The first roll-film camera.

I enjoy teaching the history of photography by following the development of the camera. 50 years after the birth of photography (1839) we see the invention of the first roll film camera which brought photography into everyday life.

The Inventor:

In 1888, American inventor, George Eastman invented the first roll film camera. The roll-film camera was made possible due to the innovation of plastic which created the ability to wrap a long strip of clear acetate around a reel. On that acetate was a coating of light sensitive silver emulsion. The camera came loaded with a roll of film to take 100 shots. Once finished you would send the entire camera to the processing lab. You get back the developed negatives, the prints, and a new roll of film loaded into the camera.

George Eastman holding his invention, the Kodak Camera, which was the first roll-film ever made.
George Eastman holding his Kodak camera on a voyage from the United State to France on the SS Gallia in 1890. This image was also taken with The Kodak camera.

The Kodak took round pictures, as Eastman decided that it was the natural way that a lens creates an image. And it may be the only camera ever manufactured to do so. Today, some artists play with altering their camera to take circular images. 

The Kodak’s impact on society:

With the invention of this camera, we start to see images of everyday life; holidays, birthdays, vacations, family activities, etc. Before The Kodak, cameras were big and bulky and required complicated developing. The Kodak made photography more simple and straightforward to what had been laborious and technical. And here we have the beginning of the “snapshot”. 

George Eastman came up with the name Kodak as it was not a word in any language, and it would then mean the same thing in every country. A little more than a decade later the company name would become Kodak and the camera then became known as the Brownie. 

Note the price, $25, which is $850 in todays economy.