Kodak Super Six-20: the first camera with automatic exposure, introduced by Kodak in 1938.

If you’re really into old cameras (as I am) you’ll probably love this. If not you’ll probably find it boring. It’s essentially a conversation between Chris Marquardt and Todd Gustavson (from the Kodak Museum) regarding the history of cameras. It’s quite long (over one hour) and at times a bit rambling. I’m not sure that Mr. Marquardt adds much: he interjects a few words here and there, but Mr. Gustavson does most of the talking. I suspect that I would have enjoyed the video more if it has just been Mr. Gustavson talking. I found Mr. Marquardt’s interjections somewhat distracting I’m afraid. I would congratulate him on initiating the video though, which I found quite engrossing.

I have books on the history of cameras, but Todd Gustavson really brought the story to life. I found a number of items particularly interesting: the first zoom lens (the Voigtlander Zoomar); the first auto exposure camera, the Kodak Super 620 (I didn’t realize it was so big); the first flash bulb, the vacublitz (a glass tube filled with magnesium foil – it was absolutely enormous). It also reminded me how recent digital photography is. The first digital cameras (made by Kodak, using Kodak sensors and at various times Canon and Nikon bodies) came out in the early 1990s: only about 25 years ago. Interestingly they cost $25,000.

One word of warning though. My brother-in-law lives in Rochester, and during a visit we went to the Kodak Museum (formerly the Kodak House). While it was somewhat interesting I was a little disappointed. If you go don’t expect to see these vaults. They’re not accessible to the public (although a docent told me that if you give them advanced notice and indicate which areas you’re interested in it is possible to arrange a visit. I don’t know if he was correct). A small room with a limited collection of important historical cameras is open to the public, but this collection is much smaller than I thought it would be.

I can also recommend Mr. Gustavson’s book: Camera: A History of Photography from Daguerreotype to Digital.

From a complicated, time-consuming and expensive process to the simple press of a button, photography has come a very long way since the first cameras came along in the early 1800’s.The vast majority of this fascinating evolution can be seen in this video where Chris Marquardt went on a private tour of Kodak’s technology vault.Think you’ve got an impressive camera collection? Wait until you see this 8,500-strong collection of almost every significant camera invented in the last 200 years.

Source: A Journey Through The History of Photography in Kodak’s Technology Vault – DIY Photography