Camera

What do you know about cameras? Are you old enough to remember when box cameras were popular, or are you so young you wouldn’t even know how to use a reloadable camera that took 110 or 35mm film? Have you watched the advancement of camcorders and the digitization of all form of film and been curious how we’ve come so far so fast with technology?

If you think about it, cameras are based on the human eye, which incorporate a lens through which light is allowed and processed into an image, and a retina, which is the “film” onto which that image is developed. The “negative” that the eye creates is then sent to the brain for the “one-hour processing”, which in humans takes only microseconds. The camera was invented to stamp the same sort of memories onto paper rather than in the mind to preserve precious moments and images that would otherwise fade in our mind with the introduction of new ones.

Actually, the advancement has not been all in the last few years, though digital cameras have risen in popularity as they have become more and more technologically adept at ever increasing speeds. Truthfully, the 35mm camera, which was the most common film format until digitized imaging overtook the market, was actually invented in 1913, at a time when motion pictures were still silent. Before that type of film ever became mainstream, medium and large format cameras were popular, and roll film went through several sizes and iterations.

In motion pictures, the major shift came with 70mm film, producing the letterbox effect and allowing wider angle shots. Of course, with high definition now available, this aspect ratio has been improved further, offering a 16:9 wide screen appearance that is more conducive to the eye and allows for a great image on the screen. In fact, with newly formatted DVDs and Blu-Ray discs now available with the ultra-high definition 1920x1080 resolution, film and cameras are being pushed to the limits of their capabilities, forcing research and development departments of many of the major camera manufacturers to work overtime in hopes of beating competitors to the market with the latest and greatest.

It seems that, in the recent decades, cameras have made progress at a greater rate than in times past. This could be because of the high demand for technology, or it could be because, with more and more historical discoveries to build upon, design improvements are easier and faster to discover and create.