Top Ten Milestones in Modern Camera Technology


Preston Scott: "At some point in the last year, it was brought to my attention that vintage issues of Popular Science magazine have been scanned and are now freely available through Google Books. Included are all past issues from 1926 through 1999 – in their entirety. Let the geekery begin! This week, I decided to take a walk down memory lane and relive the evolution of the camera based on Popular Science’s first hand reporting. In this article, we’ve compiled some highlights. So get ready to smell that developer, wind that film, and take a walk down memory lane."

1. The Age of the SLR
The Year: 1962
The Story: Although SLR cameras had already been around for decades, they really started hitting their stride in the 1960′s. In 1962, Popular Science wrote this article on the state of the SLR camera and its advantages over rangefinders.
How far we’ve come: Not very far! The price of a “fast 50″ lens in 1962 was roughly the same as it is today.

Jump to the full article on CameraTechnica.com and to see all ten milestones!

From Kenn:
Hey everyone. After reading Preston's post I checked out Popular Science on Google Books and found full issues as late as 2009. Very cool. Also of interest to me was this article about "How Backside Illuminated Sensors Improve Picture Quality". Could this be the 11th milestone in the camera technology timeline? What do you see as the next evolutionary jump in camera tech? Leave your comments and opinions below for all to see.

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Kenn Tam's picture

Been holding this damn camera in my hand since 1991.
Toronto / New York City

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2 Comments

You need some love Kenn...I'm here for you!

Thanks man. :)
I knew this one would be more of a casual point of interest rather than a hot topic but I'm an old school Popular Science fan so I had to post it.  :P