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Chinese and Greek philosophers describe principle of optics and he camera.
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Camera Obscura ( darkened room) improved by utilizing a basic lens.
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Issac Newton proves light is the source of color. Used a prism to divide sunlight into different colors and combine them to make white light.
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Dolland develops Arochromatic telescope lens, improves camera obscura image.
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Johann Heinrich Schulze discovered silver nitrate darkens when exposed to light.
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First Panorama opens, forerunner movie house created by Robert Baker.
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Thomas Young suggests that the retina contains three types of color sensitive receptors. One for blue light, one for green, and one for red. He also suggests that the brain interprets combinations to form other colors in visible UV spectrum.
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Wedgwood produces silhouettes of opaque objects by printing them on silver nitrate coated paper. Images were unfixed and faded by daylight.
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Joseph Niepce creates first photographic image using camera obscura. Image requires eight hours of light exposure and faded easily.
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Daguerre begins partnership with Niepce.
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Fox Talbot experiments with silver chloride paper to achieve "negatives" of silhouettes. Uses small mousetrap cameras to photograph personal library window at Lacock Abbey, thus creating the first negative.
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Louis Daguerre creates the first daguerreotype, a fixed image that did not fade and required less than thirty minutes of light exposure.
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First American client issued in photography to Alexander Wolcott for his camera.
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William Henry patents Calotype process. First negative-positive process making the first multiple copies possible.
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Petzval calculates mathematic compounded lens of f/3.6 and reduces Daguerreotype exposure to one minute.
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First advertisement with a photograph is published in Philadelphia.
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Niepce De St. Victor discovers use of albumen to bind silver salts on glass base. Process requires ten minutes exposure. Talbot patents process in England.
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Frederick Scott Archer invents Collodion process - images. Required only a few seconds of light exposure.
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First Panoramic camera, The Sutton, is created by Thomas Sutton.
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Oliver Wendell Holmes invents stereoscope viewer.
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Photographs and photographic negatives are added to protected works under copyright law.
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Richard Leach Maddox creates gelatin dry plate silver bromide process causing negatives to no longer be required to be devloped immediately.
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Eastman Dry Plate Company is founded.
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George Eastman creates flexible, paper-based photographic film,
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Hannibal Goodwin filled patent for roll film with flexible plastic base.
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Eastman patents Kodak roll-film camera.
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First ever camera is mass marketed -The Brownie.
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First 35mm still camera is created, The Ur- Leica.
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Geheral Electric invents modern flash bulb.
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First light meter equipped with photoelectric cell is introduced.
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Eastman Kodak begins marketing Kodachrome film.
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Eastman Kodak opens the doors of Kodacolor negative film.
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Chester Carlon receives a patent for electric photography (xerography).
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Edwin Land markets Polaroid camera.
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Eastman Kodak introduces high-speed Tri-X film.
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EG&G develops underwater camera with an extreme depth limit for the U.S Navy.
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Polaroid introduces instant color film.
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Photograph of the Earth is taken from the moon. The photograph (Earthrise) is one of the most influential environmental photographs.
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Polaroid introduces one-step instant photography: SX-70 camera.
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George Eastman and Edwin Land are inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
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Konica introduces first point-and-shoot camera with autofocus.
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Sony produces first consumer camcorder - captures moving pictures and still.
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The University of Calgary Canada ASI Science Team builds the Fairchild All-Sky camera.
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Canon produces first digital, electronic still camera.
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Pixar introduces digital imaging processor.
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Eastman Kodak announces Photo Compact Disc, a digital image storage medium.
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Microsoft releases Windows 3.1.
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Kodadk announces Photo CD as a digital image storage medium.
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Tim Berners -Lee produces software and protocol for the World Wide Web.
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NCSA releases World Wide Web browser.
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Netscape launches WWW Navigator (browser).
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APS (advanced photo system) is introduced with cassettes that can hold 24mm wide film. Microsfot releases Internet Explorer.
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First consumer megapixel camera introduced.
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Kyocera Corporation introduces the VP - 210 VisualPhone. First mobile phone with a built-in camera. Could record video and take still photos.
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First digital camera with interchangeable lenses (DSLR) is released by Nikon.
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The Canon EOS D30 (first digital SLR) is released for market with a CMOS sensor.
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Sharp and J-Phone introduced first camera-phone in Japan.
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Development of "mircolens array" leads to higher megapixel image senors.
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Sony releases DSC-F707, 5 megapixel sensor that can take night pictures without flash.
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Contax N Digital first camera to include a CCD sensor the size of a full 35mm frame. The EOS-1D's was Canon's first full frame camera.
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Olympus E-1 first camera to utilize Four-Thirds SLR system.
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Canon launches Digital Rebel, first affordable DSLR that is aimed at non-professional market. Olympus introduces first DSLR with self-cleaning image sensor.
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Nikon discontinues most film cameras and focuses on still photos with higher resolution lenses.
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Polaroid discontinues instant film products due to the overwhelming popularity of digital photography.
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Nikon D90 is the first DSLR to record video.
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Canon EOS 7Dirst APS-C is the first 18MPcamera. First to use dual image processors.
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Fujifilm's Real 3D W3 is the first digital camera to shoot 3D photographs.
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The Pentax 645D is the first DSLR to be sold for less than $10,000.