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Want to know why people never smiled in old photographs? Or how long ago they started taking pictures of seals? In this article you will learn about these and other interesting facts about photography.
The largest private camera collection consists of more than 4,400 cameras
The first picture of a man was taken by accident
In 1828, Louis Daguerre took the first photograph of a man. But his intention was to photograph Boulevard Temple in Paris. The man in the photo was using the services of a street shoe shiner. The shutter speed was 7 minutes, since the man hardly moved during that time, he also got in the photo.
The first digital camera was invented in 1975
Steven Sasson invented the world’s first digital camera in 1975. He was working at Eastman Kodak at the time.
The first digital camera weighed 4 times as much as a modern SLR
Stephen’s camera weighed about 3.6 kg and took pictures at 0.01 MP.
The first flashes were explosive
In the early days of photography, flashes were very dangerous. To produce a bright flash of light, photographers mixed powders of potassium chloride and aluminum and then set them on fire. These powders, if not mixed well, resulted in violent explosions.
Cats were photographed much earlier than you think
You might think that funny cat pictures are a trend that started on the Internet a few years ago. But cat photography dates back to the 19th century.
This viral trend started in the 1870s when Harry Poynter took a picture of his cat. That’s where it all started.
Polaroid released the first DSLR with autofocus in 1979
SLR cameras didn’t get autofocus until 120 years after they were invented. The first company to do so was Polaroid.
Why people never smiled in old photos
The old photographs were taken with huge large format cameras. Because the technology was still quite primitive, it took hours to expose the photos.
The people in the photos were not smiling because they had to stay still for several hours for one picture. Head supports were often used to take photos back then. Understandably, it was impossible to smile for hours.
Cameras that photographed the surface of the Moon remained on the surface of the Moon
The Apollo 11 mission to the Moon took 12 Hasselblad cameras with it. They remain there to this day.
The astronauts took only their film cassettes and left the cameras behind to make room for 25 kg of lunar soil samples.
The most popular photo in history
The most viewed photo is the default wallpaper for Windows XP, for which a photo called “Bliss,” taken by Charles O’Reer in 1996, was used. What’s interesting is that the photographer didn’t make as much money from this photo as one might think. Microsoft bought the image from the Corbis stock site for next to nothing.