Origins Chinese and Greek philosophers describe principles of cameras and optics. This took place in the 1500’s.

Important Discovery In 1727, Johann Schulze discovered that silver nitrate became darker in light.

Early Photos In 1816, Joseph Niepce took the first photographic picture with camera obscura. Unfortunately, the photo faded quickly, and took eight hours to develop. In 1826, Niepce makes a permanent picture. In 1837, Louis Daguerre invents the daguerreotype process, which took under thirty minutes to develop, and didn’t fade.

Early Cameras The first camera was made on January 10, 1839, and was wooden. In 1851, Fredrick Scott Archer invented the Collodion Method, which required only two or three second of light exposure to fully develop. In 1871, Richard Leach Maddox proposes the use of a paste of gelatin and silver bromide on a glass plate, which was called the "dry plate" process. Seven years later, Dry Plates are commercially manufactured.

Filming History In 1888, Eastman patents the Kodak camera that used a 20 foot long piece of paper, which could print inch circular pictures. A year later, the camera used a roll of film instead of paper. In 1895, The Lumiere brothers presented the first motion picture In 1900, the Lumiere brothers sell their camera patent to Pathe. The first mass production camera, the Brownie, is released in 1900.

A New Age In 1907, the Lumiere brothers manufactured the first commercial color film, the Autochrome plates. In 1919, the first filming school, The Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography, is opened. In 1956, The Ampex Corporation made the first video tape recorder, called the Ampex VXR In 1975, Sony released the first consumer video cassette recorder, called the Betamax. In 1995, Sony released the DCR-VX1000, which was the first digital video camcorder.

Video Cameras in the Present In 1997, shareyourworld.com was created by Chase Norlin, which allowed users to upload and share videos to a universal website, which opened a new window for sharing video production. In 2000, Sony's new HDW-F900 Camcorder with digital 24-frame progressive high definition technology was used to shoot Star Wars: Episode II.