Topic: A birthday of note

[EarlJam]

Historian Michael Beschloss notes that the Kodak camera first went on sale today, in 1889. It was not inexpensive, $725 in 2020 dollars. Film, processing, and printing were, shall we say, eye-opening.

According to the Smithsonian, "After 100 pictures had been taken on the film strip, the camera could be returned to the Kodak factory for developing and printing at a cost of $10 [$290 in current dollars]. The camera, loaded with a fresh roll of film was returned with the negatives and mounted prints. Kodak advertisements from 1888 also state that any amateur could "finish his own pictures" and spare rolls of film were sold for $2 [$58 in current dollars]."

https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_760118

[Francois]

That's a neat discovery.
While it seems like it was really expensive, lets not forget that it was like the iPhone of it's day.
When we look at it, new cameras have not dropped in price that much. Just look at the prices of mirrorless cameras these days!

[John Robison]

Interesting no doubt, but….. I would argue that a more significant date was Kodak’s introduction of the Brownie camera in February 1900 and 120 roll film in 1901. The Brownie, at $1 and a 6 exposure roll of film at $.15 cents that could be processed and printed for an additional $1 was the real start of the democratization of photography. And the basic box Brownie continued to be sold for the next 50 years at least, quite a run in todays ‘5 years and it’s obsolete’ production cycle.
Although, I’d suppose the closest camera to today that would have a reasonable claim on that achievement is the Holga 120. Sold since 1982 and with only a few small changes, (looks and operates very much the same anyway) is closing in on 40 years in production.

[Francois]

What made the Kodak #1 so important is that it was the first to bring roll film to the users. Before that all there was were glass plates.
Granted the roll film was made of paper and needed to be waxed so that it would become transparent enough to print, but it still was a photographic medium in a roll and it was the first.
Think of it like the original iPhone of it's day. It was the first of it's kind and everybody copied it afterwards. That's what makes it so important.