of photographers who were using the related glass-based processes later introduced by other inventors, but he was eventually defeated. Nonetheless, Talbot's developed-out silver halide negative process is the basic technology used by chemical film cameras today. Hippolyte Bayard had also developed a method of photography but delayed announcing it, and so
3978-475: Is adjusted through the focus ring on the lens, which moves the lens elements closer or further from the sensor. Autofocus is a feature included in many lenses, which uses a motor within the lens to adjust the focus quickly and precisely based on the lens's detection of contrast or phase differences. This feature can be enabled or disabled using switches on the lens body. Advanced lenses may include mechanical image stabilization systems that move lens elements or
4095-416: Is adjusted, the opening expands and contracts in increments called f-stops . The smaller the f-stop, the more light is allowed to enter the lens, increasing the exposure. Typically, f-stops range from f / 1.4 to f / 32 in standard increments: 1.4, 2, 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16, 22, and 32. The light entering the camera is halved with each increasing increment. The wider opening at lower f-stops narrows
4212-462: Is an assembly of multiple optical elements, typically made from high-quality glass. Its primary function is to focus light onto a camera's film or digital sensor, thereby producing an image. This process significantly influences image quality, the overall appearance of the photo, and which parts of the scene are brought into focus. A camera lens is constructed from a series of lens elements, small pieces of glass arranged to form an image accurately on
4329-408: Is an instrument used to capture and store images and videos, either digitally via an electronic image sensor , or chemically via a light-sensitive material such as photographic film . As a pivotal technology in the fields of photography and videography, cameras have played a significant role in the progression of visual arts, media, entertainment, surveillance, and scientific research. The invention of
4446-497: Is believed to have been the first person to have thought of creating permanent pictures by capturing camera images on material coated with a light-sensitive chemical. He originally wanted to capture the images of a camera obscura, but found they were too faint to have an effect upon the silver nitrate solution that was recommended to him as a light-sensitive substance. Wedgwood did manage to copy painted glass plates and captured shadows on white leather, as well as on paper moistened with
4563-636: Is believed to have been written in 1790, 1791 or 1799. In 1802, an account by Humphry Davy detailing Wedgwood's experiments was published in an early journal of the Royal Institution with the title An Account of a Method of Copying Paintings upon Glass, and of Making Profiles, by the Agency of Light upon Nitrate of Silver . Davy added that the method could be used for objects that are partly opaque and partly transparent to create accurate representations of, for instance, "the woody fibres of leaves and
4680-433: Is correctly placed. The photographer then winds the film, either manually or automatically depending on the camera, to position a blank portion of the film in the path of the light. Each time a photo is taken, the film advance mechanism moves the exposed film out of the way, bringing a new, unexposed section of film into position for the next shot. The film must be advanced after each shot to prevent double exposure — where
4797-464: Is dictated by the sensor's size and properties, necessitating storage media such as Compact Flash , Memory Sticks , and SD (Secure Digital) cards . Modern digital cameras typically feature a built-in monitor for immediate image review and adjustments. Digital images are also more readily handled and manipulated by computers, offering a significant advantage in terms of flexibility and post-processing potential over traditional film. A flash provides
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4914-487: Is measured using a built-in light meter or exposure meter. Taken through the lens (called TTL metering ), these readings are taken using a panel of light-sensitive semiconductors . They are used to calculate optimal exposure settings. These settings are typically determined automatically as the reading is used by the camera's microprocessor . The reading from the light meter is incorporated with aperture settings, exposure times, and film or sensor sensitivity to calculate
5031-400: Is open is called the shutter speed or exposure time . Typical exposure times can range from one second to 1/1,000 of a second, though longer and shorter durations are not uncommon. In the early stages of photography, exposures were often several minutes long. These long exposure times often resulted in blurry images, as a single object is recorded in multiple places across a single image for
5148-465: Is pulled across the film plane during exposure. The focal-plane shutter is typically used in single-lens reflex (SLR) cameras, since covering the film (rather than blocking the light passing through the lens) allows the photographer to view the image through the lens at all times, except during the exposure itself. Covering the film also facilitates removing the lens from a loaded camera, as many SLRs have interchangeable lenses. A digital camera may use
5265-547: Is replaced by the film to make the exposure; they are suitable for static subjects only and are slow to use. The earliest cameras produced in significant numbers were plate cameras , using sensitized glass plates. Light entered a lens mounted on a lens board which was separated from the plate by extendible bellows. There were simple box cameras for glass plates but also single-lens reflex cameras with interchangeable lenses and even for color photography ( Autochrome Lumière ). Many of these cameras had controls to raise, lower, and tilt
5382-526: The Canon Pellix and others with a small periscope such as in the Corfield Periflex series. The large-format camera, taking sheet film, is a direct successor of the early plate cameras and remained in use for high-quality photography and technical, architectural, and industrial photography. There are three common types: the view camera, with its monorail and field camera variants, and
5499-428: The calotype process, which, like Daguerre's process, used the principle of chemical development of a faint or invisible "latent" image to reduce the exposure time to a few minutes. Paper with a coating of silver iodide was exposed in the camera and developed into a translucent negative image. Unlike a daguerreotype, which could only be copied by photographing it with a camera, a calotype negative could be used to make
5616-408: The photographic process came about from a series of refinements and improvements in the first 20 years. In 1884 George Eastman , of Rochester, New York , developed dry gel on paper, or film , to replace the photographic plate so that a photographer no longer needed to carry boxes of plates and toxic chemicals around. In July 1888 Eastman's Kodak camera went on the market with the slogan "You press
5733-412: The press camera . They have extensible bellows with the lens and shutter mounted on a lens plate at the front. Backs taking roll film and later digital backs are available in addition to the standard dark slide back. These cameras have a wide range of movements allowing very close control of focus and perspective. Composition and focusing are done on view cameras by viewing a ground-glass screen which
5850-487: The 1850s, the collodion process with its glass-based photographic plates combined the high quality known from the Daguerreotype with the multiple print options known from the calotype and was commonly used for decades. Roll films popularized casual use by amateurs. In the mid-20th century, developments made it possible for amateurs to take pictures in natural color as well as in black-and-white . The commercial introduction of computer-based electronic digital cameras in
5967-536: The 18th century. Around 1717, Johann Heinrich Schulze used a light-sensitive slurry to capture images of cut-out letters on a bottle. However, he did not pursue making these results permanent. Around 1800, Thomas Wedgwood made the first reliably documented, although unsuccessful attempt at capturing camera images in permanent form. His experiments did produce detailed photograms , but Wedgwood and his associate Humphry Davy found no way to fix these images. In 1826, Nicéphore Niépce first managed to fix an image that
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#17327758169776084-496: The 1930s none was "fast" enough for hand-held snapshot-taking, so they mostly served a niche market of affluent advanced amateurs. A new era in color photography began with the introduction of Kodachrome film, available for 16 mm home movies in 1935 and 35 mm slides in 1936. It captured the red, green, and blue color components in three layers of emulsion. A complex processing operation produced complementary cyan, magenta, and yellow dye images in those layers, resulting in
6201-457: The 1990s soon revolutionized photography. During the first decade of the 21st century, traditional film-based photochemical methods were increasingly marginalized as the practical advantages of the new technology became widely appreciated and the image quality of moderately priced digital cameras was continually improved. Especially since cameras became a standard feature on smartphones, taking pictures (and instantly publishing them online) has become
6318-488: The Frenchman Tiphaigne de la Roche described something quite similar to (color) photography, a process that fixes fleeting images formed by rays of light: "They coat a piece of canvas with this material, and place it in front of the object to capture. The first effect of this cloth is similar to that of a mirror, but by means of its viscous nature the prepared canvas, as is not the case with the mirror, retains
6435-535: The Mars surface by taking advantage of the pushbroom nature of the detector, each section is slightly offset for a different color, but when combined each view be used to make a short animation. By the start of 2015, about 70% of Mars had been imaged by Mars at resolutions greater than 20 m per pixel, and 97% at resolutions of least 60 m per pixel. Orcus Patera , imaged by the HRSC: Camera A camera
6552-673: The United States by 2003. In contrast, the film camera industry in the UK, Western Europe, and the USA declined during this period, while manufacturing continued in the USSR, German Democratic Republic, and China, often mimicking Western designs. The 21st century witnessed the mass adoption of digital cameras and significant improvements in sensor technology. A major revolution came with the incorporation of cameras into smartphones, making photography
6669-450: The bitumen process, substituting a more sensitive resin and a very different post-exposure treatment that yielded higher-quality and more easily viewed images. Exposure times in the camera, although substantially reduced, were still measured in hours. Niépce died suddenly in 1833, leaving his notes to Daguerre. More interested in silver-based processes than Niépce had been, Daguerre experimented with photographing camera images directly onto
6786-596: The bitumen was sufficiently hardened in proportion to its exposure to light that the unhardened part could be removed with a solvent, leaving a positive image with the light areas represented by hardened bitumen and the dark areas by bare pewter. To see the image plainly, the plate had to be lit and viewed in such a way that the bare metal appeared dark and the bitumen relatively light. In partnership, Niépce in Chalon-sur-Saône and Louis Daguerre in Paris refined
6903-602: The button, we do the rest". Now anyone could take a photograph and leave the complex parts of the process to others, and photography became available for the mass-market in 1901 with the introduction of the Kodak Brownie . Charles Wheatstone developed his mirror stereoscope around 1832, but did not really publicize his invention until June 1838. He recognized the possibility of a combination with photography soon after Daguerre and Talbot announced their inventions and got Henry Fox Talbot to produce some calotype pairs for
7020-413: The camera dates back to the 19th century and has since evolved with advancements in technology, leading to a vast array of types and models in the 21st century. Cameras function through a combination of multiple mechanical components and principles. These include exposure control, which regulates the amount of light reaching the sensor or film; the lens, which focuses the light; the viewfinder, which allows
7137-436: The camera obscura was mainly used to study optics and astronomy, especially to safely watch solar eclipses without damaging the eyes. In the later half of the 16th century some technical improvements were developed: a biconvex lens in the opening (first described by Gerolamo Cardano in 1550) and a diaphragm restricting the aperture ( Daniel Barbaro in 1568) gave a brighter and sharper image. In 1558 Giambattista della Porta
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#17327758169777254-437: The camera obscura. In 1614 Angelo Sala noted that sunlight will turn powdered silver nitrate black, and that paper wrapped around silver nitrate for a year will turn black. Wilhelm Homberg described how light darkened some chemicals in 1694. Around 1717, German polymath Johann Heinrich Schulze accidentally discovered that a slurry of chalk and nitric acid into which some silver particles had been dissolved
7371-410: The camera through an aperture, an opening adjusted by overlapping plates called the aperture ring. Typically located in the lens, this opening can be widened or narrowed to alter the amount of light that strikes the film or sensor. The size of the aperture can be set manually, by rotating the lens or adjusting a dial or automatically based on readings from an internal light meter. As the aperture
7488-567: The collection of IMS. Henry Fox Talbot had already succeeded in creating stabilized photographic negatives on paper in 1835, but worked on perfecting his own process after reading early reports of Daguerre's invention. In early 1839, he acquired a key improvement, an effective fixer, from his friend John Herschel , a polymath scientist who had previously shown that hyposulfite of soda (commonly called "hypo" and now known formally as sodium thiosulfate ) would dissolve silver salts. News of this solvent also benefited Daguerre, who soon adopted it as
7605-533: The composition, lighting, and exposure of their shots, enhancing the accuracy of the final image. Viewfinders fall into two primary categories: optical and electronic. Optical viewfinders, commonly found in Single-Lens Reflex (SLR) cameras, use a system of mirrors or prisms to reflect light from the lens to the viewfinder, providing a clear, real-time view of the scene. Electronic viewfinders, typical in mirrorless cameras, project an electronic image onto
7722-422: The degree of magnification expected of the final image. The shutter, along with the aperture, is one of two ways to control the amount of light entering the camera. The shutter determines the duration that the light-sensitive surface is exposed to light. The shutter opens, light enters the camera and exposes the film or sensor to light, and then the shutter closes. There are two types of mechanical shutters:
7839-648: The demand for portraiture that emerged from the middle classes during the Industrial Revolution . This demand, which could not be met in volume and in cost by oil painting, added to the push for the development of photography. Roger Fenton and Philip Henry Delamotte helped popularize the new way of recording events, the first by his Crimean War pictures, the second by his record of the disassembly and reconstruction of The Crystal Palace in London . Other mid-nineteenth-century photographers established
7956-620: The details of the process to the Chamber of Peers in Paris. On August 19 the technical details were made public in a meeting of the Academy of Sciences and the Academy of Fine Arts in the Palace of Institute. (For granting the rights of the inventions to the public, Daguerre and Niépce were awarded generous annuities for life.) When the metal based daguerreotype process was demonstrated formally to
8073-410: The duration of the exposure. To prevent this, shorter exposure times can be used. Very short exposure times can capture fast-moving action and eliminate motion blur. However, shorter exposure times require more light to produce a properly exposed image, so shortening the exposure time is not always possible. Like aperture settings, exposure times increment in powers of two. The two settings determine
8190-528: The evolution of the technology in the 19th century was driven by pioneers like Thomas Wedgwood , Nicéphore Niépce , and Henry Fox Talbot . First using the camera obscura for chemical experiments, they ultimately created cameras specifically for chemical photography, and later reduced the camera's size and optimized lens configurations. The introduction of the daguerreotype process in 1839 facilitated commercial camera manufacturing, with various producers contributing diverse designs. As camera manufacturing became
8307-614: The experiments. Although the journal of the nascent Royal Institution probably reached its very small group of members, the article must have been read eventually by many more people. It was reviewed by David Brewster in the Edinburgh Magazine in December 1802, appeared in chemistry textbooks as early as 1803, was translated into French and was published in German in 1811. Readers of the article may have been discouraged to find
8424-408: The exposure value (EV), a measure of how much light is recorded during the exposure. There is a direct relationship between the exposure times and aperture settings so that if the exposure time is lengthened one step, but the aperture opening is also narrowed one step, then the amount of light that contacts the film or sensor is the same. In most modern cameras, the amount of light entering the camera
8541-543: The finger pressure was released. The Asahiflex II , released by Japanese company Asahi (Pentax) in 1954, was the world's first SLR camera with an instant return mirror. In the single-lens reflex camera, the photographer sees the scene through the camera lens. This avoids the problem of parallax which occurs when the viewfinder or viewing lens is separated from the taking lens. Single-lens reflex cameras have been made in several formats including sheet film 5x7" and 4x5", roll film 220/120 taking 8,10, 12, or 16 photographs on
8658-456: The first photo taken in Egypt; that of Ras El Tin Palace . In America, by 1851 a broadsheet by daguerreotypist Augustus Washington was advertising prices ranging from 50 cents to $ 10. However, daguerreotypes were fragile and difficult to copy. Photographers encouraged chemists to refine the process of making many copies cheaply, which eventually led them back to Talbot's process. Ultimately,
8775-556: The flash is attached directly to the camera—typically in a slot at the top of the camera (the flash shoe or hot shoe) or through a cable—activating the shutter on the camera triggers the flash, and the camera's internal light meter can help determine the duration of the flash. Additional flash equipment can include a light diffuser , mount and stand, reflector, soft box , trigger and cord. Accessories for cameras are mainly used for care, protection, special effects, and functions. Large format cameras use special equipment that includes
8892-652: The formula alkaline . The new formula was sold by the Platinotype Company in London as Sulphur-Pyrogallol Developer. Nineteenth-century experimentation with photographic processes frequently became proprietary. The German-born, New Orleans photographer Theodore Lilienthal successfully sought legal redress in an 1881 infringement case involving his "Lambert Process" in the Eastern District of Louisiana. The daguerreotype proved popular in response to
9009-556: The image being further affected by the light. The notion that light can affect various substances—for instance, the sun tanning of skin or fading of textile—must have been around since very early times. Ideas of fixing the images seen in mirrors or other ways of creating images automatically may also have been in people's minds long before anything like photography was developed. However, there seem to be no historical records of any ideas even remotely resembling photography before 1700, despite early knowledge of light-sensitive materials and
9126-445: The image formed in a camera was created by Niépce in 1826 or 1827. It was made on a polished sheet of pewter and the light-sensitive substance was a thin coating of bitumen , a naturally occurring petroleum tar, which was dissolved in lavender oil , applied to the surface of the pewter and allowed to dry before use. After a very long exposure in the camera (traditionally said to be eight hours, but now believed to be several days),
9243-438: The image sensor itself to counteract camera shake, especially beneficial in low-light conditions or at slow shutter speeds. Lens hoods, filters, and caps are accessories used alongside a lens to enhance image quality, protect the lens, or achieve specific effects. The camera's viewfinder provides a real-time approximation of what will be captured by the sensor or film. It assists photographers in aligning, focusing, and adjusting
9360-485: The images formed in a small camera, but the photographs were negatives , darkest where the camera image was lightest and vice versa, and they were not permanent in the sense of being reasonably light-fast; like earlier experimenters, Niépce could find no way to prevent the coating from darkening all over when it was exposed to light for viewing. Disenchanted with silver salts , he turned his attention to light-sensitive organic substances. The oldest surviving photograph of
9477-498: The introduction of the affordable Ricohflex III TLR in 1952 to the first 35mm SLR with automatic exposure, the Olympus AutoEye in 1960, new designs and features continuously emerged. Electronics became integral to camera design in the 1970s, evident in models like Polaroid's SX-70 and Canon's AE-1 . Transition to digital photography marked the late 20th century, culminating in digital camera sales surpassing film cameras in
9594-426: The late 20th and early 21st century, use electronic sensors to capture and store images. The rapid development of smartphone camera technology in the 21st century has blurred the lines between dedicated cameras and multifunctional devices, profoundly influencing how society creates, shares, and consumes visual content. Beginning with the use of the camera obscura and transitioning to complex photographic cameras,
9711-467: The leaf-type shutter and the focal-plane shutter. The leaf-type uses a circular iris diaphragm maintained under spring tension inside or just behind the lens that rapidly opens and closes when the shutter is released. More commonly, a focal-plane shutter is used. This shutter operates close to the film plane and employs metal plates or cloth curtains with an opening that passes across the light-sensitive surface. The curtains or plates have an opening that
9828-433: The lens forwards or backward to control perspective. Dry-plate photography The history of photography began with the discovery of two critical principles: The first is camera obscura image projection; the second is the discovery that some substances are visibly altered by exposure to light. There are no artifacts or descriptions that indicate any attempt to capture images with light sensitive materials prior to
9945-437: The light-sensitive surface. Each element is designed to reduce optical aberrations , or distortions, such as chromatic aberration (a failure of the lens to focus all colors at the same point), vignetting (darkening of image corners), and distortion (bending or warping of the image). The degree of these distortions can vary depending on the subject of the photo. The focal length of the lens, measured in millimeters, plays
10062-470: The medium as a more precise means than engraving or lithography of making a record of landscapes and architecture: for example, Robert Macpherson 's broad range of photographs of Rome, the interior of the Vatican, and the surrounding countryside became a sophisticated tourist's visual record of his own travels. In 1839, François Arago reported the invention of photography to stunned listeners by displaying
10179-510: The news quickly spread. At first, all details of the process were withheld and specimens were shown only at Daguerre's studio, under his close supervision, to Academy members and other distinguished guests. Arrangements were made for the French government to buy the rights in exchange for pensions for Niépce's son and Daguerre and to present the invention to the world (with the exception of Great Britain, where an agent for Daguerre patented it) as
10296-429: The optimal exposure. Light meters typically average the light in a scene to 18% middle gray. More advanced cameras are more nuanced in their metering—weighing the center of the frame more heavily (center-weighted metering), considering the differences in light across the image (matrix metering), or allowing the photographer to take a light reading at a specific point within the image (spot metering). A camera lens
10413-480: The photogram and shadow images he managed to capture around 1800 (see below). Elizabeth Fulhame 's book An essay on combustion described her experiments of the effects of light on silver salts. She is better known for her discovery of what is now called catalysis , but Larry J. Schaaf in his history of photography considered her work on silver chemistry to represent a major step in the development of photography. English photographer and inventor Thomas Wedgwood
10530-490: The process, but purportedly demonstrated it in his lectures at the Louvre. It was not publicized until François Arago mentioned it at his introduction of the details of the daguerreotype to the world in 1839. He later wrote that the first idea of fixing the images of the camera obscura or the solar microscope with chemical substances belonged to Charles. Later historians probably only built on Arago's information, and, much later,
10647-473: The public, the competitor approach of paper-based calotype negative and salt print processes invented by William Henry Fox Talbot was already demonstrated in London (but with less publicity). Subsequent innovations made photography easier and more versatile. New materials reduced the required camera exposure time from minutes to seconds, and eventually to a small fraction of a second; new photographic media were more economical, sensitive or convenient. Since
10764-407: The range of focus so the background is blurry while the foreground is in focus. This depth of field increases as the aperture closes. A narrow aperture results in a high depth of field, meaning that objects at many different distances from the camera will appear to be in focus. What is acceptably in focus is determined by the circle of confusion , the photographic technique, the equipment in use and
10881-408: The same basic design: light enters an enclosed box through a converging or convex lens and an image is recorded on a light-sensitive medium. A shutter mechanism controls the length of time that light enters the camera. Most cameras also have a viewfinder, which shows the scene to be recorded, along with means to adjust various combinations of focus , aperture and shutter speed . Light enters
10998-429: The same lens systems. Almost all SLR cameras use a front-surfaced mirror in the optical path to direct the light from the lens via a viewing screen and pentaprism to the eyepiece. At the time of exposure, the mirror is flipped up out of the light path before the shutter opens. Some early cameras experimented with other methods of providing through-the-lens viewing, including the use of a semi-transparent pellicle as in
11115-873: The same section of film is exposed to light twice, resulting in overlapped images. Once all frames on the film roll have been exposed, the film is rewound back into the cartridge, ready to be removed from the camera for developing. In digital cameras, sensors typically comprise Charge-Coupled Devices (CCDs) or Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (CMOS) chips, both of which convert incoming light into electrical charges to form digital images. CCD sensors, though power-intensive, are recognized for their excellent light sensitivity and image quality. Conversely, CMOS sensors offer individual pixel readouts, leading to less power consumption and faster frame rates, with their image quality having improved significantly over time. Digital cameras convert light into electronic data that can be directly processed and stored. The volume of data generated
11232-436: The scene on the drawing surface, thus aiding in the accurate rendering of perspective. Note: In the process discussed here, the "Fixing" step is mentioned. This is a step in the negative development process as well as in the chemical printing process. (Of course not required in digital printing). At this stage, all remaining light-sensitive materials are removed so that the product (film or print) can be exposed to light without
11349-404: The shutter is briefly opened to allow light to pass during the exposure. Loading film into a film camera is a manual process. The film, typically housed in a cartridge, is loaded into a designated slot in the camera. One end of the film strip, the film leader, is manually threaded onto a take-up spool. Once the back of the camera is closed, the film advance lever or knob is used to ensure the film
11466-602: The silver chloride, but not the dark particles. This discovery could have been used to stabilize or "fix" a camera image captured with silver chloride, but was not picked up by the earliest photography experimenters. Scheele also noted that red light did not have much effect on silver chloride, a phenomenon that would later be applied in photographic darkrooms as a method of seeing black-and-white prints without harming their development. Although Thomas Wedgwood felt inspired by Scheele's writings in general, he must have missed or forgotten these experiments; he found no method to fix
11583-596: The stereoscope. He received the first results in October 1840, but was not fully satisfied as the angle between the shots was very big. Between 1841 and 1842 Henry Collen made calotypes of statues, buildings and portraits, including a portrait of Charles Babbage shot in August 1841. Wheatstone also obtained daguerreotype stereograms from Mr. Beard in 1841 and from Hippolyte Fizeau and Antoine Claudet in 1842. None of these have yet been located. David Brewster developed
11700-407: The story "A Photographer's Day Out". Herbert Bowyer Berkeley discovered that with his own addition of sulfite , to absorb the sulfur dioxide given off by the chemical dithionite in the developer , dithionite was not required in the developing process. In 1881, he published his discovery. Berkeley's formula contained pyrogallol, sulfite, and citric acid. Ammonia was added just before use to make
11817-402: The subject's position. While negligible with distant subjects, this error becomes prominent with closer ones. Some viewfinders incorporate parallax-compensating devices to mitigate that issue. Image capture in a camera occurs when light strikes a light-sensitive surface: photographic film or a digital sensor . Housed within the camera body, the film or sensor records the light's pattern when
11934-440: The substance "Scotophors" when he published his findings in 1719. He thought the discovery could be applied to detect whether metals or minerals contained any silver and hoped that further experimentation by others would lead to some other useful results. Schulze's process resembled later photogram techniques and is sometimes regarded as the very first form of photography. The early science fiction novel Giphantie (1760) by
12051-425: The surface. Then through the use of a rolling press, five tons of pressure were used to flatten the grains, enabling every one of them to capture and absorb color and their microscopic size allowing the illusion that the colors are merged. The final step was adding a coat of the light-capturing substance silver bromide , after which a color image could be imprinted and developed. In order to see it, reversal processing
12168-531: The unsupported year 1780 was attached to it. As Arago indicated the first years of the 19th century and a date prior to the 1802 publication of Wedgwood's process, this would mean that Charles' demonstrations took place in 1800 or 1801, assuming that Arago was this accurate almost 40 years later. Nicéphore Niépce was a French aristocrat, scientist, and chemist. His family fortune allowed him to engage in inventions and scientific research. In 1816, using paper coated with silver chloride , he succeeded in photographing
12285-734: The user to preview the scene; and the film or sensor, which captures the image. Several types of cameras exist, each suited to specific uses and offering unique capabilities. Single-lens reflex (SLR) cameras provide real-time, exact imaging through the lens. Large-format and medium-format cameras offer higher image resolution and are often used in professional and artistic photography. Compact cameras, known for their portability and simplicity, are popular in consumer photography. Rangefinder cameras , with separate viewing and imaging systems, were historically widely used in photojournalism. Motion picture cameras are specialized for filming cinematic content, while digital cameras , which became prevalent in
12402-428: The viewfinder prior to releasing the shutter for composing and focusing an image. When the shutter is released, the mirror swings up and away, allowing the exposure of the photographic medium , and instantly returns after the exposure is finished. No SLR camera before 1954 had this feature, although the mirror on some early SLR cameras was entirely operated by the force exerted on the shutter release and only returned when
12519-528: The wings of insects". He also found that solar microscope images of small objects were easily captured on prepared paper. Davy, apparently unaware or forgetful of Scheele's discovery, concluded that substances should be found to eliminate (or deactivate) the unexposed particles in silver nitrate or silver chloride "to render the process as useful as it is elegant". Wedgwood may have prematurely abandoned his experiments because of his frail and failing health. He died at age 34 in 1805. Davy seems not to have continued
12636-455: Was a marked increase in accessibility to cinematography for amateurs with Eastman Kodak's production of the first 16-mm and 8-mm reversal safety films. The World War II era saw a focus on the development of specialized aerial reconnaissance and instrument-recording equipment, even as the overall pace of non-military camera innovation slowed. In the second half of the century, Japanese manufacturers in particular advanced camera technology. From
12753-466: Was captured with a camera, but at least eight hours or even several days of exposure in the camera were required and the earliest results were very crude. Niépce's associate Louis Daguerre went on to develop the daguerreotype process, the first publicly announced and commercially viable photographic process. The daguerreotype required only minutes of exposure in the camera, and produced clear, finely detailed results. On August 2, 1839 Daguerre demonstrated
12870-468: Was darkened by sunlight. After experiments with threads that had created lines on the bottled substance after he placed it in direct sunlight for a while, he applied stencils of words to the bottle. The stencils produced copies of the text in dark red, almost violet characters on the surface of the otherwise whitish contents. The impressions persisted until they were erased by shaking the bottle or until overall exposure to light obliterated them. Schulze named
12987-421: Was made practical by Hermann Wilhelm Vogel 's 1873 discovery of a way to make emulsions sensitive to the rest of the spectrum, gradually introduced into commercial use beginning in the mid-1880s. Two French inventors, Louis Ducos du Hauron and Charles Cros , working unknown to each other during the 1860s, famously unveiled their nearly identical ideas on the same day in 1869. Included were methods for viewing
13104-507: Was not recognized as its inventor. In 1839, John Herschel made the first glass negative, but his process was difficult to reproduce. Slovene Janez Puhar invented a process for making photographs on glass in 1841; it was recognized on June 17, 1852, in Paris by the Académie National Agricole, Manufacturière et Commerciale. In 1847, Nicephore Niépce's cousin, the chemist Niépce St. Victor , published his invention of
13221-479: Was sought from the very beginning. Results were demonstrated by Edmond Becquerel as early as the year of 1848, but exposures lasting for hours or days were required and the captured colors were so light-sensitive they would only bear very brief inspection in dim light. The first color photograph was a set of three black-and-white photographs taken through red, green, and blue color filters and shown superimposed by using three projectors with similar filters. It
13338-470: Was taken by Thomas Sutton in 1861 for use in a lecture by the Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell , who had proposed the method in 1855. The photographic emulsions then in use were insensitive to most of the spectrum , so the result was very imperfect and the demonstration was soon forgotten. Maxwell's method is now most widely known through the early 20th century work of Sergei Prokudin-Gorskii . It
13455-548: Was the first step in the path that Walter Benjamin described in The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction . A physiognotrace is an instrument, designed to support semi-automated portrait. It was invented in the 18th century and was abandoned when light-sensitive materials were discovered. It was popular for several decades. The sitter sat in a wooden frame and turned to the side to pose. A pantograph connected to
13572-457: Was the first to write a description of using the camera obscura as a drawing aid in his popular and influential books. Della Porta's proposal was widely adopted by artists and since the 17th century portable versions of the camera obscura were commonly used—first as a tent, later as boxes. The box type camera obscura was the basis for photographic cameras, as used in the earliest attempts to capture natural images in light sensitive materials. This
13689-422: Was used to develop each plate into a transparent positive that could be viewed directly or projected with an ordinary projector. One of the drawbacks of the technology was an exposure time of at least a second in bright daylight, with the time required quickly increasing in poor light. An indoor portrait required several minutes with the subject stationary. This was because the grains absorbed color fairly slowly, and
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