The box camera was a major innovation. Until the box camera, photography was so complicated and expensive that only the most committed amateurs could persue photography. George Eastman in 1889 introduced the Kodak box camera bring photography within reach of a much larger market--but it was still relatively expensive compared to what earlier cameras cost. We begin to see affluent people taking snap shots at this time. Even children could operate a box camera. We see, for example, boys at exclusive private schools with box cameras in the 1890s. The Kodak box was the first box camera to become widely adopted by the public. The design was soon copied by competitors, but it was the archetype for the cameras that made the family snapshot possible for middle-class Americans. The secret to the box camera was flexible roll film which made the cameras light weight and portabl. Heavy tripods were no longer necessary. And doing away with heavy, fragile glass photographic plates freed the photographer to go about anywhere.
And Kodak solved the development process which was complicated. The first Kodak camera was pre-loaded with film. The the customer mailed the the camera to Kodak which processed and relaoded the camera with flim. If the individual could afford it, the box camera was a simple cameras that could be easily operated by amateurs. The film was on a strip which could be advanced by simply winding. Thus by the 1890s snap shots begin to appear in contrast with the formal studio shots previously available. Box cameras while not cheap in the 1890s, were a fraction of the cost of the elaborate cameras previously required. Prices steadily fell in the next centuary which would bring photography available to virtually everyone.
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