Tag: Nikon FM3a

Camera Timeline – Year by Year

Posted on by Nigel Williams

This year by year camera timeline lists significant milestones and cameras representative of the year, as well as some curiosities and evolutionary dead-ends, from 1900.

The timeline does not include developments in lenses, film processes or camera phones. These can be found in the history of photography timeline – from chemistry to computation. There is also a timeline for nineteenth century cameras on the site. The cameras shown here are from my own collection.

1900-1920

early cameras Kodak Autographic
1916 Kodak No2 Autographic Brownie
  • 1900 Kodak introduces the first of the Brownie series which brings the snapshot to the masses. It is a cardboard box camera with a simple meniscus lens that takes 2 1/4-inch square pictures on 117 roll film
  • Kodak markets the The No. 3 Folding Pocket Kodak Camera, a camera that would go on to have probably the largest number of model variations of any Kodak camera made
  • 1901 The Kodak No.2 Brownie is the first camera to use 120 roll film
  • 1902 The Royal Ruby is introduced by Thornton-Pickard, an early pioneer in the development of the camera industry, as its top of the range field camera
  • 1903 The Century Camera Co. introduces the Grand Century Senior. It is constructed of mahogany and features a revolving back and triple extension bed in addition to front standard adjustment
  • 1904 Century introduces the No. 2 Field Camera offering front and rear focus via rack and pinion; double swing; reversing by removable back and a three-piece lens board for 5 x 7, 6.5 x 8.5 and 8 x 10 inch plate film
  • The No. 4 Screen Focus Kodak combines the use of roll film with a ground glass with an unusual construction that allows the roll film back to be swung out of the way to make place for the ground glass
  • 1905 The Soho Reflex single-lens reflex camera is introduced and becomes the definitive SLR model until after WWII
  • Houghtons Limited introduces the Ticka Watch Pocket Camera. It is about 2½ inches in diameter with the lens mounted in the barrel and the film in a cassette
  • 1906 Kodak markets the No. 4A Folding Kodak, a large camera for amateur photographers, producing negatives of 4 1/4 x 6 1/2 inch on roll film or glass plates
  • 1907 The Revolving Back Auto Graflex camera is first patented by the Folmer and Schwing division of the Eastman Kodak company. The camera’s main feature is a revolving back for taking horizontal or vertical pictures without having to rotate the camera
  • The Butcher Royal Mail Stamp Camera is the simplest type of multiplying camera, featuring a polished mahogany box with fifteen lenses, an internal septum to separate the images, and spring mounted metal plate shutter to produce fifteen images on small 3-1/4″ x 4-1/4″ dry plates or film
  • 1908 Kodak markets the No. 4A Speed Kodak, a specialist camera for the professional or serious amateur photographer offering shutter speeds from 1/5 to 1/1000 of a second
  • 1909 The 1A Graflex SLR is introduced. It shoots 2¼ x 4¼ inch Kodak 1A roll film and is notable for its pantograph viewing hood
  • Houghtons Ltd. introduces the Ensignette Camera, an all metal bellows camera which folded into a vest pocket size camera like the Kodak VPK. It is a milestone in popular photography, providing for the first time a practical, truly compact camera at an affordable price to the average person
  • 1910 Kodak launches the No. 2A Folding Pocket Brownie folding roll film camera for 116 film producing 2 1/2 X 4 1/4″ images
  • 1911 Newman & Guardia Ltd introduces the Model 11A Postcard Sibyl for 5 ½” x 3 ½” plates featuring a folding reflecting view-finder with spirit levels
  • c. 1911 The original Makina model is launched by Plaubel. It is a strut folding press-type camera, taking 6 x 4.5cm film plates
  • 1912 The first Speed Graphic press cameras are produced. Production continues until 1973
  • The Vest Pocket Kodak camera, or ‘VPK’ as it was usually known, is launched and becomes one of the most popular and successful cameras of its day. Over 2 million would be sold before the model was discontinued in 1926.
  • 1913 The Homeos stereo camera is the first 35mm camera to go into production
  • The first commercially successful 35mm camera is the American Tourist Multiple produced by Herbert & Huesgen, New Ideas Mfg. Co
  • 1914 Oskar Barnack, creates the Ur-Leica, the prototype of a small-format 35mm camera
  • Kodak introduces the No. 0 Brownie, the smallest in the range. It takes pictures the same size as the popular Vest Pocket Kodak of 1912
  • 1915 The Minnigraph, made by Benno Levy-Roth of Berlin, may be the first still camera to use cine film. It makes what will later be considered half-frame (18 x 24 mm) pictures, on film held in special cassettes
  • 1916 Kodak introduces the 3A Autographic Special. Generally regarded as the first rangefinder camera, it has a 3-band split-image coupled rangefinder built into the base of the front standard
  • c. 1917 Conley’s Kewpie No. 3A is a postcard format box camera for type No. 125 roll film with two reflecting type finders, one for horizontal and one for vertical exposures
  • 1918 The Adam, a cardboard box camera, is the first Japanese camera to sell for ¥1
  • 1919 The Cocarette is one of the first new products of German camera maker Contessa-Nettel after the merger that led to the foundation of that company in 1919. 
  • 1920 The Venus is a folding camera made by Ihagee in Dresden optimized for exposures in horizontal format

1921-1930

  • 1921 Newman & Guardia Ltd launches the N&G Folding Reflex with a collapsible focusing screen and mirror
  • The Paff-Reflex is introduced by Ihagee. It is the first SLR made by the company which will later introduce the first 35mm SLR
  • 1922 The Ensign Cupid is the first camera to use a ‘double window’ arrangement for doubling the number of exposures on a roll
  • 1923 J.H. Dallmeyer Ltd introduces the Dallmeyer Speed with a a fast focal plane shutter capable of providing speeds up to 1/1000th of a second accompanied by a fast Pentac F2.0 lens.
  • 1924 The first common wide aperture lens becomes available with the f/2 Ernemann Ermanox, manufactured by Heinrich Ernemann A.G. of Dresden
  • 1925  Leica introduces the Leica I (A), a watershed design that makes the 35mm format truly viable
  • c. 1926 The Agfa Standard medium format roll film and plate cameras become available with an optional coupled coincident rangefinder at extra cost. Ingenious and advanced for their time, they would serve as the inspiration for later Zeiss Super Ikontas and Voigtlander Bessas
  • 1927 The first monorail camera, the Stegemann Studien-Kamera-C, a 9 ×12 model is designed by the Pictorialist photographer Heinrich Kuhn
  • 1928 The hugely influential Rolleiflex twin lens reflex camera (TLR) is introduced, with an ingenious focusing mechanism using a the carriage that held both the viewfinder and the imaging lens, achieving the same function as bellows but with metal
  • 1929 Zeiss-Ikon introduces its top product line of folding medium format cameras, the Ikonta
  • Minolta, originally named the Nichi-Doku (which means “Japan-German”) Photographic Company, introduces its the first camera, the Nicalette, which is equipped with a German shutter and lens.
  • 1930 The Leica I (C) offers a camera with interchangeable lenses using the Leica Thread Mount (LTM)

1931-1940

  • 1931 The first 35mm prototype SLR is the Filmanka developed by A. Min in the Soviet Union
  • 1932 The Leica II is launched, the first Leica camera with a rangefinder, which becomes a signature of the company
  • Zeiss Ikon produce the Contax I to compete with the  Leica II
  • This Rolleiflex Standard K2 Twin Lens Reflex upgrades the original camera with several significant features, including support for 120 format roll film, a film rewind crank, sports finder, removable back and exposure counter
  • The first Voigtländer Brillant is released, resembling a TLR but functionally closer to a box camera, since it cannot be focused in the viewfinder using zone-focusing.
  • 1933 The Leica III is introduced – a response to the introduction of the Zeiss-Ikon Contax and Oskar Barnack’s last design.   It will remain in production in various iterations until 1960
  • Kodak introduces the The Jiffy Kodak Six-20, a folding camera for 620 film with a Twindar periscopic lens with zone focusing and three selectable apertures
  • The first Rolleicord is introduced, a simplified version of the Standard Rolleiflex
  • 1934 Zeiss Ikon introduces the Super Ikonata folding camera, which takes 16 4.5 x 6cm images on 120 film and is equipped with a coupled rangefinder
  • Kodak enters the 35mm market with the Retina I which introduces the 135 cartridge used in all modern 35 mm cameras.
  • Berning introduces the Robot I camera with a stainless steel body, a spring drive that can shoot at 4 frames per second, and a rotary shutter with speeds from 1 to 1/500th second
  • Houghton-Butcher introduces the Ensign Midget, a tiny roll film strut folder with a 3-speed shutter
  • 1935 The Leica IIIa is released with a top speed of 1/1000th of a second
  • 1936 the first widely-distributed 35mm SLR camera, the Kine Exakta, is introduced, with a design that will influence many subsequent SLRs
  • Canon introduces the Hansa, the first Asian 35mm camera
  • Zeus Ikon launch the Contax II, the first camera with a rangefinder and a viewfinder combined in a single window
  • 1937 Franke & Heidecke unveil the Rolleiflex Automat which features an ingenious automatic first frame positioning and frame counting system which monitors the length of the film as it passes between rollers and sets the camera accordingly, eliminating the need for a red window
  • Russian manufacturer GOMZ introduces the Sport. Designed between 1934 and 1935 It is the earliest known production 35mm SLR camera ever to be built, but fewer than 320 examples were made and is overshadowed by the Kine Exacta.
  • Swiss watch maker Jaeger LeCoultre & Company manufacture the ultra compact Compass for the Compass Cameras Ltd. of London, one of the most complicated miniature camera ever made. Measuring a mere 6.5×2.5×5.5cm, it packs a multitude of features into its trim body
  • The Purma Special (named after the founders Tom Purvis and Alfred Mayo) is a British 127 roll film viewfinder camera with an innovative gravity controlled shutter
  • 1938 Kodak Introduces the Super Six-20, the world’s first camera with built-in photoelectric exposure control
  • Leica introduces the first commercially successful 35 mm motordrive, the mechanical MOOLY
  • The Leica IIIb is released with a redesigned viewfinder optic, which brings the RF and VF eye pieces close together
  • British camera manufacturer Gandolfi launches the Precision, a development of the Imperial model introduced in 1899, which will remain on sale into the 1970s
  • Voigtländer introduces the Focusing Brillant adding a small opaque spot in the brilliant finder
  • 1939 The Praktiflex 35mm SLR is launched by the Kamera-Werkstätten AG. The design is simple but will constitute the pattern along which virtually every subsequent 35mm SLR camera will be built, regardless of place of origin
  • The Argus C3 is introduced and becomes the world’s best-selling 35mm camera, offering affordable 35mm rangefinder photography to amateurs
  • 1940 The Leica IIIc is introduced in 1940 with a total redesign of the body and shutter crate. It will remain the mainstay of Leica’s line-up through out the 1940’s
  • The Mamiya Six is introduced, offering a unique 6 x 6cm coupled rangefinder with film-plane focusing

1941-1960

  • 1941 The Kodak Ektra offers a rangefinder that could accurately focus a 153mm telephoto and the first complete anti-reflection coated lens line for a consumer camera
  • 1942 The F24 aerial reconnaissance camera is developed into the F52 model with an image format of 8.5 ×7 inches and magazines up to 500 exposures
  • 1943 the FS-3 FotoSniper prototype is developed by GOI for the Soviet Baltic Fleet Navy as a long-range reconnaissance camera.  It has a FED body and a 60cm lens with an f4.5 aperture 
  • 1944 The Alpa-Reflex 35mm SLR is presented to the public at the Swiss Trade Fair in Basel 
  • 1945 Houghton-Butcher introduces the Ensign Commando, a folding coupled-rangefinder 6 x 6cm camera for the British Military. It is released so late in the war it does not see much active service
  • 1946 Houghton-Butcher introduces a dual format civilian version of the Ensign Commando offering the smaller 6 x 4.5cm format in addition to 6 x 6cm
  • The Universal Camera Corporation offers the Mercury II which adds support for normal 35mm film rather than the proprietary Univex film used in the original.  Both Mercury cameras use a unique rotary focal plane shutter that enable a maximum shutter speed of 1/1000 second whilst keeping costs low
  • 1947 Konishiroku introduces the Konica (later known as the Konica I), a knob-wound camera with a single eyepiece for a coupled rangefinder and viewfinder, based on an earlier camera called Rubikon, developed c.1938
  • The Bolsey B is introduced, a 35mm rangefinder camera with a finely cast aluminium body
  • 1948 Instant photography is introduced with the first instant-film camera, the Land Camera 95 or Polaroid camera
  • The Gamma Duflex is the first SLR camera with an instant return mirror. Production is limited and few models find their way beyond the domestic Hungarian market and so the later Asahiflex IIb is often credited with this innovation
  • Hasselblad launches the1600F, a 6 × 6cm format focal-plane shutter SLR camera with a revolutionary modular design that allows lenses, viewfinders and film magazines to be exchanged
  • The Nikon 1 is released, the first Nikon-branded camera, featuring a smaller than standard picture format which produces up to 40 negatives from a single roll of 36 exposure film.
  • 1949 Contax S camera is introduced, the first 35mm SLR camera with a pentaprism eye-level viewfinder
  • The Canon II B is launched with a three-mode optical viewfinder offering magnifications from 0.67x to 1.5x to match the focal length of the lens fitted.
  • The Ilford Advocate is introduced, the first British 35mm camera introduced after WWII. It is made of white-enamelled die-cast aluminium alloy 
  • Nikon releases the second iteration of the Nikon rangefinder, the Nikon M, with a slight increase in picture size from 24mm x 32mm, to 24mm x 34mm
  • 1950 The Leica IIIf is launched, offering built-in flash synchronization
  • Voigtländer introduces the Bessa II, the ultimate iteration of the model first available in 1929 and offering a combined viewfinder and rangefinder and 6 x 9 images
  • Voigtländer launches the Perkeo 6 x 6 folding camera. Measuring just 125 x 85 x 40mm when closed, and 95mm deep when the lens is extended it is one of the smallest medium format camera.
  • The Agiflex II is a 6×6 SLR, made by Agilux and derived from the British WWII military aerial camera ARL that was in turn derived from the German Reflex Korelle
  • 1951 The Nikon S becomes available, retaining the unusual 24mm x 34mm format
  • The Ilford Witness, an advanced 35mm coupled-rangefinder camera, is introduced with either a 2-inch f/1.9 Dallmeyer Super Six, or a 5 cm f/2.9 Daron. Production difficulties led to less than 350 cameras being made
  • The WrayFlex I is a British SLR which uses two mirrors instead of a pentaprism, so the image is reversed and not very bright. It has a full complement of speeds from ½sec to 1/1000th sec in the focal plane shutter. 
  • 1952 Kodak introduces the Brownie 127, a plastic box camera with no aperture or focus controls, and a single-speed shutter that produces eight 4 x 6 cm pictures on 127 film. It rapidly becomes an extremely popular snapshot camera in Britain with over a million made.
  • The Asahiflex, built by the Asahi Optical Corporation (later to become Pentax), is the first SLR camera built in Japan
  • The Canon Camera Company markets the Canon IVSb 35mm rangefinder, the first 35mm camera to support flash sync for both flash bulbs and electronic X-sync through Canon’s proprietary rail mounted flash shoe
  • 1953 The Coronet 6×6 Flashmaster is introduced with a rigid Bakelite body, a fixed lens and a simple shutter with no aperture or speed setting
  • The Graflex KE-4 Combat Camera, a 70mm model, is manufactured for the military. Since the design resembles a giant Contax camera it is given the nickname “Gulliver’s Contax”
  • The Periflex 35mm camera is launched by K. G. Corfield Ltd. It resembles the Leica Standard, Model E but provides through the lens visual focusing using an inverted periscope lowered into the light path between the lens and the film
  • 1954 The Leica M is introduced with the new Leica M mount and popularises the combined rangefinder and viewfinder
  • Nikon introduces the S2 rangefinder that takes conventional 35mm film and a 1.0X finder. It offers the option to attach the world’s first battery powered motor drive
  • The Asahiflex IIb is the first volume 35mm SLR with an instant return mirror. Early SLRs left the mirror in its up position until the camera was wound for the next shot, blacking out the viewfinder. The introduction of instant-return mirror mechanisms and the subsequent elimination of mirror blackout is an important step in the acceptance of SLRs
  • 1955 The Miranda T 35mm SLR camera is launched by the newly established Japanese Orion Camera Co. It is the first Japanese 35mm SLR camera with an eyelevel Pentaprism finder.
  • 1956 The Rolleiflex 2.8E is the company’s first model with a built in, uncoupled light meter as an option
  • The VT is Canon’s first camera to have a camera back which swings open for film loading. The film advances with a fast-winding trigger at the camera bottom instead of a knob on top.
  • 1957 The Asahi Pentax SLR is introduced, placing controls in locations that would become standard on 35 mm SLRs
  • Tokyo Kogaku KK launch their first 35mm SLR camera, the Topcon R, ahead of Nikon and Canon
  • Leitz releases the Leica IIIg as the final model in the series with a newly designed top cover with a larger and improved viewfinder
  • The Nikon SP is the worlds first rangefinder to include built-in frame lines for 6 different focal lengths
  • Hasselblad introduces the medium format 500 C, which will go on too become one of most influential and successful cameras of all time
  • 1958  The Minolta SR-2 is the first SLR camera with an automatic diaphragm which maintains maximum aperture for brightest viewing and stops down only when the picture is taken
  • Nikon releases a new rangefinder, the S3, a stripped down version of the Nikon SP at a lower price
  • Konishiroku introduces the Konica IIIA with three finder windows and offering 1.0× finder magnification
  • 1959 The Nikon F is introduced, marking the transition from rangefinders to SLRs for professional photographers
  • Canon introduces the Canonflex, its first SLR
  • The Olympus Pen is the first half-frame camera produced in Japan. It is one of the smallest cameras to use 35mm film in regular 135 cassettes.
  • The Zenza Bronica is the first Japanese 6 x 6cm format camera with interchangeable lenses and film backs
  • 1960 Konishiroku introduces the Konica F, featuring the Hi-Synchro, the first SLR shutter with a speed of 1/2000s
  • Nikon introduces the S3M, a half-frame variant of the Nikon S3 with a modified viewfinder and a frame counter that displays up to 72 exposures
The Leica M3 Rangefinder 1954-1966. This model is from 1963.

1961-1970

  • 1961 Canon introduces the Canonet, a mid-market 35mm camera with a fast f/1.9 lens. Two and a half years later, a million Canonets had been sold.
  • 1962 AGFA introduces the first fully automatic camera, the Optima, with an automatic programmed exposure, using a selenium-meter-driven mechanical system
  • The Nikkorex F is the first production single-lens reflex camera with the metal Copal square shutter
  • 1963 Kodak introduces the Instamatic range of cameras, with an easy-to-use film cartridge and the phrase ‘load it you’ll love it’
  • The first SLR with TTL light metering is the Topcon RE Super, which has the CdS metering cell placed behind the reflex mirror.
  • Olympus introduces the Pen F, a compact half-frame 35mm SLR that supports interchangeable lenses and a distinctive logo rendered in a gothic font
  • The world’s first full-fledged underwater camera goes on sale in Japan – the Nikonos 1 
  • 1964 The Pentax Spotmatic SLR is introduced with revolutionary stop-down light metering
  • 1965 The Konica Auto-Reflex of 1965 is the first focal-plane-shutter auto exposure 35mm SLR. This is not TTL metering, although it does offer a shutter-preferred, auto-exposure mode
  • Hasselblad launches a new design, the 500EL, with an electric motor integrated into the camera body
  • Eastman Kodak replaces the individual flashbulb technology used on early Instamatic cameras with the Flashcube
  • The Practica mat by VEB Pentacon Dresden is the first 35 mm single-lens reflex camera with TTL exposure metering
  • 1966 The Electro 35 rangefinder camera is introduced by Yashica with a coupled and fixed 1:1.7 45 mm lens. It is the first electronically controlled rangefinder camera offering aperture priority ‘auto’ mode
  • The Rollei 35 becomes the smallest 135 film camera
  • The Olympus Pen FT updates the F model with a single-stroke film advance and an uncoupled, integrated light meter
  • 1967 Nikon F Photomic SLR is the first camera with a centre-weighted exposure metering system
  • 1968 Leica introduces the Leicaflex SL, the world’s first single-lens reflex camera with a precisely defined microprism zone for TTL spot exposure metering displayed in the viewfinder.
  • Konishiroku launches the Konica C35, combining light weight and compact size with the simple operation of “auto only” exposure
  • 1969 The Olympus-35 EC, an electronically controlled 35mm compact camera, is introduced. It features a fixed Zuiko 42mm f/2.8 lens and and an automatically controlled Seiko shutter with a range of 4 to 1/800 sec
  • The Mamiya C220 is released as part of the Mamiya C series of interchangeable lens medium format TLR cameras
  • 1970 The Sinar P 4×5 sets the standard for high-end, large format cameras with asymmetric tilts and swings, as opposed to traditional centre or base tilts.

1971-1990

Nikon F: 1959-1973. This example is from 1970.
  • 1971 The Canon F-1 is introduced, a highly durable model built to endure 100K picture-taking cycles, temperatures from -30 C to 60 C, and 90% humidity.
  • Nikon’s F High Speed Motor Drive camera, developed for the ’71 Chicago Photo Expo offers a blazing 7 frames per second
  • The Leica M5 is introduced, departing from the traditional silhouette of the Leica rangefinders and the first of those cameras to feature through-the-lens (TTL) metering
  • 1972 Kodak reduces the popular Instamatic Camera to pocket size with the introduction of the Pocket Instamatic Camera.
  • Olympus launches the OM-1, an ultra-compact 35mm SLR that initiates the compact SLR revolution of the ‘70s and ‘80s
  • Polaroid founder Edwin H. Land announces the SX-70, taking out a folded SX-70 from his suit coat pocket whilst on stage and taking five pictures in ten seconds
  • The Wista 45 wood and brass Field Camera is launched – an evolution of a design available since the 1890s. Later models offer several choices of wood including Japanese cherrywood, rosewood and ebony
  • 1973 Minolta releases a new flagship model camera, the SR-T 303 (102 in the US) which bought open aperture metering to a wide audience
  • The Leica CL, a compact rangefinder, is designed in Germany by Leitz Wetzlar and built in Japan by Minolta with Leitz lenses
  • 1974 Canon introduces the Datematic, which features date imprinting and a body and exterior made of reinforced plastic.
  • 1975 Olympus launches the XA series, one of the smallest rangefinder cameras ever made
  • 1976 Canon introduces the AE-1, the world’s first 35mm AE SLR camera equipped with the shutter speed-priority TTL metering and a Central Processing Unit (CPU).
  • The first of the Zenza Bronica ETR series of 4.5 × 6cm SLRs manufactured by Zenza Bronica Industries Inc. of Tokyo is introduced.
  • 1977 The Asahi Pentax K1000 is launched and goes on to become the most successful basic student SLR of all time, combining a Pentax Spotmatic F with Pentax K-type bayonet mount to produce a competent and affordable camera
  • The Minolta XD11 is the world’s first camera with aperture priority and shutter priority, as well as a fully metered manual mode.
  • 1978 Konica introduces the C35 AF, the first point-and-shoot autofocus camera
  • Canon introduces the A-1, a sophisticated electronic camera with all-digital control featuring the first fully automatic program AE mode, pre-set aperture-priority AE, and speedlite AE mode.
  • 1979 Canon launches the SureShot, the world’s first lens-shutter 35mm autofocus camera, with a triangulation system incorporating a near-infrared emitting diode (IRED)
  • The Nikon EM is introduced the first model in a revised design concept by Nikon to introduce a series of ultra compact bodies characterized by compactness, light weight and ease of use.
  • 1981 The low-tech plastic Holga camera is introduced, which will later attain cult status with the advent of Lomography and become a major source of inspiration for Instagram
  • Canon introduces the AE-1 Program camera to succeed the original AE-1 offering shutter speed-priority AE and program AE modes.
  • 1982 Nikon introduces the FM2, which uses an improved Copal Square Shutter to achieve an unheard-of speed range of 1 to 1/4000th second
  • Kodak launches the disc photography format with a line of compact cameras built around a rotating disc of fifteen 10×8 mm exposures. Labs resisted investing in new development equipment resulting in poor quality photos and the format was short-lived
  • The Nimslo 3D camera is launched – the first camera offering lenticular printing from 35mm negative film. A lenticular print combines four pictures into a single print that appears 3 dimensional
  • 1983 The Olympus OM-4 is the first camera with a multi-spot exposure meter
  • Minolta launches the Disc-7, a disc camera with a small convex mirror on the front plate. With the help of a telescoping stick that anticipates the later selfie-stick, this allows the user to take self-portraits.
  • 1984 LOMO begin mass-producing the LC-A, achieving popularity within the USSR and kickstarting Lomography
  • The Leica M6 heralds the renaissance of the rangefinder system in a market dominated by single-lens reflex cameras
  • Canon introduces the new F-1 High Speed Motor Drive Camera which is able to zip through a 36-exposure roll of film in 2.57 sec. at 14 fps, a record at the time.
  • 1985 Minolta introduces the world’s first fully integrated autofocus SLR with the autofocus (AF) system built into the body – the Maxxum 7000 a.k.a. the Dynax 7000
  • 1986 The disposable camera is popularised by Fujifilm with the 35mm QuickSnap
  • The Canon T90 marks the pinnacle of Canon’s manual-focus 35mm SLRs
  • The Canon RC-701 becomes the first still video camera marketed, offering10 fps (frames per second) high-speed shutter-priority and multi-program automatic exposure
  • 1987 Canon launches the EOS (Electro-Optical System), an entirely new system designed specifically to support autofocus lenses
  • 1988 The Nikon F4 is introduced as the first professional Nikon to feature a practical autofocus system.
  • The Fuji DS-1P, the first digital handheld camera, is introduced, though it does not sell
  • The first of the Genesis series from Chinon helps to define the category of 35mm bridge cameras
  • The R6 is the first mechanical, manual-exposure-only SLR produced by Leica since the Leicaflex SL2 was discontinued
  • 1989 Steven Sasson and a colleague, Robert Hills, of Kodak create a prototype camera which is the first modern digital single-lens reflex camera that looks and functions like today’s professional models. It is known as the D-5000 or Ecam (electronic camera) and features a 1.2 megapixel sensor and uses image compression and memory cards.

1990-2000

Contax G2 with 45mm lens, produced 1996-2005
  • 1990 first digital camera shipped in the United States is the Dycam Model 1, which comes with a neutral density filter to prevent over exposure in bright settings.
  • 1991 The world’s first digital SLR is introduced, The Kodak Professional Digital Camera System (DCS) based on the Nikon F3
  • Logitech introduces the Fotoman FM-1, a modified Dycam Model 1, and the first consumer point and shoot camera sold in Europe
  • The Konica AiBORG is introduced as the world’s first moving frame auto focus camera. It will go on to achieve infamy as the Konica “Darth Vader” due to its bulbous looks and poor design.
  • 1992 Leica introduces the R6.2 SLR, an update of the R6, with a higher top shutter speed and an improved TTL flash mode
  • Contax launches the S2 fully mechanical, manual-focus SLR to commemorate the company’s 60th anniversary. It offers only a spot meter and no centre-weighted or matrix metering options
  • The Nikonos RS is the world’s first underwater Auto-Focus SLR camera
  • 1993 The Vivitar Opus 20 is a late example of a  110 film camera with a modern new look, motor-driven film advance, a built-in flash, and red eye reduction
  • 1994 The Apple Quicktake 100 is the first camera to use USB to connect to a computer.
  • 1995 The Casio QV-10 is the first camera to incorporate an LCD screen on the back for image preview and playback
  • The Ricoh RDC-1 is the first digital camera offering a dedicated movie mode. It is capable of recording 5-second 768×480-pixel clips at 30 frames per second, and saving them in the new MPEG format
  • The Nikon D1 is the first fully integrated digital SLR designed from the ground up, rather than a digital modification to a film SLR
  • The Minolta RD-175 combines an existing SLR, the Dynax500si Super, with a three way splitter and three separate CCD image sensors which are combined digitally and interpolated to produce a 1.75 megapixel image
  • 1996 the Canon PowerShot 600, Canon’s first consumer digital camera, is released featuring a 0.5 megapixel sensor
  • The Coolpix 100 is Nikon’s first consumer digital camera.  It features a 1/3 megapixel sensor and a PCMCIA interface which enables it slot it into a laptop, where it appears as a removable drive
  • Canon introduces the first IXUS APS ultra compact as Canon’s contribution to the launch of the Advance Film System (APS). The model will later form the basis of the Digital IXUS range and is considered a milestone of compact camera design.
  • Minolta introduces the TC-1, a high-end, titanium-bodied compact autofocus 35mm camera with the smallest frontal area of any professional-grade compact autofocus camera
  • 1997 The  Pentax 645N is the first autofocus medium format SLR camera
  • Yashica’s first digital camera, the KC-600, is announced
  • The Epson PhotoPC 550, the third Epson digital camera and the first Epson to feature an external memory slot for SmartMedia cards, features a microphone to record up to six seconds of sound per photograph
  • 1998 Fuji reveal the FUJIX DS-1P at Photokina as “the world’s first camera to save data to a semiconductor memory card”. It captures images using a 400 kilo-pixel CCD that Fuji had began developing in the 70s.
  • Leica introduces the M6 TTL, which improves on the M6 with TTL flash and improved ergonomics to become one of the most highly rated film cameras of all time.
  • Kodak launches the DC 210, the first affordable megapixel resolution digital camera
  • 1999 The Nikon D1 is the first professional digital SLR to displace Kodak’s previously-undisputed reign over the professional market
  • Canon introduces the IXUS II in the most successful camera range in the APS market. This success will go on to make IXUS an important trademark in the compact camera market
  • Canon launches the first camera in the PowerShot S range, the S10 with a fully retractable zoom lens with built-in lens cover, advanced functions including Spot Metering and AE Lock, and compact, high-density packaging
  • 2000 The Fujifilm FinePix S1 Pro is the first interchangeable-lens DSLR to hit the market. It is based on a Nikon N60 with Fuji’s APS-C-format Super CCD Sensor and is capable of creating 6.13 megapixel images
  • Nikon reissues the 1958 Nikon S3 rangefinder, the Nikon S3 Year 2000 Limited Edition, with an improved chrome finish as and a redesigned 50mm f1.4 lens with modern coatings
  • Canon launches the Digital IXUS range of ultra compact cameras, based on the technology of the PowerShot S10 in a body similar to the APS IXUS II
  • The Canon EOS D30 is the first ‘native’ DSLR made in-house by a camera manufacturer with a price tag that is affordable to enthusiasts
Nikon FM3a camera milestones
The Nikon FM3a, the last manual film camera shipped by a volume manufacturer

2001-Present

  • 2001 Nikon introduces the FM3a, the last manual focus film camera to be launched by a volume manufacturer
  • Ricoh launches the GR21, the first compact camera in the world to have a super-wide 21mm wide angle lens
  • Pentax introduces the 645NII medium format film camera which adds mirror lock-up to the list of features
  • 2002 Contax launches the N Digital the first full frame digital SLR digital camera
  • Nikon introduce the D100, which becomes the first digital SLR to score a resounding sales success amongst both professional and serious enthusiast photographers
  • Leica departs from the mechanical design of previous M cameras with the introduction of the electronic M7
  • 2003 The Olympus E-1 is the first removable lens digital SLR with a lens mount and imaging system specifically designed for digital
  • Digital cameras outsell film cameras for the first time
  • Leica introduces the all-mechanical MP rangefinder film camera which incorporates many design features of the 1954 M3 and a TTL lightmeter.
  • The Minolta Dimage A1 is the first model to stabilise images by shifting the sensor instead of using a lens-based system
  • Canon introduces the EOS 300D, arguably the first digital SLR for the mass-market
  • 2004 The Epson R-D1 is the first digital rangefinder camera
  • Leica makes the detachable DMR (Digital Module R) digital back available, making it possible to transform the Leica R8 and R9 film cameras into digital SLRs
  • The Nikon F6 is launched, Nikon’s last high end professional film camera
  • 2005 The Canon EOS 5D is the first consumer DSLR to feature a full frame sensor
  • Kyocera announces the company is to cease production of film and digital cameras, ending one of oldest brands in photography, Contax.
  • 2006 The Flip video camera is released as a “Pure Digital Point & Shoot” video camcorder 
  • The M8 is Leica’s first digital camera in the rangefinder M series
  • 2007 Nikon’s first full frame DSLR, the D3, pushes the ISO range into six figures for the first time – to ISO 102,400
  • Microsoft introduces RoundTable, a videoconferencing device with a 360-degree camera  with active speaker detection technology, which switches between different meeting participants as they speak.
  • 2008 Panasonic releases the Lumix G1, the world’s first mirrorless interchangeable-lens camera
  • The Nikon D90 is the first DSLR with HD video recording capabilities
  • 2009 Leica launches the M9, a full-frame digital rangefinder compatible with almost all M mount lenses.
  • 2010 Samsung introduce the first APS-C format mirrorless camera, the NX10
  • Sony introduces the SLT-A55, the first camera to incorporate a translucent mirror design which offers live view with full-time fast phase-detection AF whether in stills or movie shooting.
  • 2011 Lytro releases the first pocket-sized consumer light-field camera, capable of refocusing images after they are taken
  • Nikon Introduces the J1 and V1 mirrorless cameras which offer on-sensor phase detection autofocus
  • 2012  Sony launches the world’s first full frame compact camera – the RX1, with a fixed 35mm F2 lens
  • Olympus introduces the OM-D E-M5 with a 5-axis sensor-shifting image stabilisation system – the first of its kind in a consumer camera
  • Fujifilm unveils the X-Pro1 mirrorless interchangeable-lens digital with a Hybrid Viewfinder that allows photographers to choose between an optical finder and an electronic view (EVF)
  • Canon launches the EOS 6D DSLR which introduces full frame photography to a new generation of photographers who had previously discounted it due to cost
  • Rolleiflex’s last TLR model, the FX-N, is introduced at Photokina. It is similar to the Rolleiflex FX, but can focus down to 55cm
  • Leica releases the Monochrom, with a monochrome sensor based on the same Kodak CCD sensor as the Leica M9 but without the colour filter array
  • 2013 Sony announces the ⍺7 which starts the full frame mirrorless revolution.
  • The Android powered Samsung Galaxy NX unsuccessfully attempts to combine the best features of a smartphone and a dedicated camera
  • Hasselblad discontinues the last of its film cameras – the V-series 503CW
  • 2014 Samsung introduces the mirrorless APS-C NX1, offering new features and higher levels of performance unheard of in the mirrorless market
  • Leica launches the Leica T, a camera made from a solid block of milled aluminium with an app-like touchscreen interface that resembles that of a smartphone
  • Leica releases the M-A, a purely mechanical 35 mm rangefinder film camera devoid of electronics and based on the designs and features of previous Leica M models
  • 2015 Sony announces the first camera to employ a back-side illuminated full frame sensor, the α7R II
  • 2016 Leica introduces the Leica Q, a full frame, mirrorless camera with a Summilux f1.7 lens that brings the brand to a new audience
  • Hasselblad launches the H6D range of medium format digital cameras with a choice of 50 or 100 megapixel resolutions
  • Fujifilm introduce the GFX 50S medium format camera, opening the format to photographers who had never considered it before
  • 2017 The Panasonic Lumix DC-GH5 is introduced, bringing high quality low cost video production capabilities to a wider audience
  • Intrepid Camera launches its Kickstarter project for a light-weight, low cost, compact, 10X8 large format film camera
  • Sony introduce the ⍺9, a mirrorless camera designed to compete with DSLRs in sports and action photography and the first camera to feature Eye Auto Focus that works in continuous AF mode
  • Nikon introduces the D850, one of the most technically impressive DSLRs ever made
  • 2018 Nikon introduces the Z6 and Z7 full frame mirrorless cameras with the new Z mount.
  • Within days of the Nikon Z system launch, Canon launches the EOS R system, its first full frame mirrorless system
  • Leica introduce the Leica M10-D, a digital camera without an LCD screen designed to combine the excitement of film with digital technology
  • 2019 Worldwide camera shipments drop by 87% 2010-2019, wiping out four decades of growth
  • Fujifilm launches the GFX100 with a 100 megapixel medium format, BSI-CMOS sensor
  • 2020 The Nikon F6 film SLR is officially discontinued
  • Mirrorless cameras overtake DSLRs based on unit volume.
  • 2021 Sony introduces the ⍺1, a 50.1 megapixel, 8.6K camera capable of shooting bursts at up to 30 frames per second
  • Olympus exits the camera market, completing the sale of its camera business to JIP, a venture capital
  • Nikon launches the Z9 which is the first production camera to eliminate the mechanical shutter without the compromise of rolling shutter
  • 2022 Leica introduces the M11 rangefinder with a 60MP full-frame back side illuminated sensor
  • Leica announces a reissue of the Leica M6 film camera, along with its remake of the original 35mm Summilux
  • 2023 Sony launches the a9 III which delivers the world’s first full-frame global shutter sensor, which allows the camera to freeze motion in captured images with a max shutter speed of 1/80,000 second and 120 fps continuous shooting.
  • Sony has a prolific year of new releases with six camera launches, solidifying its position as the number one full-frame mirrorless brand.
  • Nikon releases the Z8 which delivers the majority of the Z9’s capabilities into a much smaller, more portable camera body
  • 2024 Fujifilm announces the launch of the X100VI , the latest model in the popular series of high-end compact digital cameras originally introduced in 2011. 

If you spot omissions or errors in this year by year camera timeline, please let me know in the comments.

The Nikon FM3A – Great Film Cameras

Posted on by Nigel Williams

The Nikon FM3A (often written as FM3a) is one of the most refined manual SLR’s ever made, and as a 21st century manual focus film SLR, somewhat of a throwback. It was introduced in July 2001 when the shift to digital cameras was well underway. The model was the last of Nikon’s semi-professional line of compact 35 mm film SLRs and one of the brand’s last film cameras; only the autofocus F6 SLR of 2004 and Nikon’s limited edition rangefinder swan song, the SP of 2005, came later.

Nikon FM3a
Nikon FM3A with 45mm f2.8 pancake lens

The D1X, an improved version of Nikon’s first DSLR, the D1, was already out by the time the FM3A was launched. The retro looking FM3A sat on shelves in camera shops around the world next to the hulking digital flagship and autofocus film cameras such as the F5 and F100. Increasing digital camera sales, low sales volume and the increasing costs of such a mechanically sophisticated unit put paid to the FM3A in January 2006. This left only the Nikon F6 and the Cosina manufactured Nikon FM10 in Nikon’s 35mm film SLR line. 

Nikon built the FM3A for serious amateur photographers who wanted a a high quality camera with full manual control. Personally, I am grateful for that. It may be a camera out of time, but it is an outstanding piece of engineering: compact, handsome, precise, durable, reliable and a pleasure to shoot with.

Evolution of the F/FE Series

The first model of the mechanical Nikon FM series, the FM was introduced in 1977. Along with the electronic FE of 1978, the FM replaced the mechanical Nikkormat FT series and electronic Nikon EL series.

In 1983 Nikon introduced the mechanical FM2 with a honeycomb-pattern titanium curtain shutter that enabled a top shutter speed of 1/4000 sec and 1/200 sec for flash sync. The flash sync speed increased to 1/250, (identifiable by the flash sync speed labelled in red). This was a huge step forward compared to the FM’s 1/1000 sec. and 1/125 sec. The electronic Nikon FE2 followed later the same year. In 1989 the titanium shutter was replaced by an aluminium version – the FM2n – this is the version I have of the FM2.

The Table below shows the FM and FE series at a glance.

 FMFEFM2FE-2FM-2nFM3A
ShutterMechanicalElectronicMechanicalElectronicMechanicalHybrid
AutomationNoneApertureNoneApertureNoneAperture
Max. Shutter Speed (Sec)1,0004,000
Flash Sync (Sec)1/1251/250
Lens Compatibility Since19581977
Introduced197719781982198319842001
Discontinued198219831984198720012006
The FM and FE Series of SLRs (excluding the later Cosina FE10 and FM10)

Development of the Nikon FM3A

Development started in December 1998. Engineers from Mito Nikon (a Nikon production facility that had originally created the Nikkormat of the 1960s and later the F3, FM2n, F4, and others) joined forces with their counterparts at the Ohi Plant. The Ohi facility was the source of Nikon’s first cameras and early models such as the Nikon rangefinders and the Nikon F. Top engineers from these two facilities came together to form a project team.

Nikon FM3A
The FM3A, Deal Beach

The FM3A’s predecessor, the manual all-mechanical controlled ‘New FM2‘, had been a best-seller since its introduction in 1984. It was popular amongst experienced amateurs and some professionals, and offered shooting even when the battery was exhausted. At that time Nikon could see also increasing demand for the aperture-priority AE. The project team needed to produce a design that would reconcile these conflicting requirements. Eventually, in order to address the simultaneous availability of aperture-priority AE and battery-free shutter operation, the team decided to adopt a hybrid shutter design.

The hybrid shutter design meant that the shutter had to operate with two control systems. This resulted in a larger, more complicated shutter mechanism with more component parts. As the FM3A was the successor to the New FM2, a larger camera body was not acceptable, meaning the larger shutter unit had to be mounted in the limited space available.

It was extremely difficult to develop a reliable shutter unit with such a complicated mechanism in such a limited space, and in the early stages the project team thought that the highest speed of 1/4000 second would be unattainable. However, after much development work the design was successfully realised. It really was a heroic effort.

Launch and Packaging

The Nikon FM3A was introduced in February 2001 at the PMA show in Orlando, Florida. Prior its introduction, Nikon customers had to choose between the mechanical FM model with manual exposure control or the electronic FE with aperture priority mode that wouldn’t work without batteries.

After the FM3A became available photographers had the best of both worlds with a hybrid shutter that allows both electronically-controlled auto-exposure shooting and full manual control without the need for batteries. The hybrid shutter was an innovation for the FM3A. though the FM3A adopted the traditional exposure meter with indicator needle, which had been continuously applied from the Nikkormat EL released in 1972.

When the FM3A went on sale in July 2001 the shift to digital photography was in full swing. Nikon had released the digital SLR camera D1 in 1999 for professional use and in the same year as the FM3A was released Nikon put the D1X and D1H on the market. Just at the time when digital cameras were going to the mainstream, Nikon consciously chose choice of launch a manual SLR camera. It was a brave move, and one that many photographers applauded then – and now.

The FM3A came in all black and silver and black. For the silver version there was a matching Nikkor 45mm pancake lens available at launch, which is shown in the picture above. The FM3A could make use of a range of accessories such as the Nikon MD-12 motor drive, the MF-16 databack and the various TTL flashes.

The Pancake Lens

In July 2001, the manual focus Nikkor 45 mm f/2.8P AI-s pancake lens went on sale simultaneously with FM3A. It was a lightweight Tessar design just 17 mm deep and weighing only 120 g. The lens consisted of 4 elements in 3 groups with a 7-blade circular diaphragm. Initially the finish was matched to the silver FM3A model, with a black finish added that November. A CPU in the lens enables programmed, aperture-priority, shutter-speed priority, and manual exposure modes. The CPU also enabled it to function with Nikon’s autofocus cameras. It pairs really well with the camera, but my preferred lens is the 50mm f1.4 – which is what I used with the sample shot shown below.

What Makes the Nikon FM3A a Great Camera?

Brill Windmill Nikin FM3a
Brill Windmill shot with a Nikon FM3A and a 50mm f1.4 lens

The Nikon FM3A is one of the most refined manual SLR’s ever made. Its compact size, large bright viewfinder, ergonomic controls, excellent analogue light meter display and accurate focusing split image focusing screen make it a pleasure to use. The absence of the normal SLR blackout is an added bonus.

The focusing screen is actually the brightest standard screen of any manual-focus Nikon. This is Type K3 Focusing Screen, the interchangeable focusing screen that comes as standard. The K3 is ‘a matte/Fresnel screen with a split-image rangefinder spot surrounded by a microprism ring and a 12mm centre-weighted area reference circle’. It is optimized for f/2 lenses – faster lenses won’t get any brighter. I’ve found it very easy to use. Nikon introduced two alternatives along with the K3, the E3 matte screen for close ups, and the B3 etched screen with horizontal and vertical lines. The B3’s lines are useful for composition, architectural photography or multiple exposure operation.

The meter is predictable, accurate and extremely easy to use via needle matching. It uses a 60% centre-weighted pattern but also provides a welcome and well-placed AE lock button on the back for manual adjustments. There is also a film window, which was a new feature for the FM series.

The build quality is exceptional. The top and bottom body covers are each drawn from a sheet of brass; the shutter release and film wind cap are lathe-turned, whilst the shutter and film advance actions run on self-lubricating bearings. The film transport mechanism is very tough and makes use of hardened metal gearing.

An Engineering Marvel

Under the covers the Nikon FM3A’s hybrid shutter is one of the most advanced SLR shutters ever built – a marvel of compact mechanical engineering built to such a high standard that it can shoot at 1/4000 of a second without battery power. This is a feat most other mechanical shutters just can’t match, topping out at 1/1000 or 1/2000 of a second. Adding batteries powers the the electronically controlled shutter for aperture priority shooting, the excellent analogue light meter, exposure lock, and DX film coding. Batteries also enable the TTL flash exposure compensation for fill flash – the only manual-focus Nikon to have this feature.

The camera weighs in at 570g, only a little more than the king of compact SLRs – the Olympus OM-1 (510g). At 142.5 x 90 x 58 mm it also compares well against the OM-1’s diminutive 136 x 83 x 50 mm form factor.

I enjoy using the analogue light meter, which is preferable to the one on my F3. The two needles, one matched to your settings and one to the light measured by the meter, are clear and easy to see. That analogue instrument is also far more durable than LEDs. When the inevitable electronics apocalypse claims many of my cameras the FM3a (along with the F and F2) will just keep going…

Drawbacks

Beyond the difficulty of viewfinder visibility in low light, there is very little to say against the FM3A, other than it was, and a remains pricey camera. It has a fixed pentaprism so it isn’t quite as versatile as the F Series cameras with their interchangeable finders, but you can change the focusing screen if you want to. Some also find the locking device on the exposure compensation dial annoying, and it certainly isn’t strictly necessary, but it doesn’t trouble me much.

Comparisons with Other Cameras

The FM3A Vs the FM2n

The FM3A is regularly compared to its predecessor, the FM2n often to determine whether the additional investment for the FM3A is worth it. Both cameras feature an all-mechanical vertically-traveling focal plane shutter capable of taking 1/4000th a second exposures but the FM3A adds electronic aperture priority mode. Both are also very light, but the FM2n comes in a tad lighter at 540g versus 570g. You can shed a few more grams if you go for the FM2/T which makes use of titanium top and bottom plates to get to a very trim 515g for a tough, metal camera.

FM3A
One of the many Temples at Stowe, shot with the Nikon FM3A

The most obvious difference to the FM3A is the FM2n’s -o+ LED metering display (a bit like the Leica M6 TTL’s), which is quite different to the FM3A’s analogue twin needle display. The needles are great in normal lighting conditions, whereas the FM2n’s is better in low light. I enjoy shooting with both, but I think the FM3A’s makes for a more engaging shooting experience. The price difference between the two models is even more acute with the black FM3A as it commands a premium as a collector’s item. I went for silver FM3A and a black FM2n, which gives me the best of both worlds.

Nikon FM3A Vs FE2

The FM3A is also regularly compared to the FE2. There a lot of similarities between the FM3A and the FE2, such as the needle matching finder and the 1/4000 maximum shutter speed. These are the differences as far as I can see, not all of which favour the FM3A, depending on your perspective. The FM3A has:

  • Fully mechanical operation at all speeds without the need for a battery. FE-2 has 1/250th or B.
  • DX film speed encoding
  • A different placement for the Auto Exposure (AE) lock button
  • A film window to display the film in the camera
  • Metering that works immediately after you load the film – no waiting for frame 1
  • No rewind knob lock (aka camera back interlock)
  • A chrome plated brass lens mount instead of the stainless steel used on the earlier cameras.

Nikon FM3A Vs F3

Curiously, there has been quite a bit of debate on the internet on the FM3A vs the F3, though the current Nikon F pro body at the time of its launch was the F5. A frequently asked question seems to be which one is tougher and more resilient. I have both and they both seem pretty tough, though the F3 seems to have an Achilles heel when using a flash mounted above the rewind knob. There are several reports that if a mounted flash is bumped reasonably hard, the chip which controls exposure functions under the rewind knob can crack, rendering the F3 largely inoperable. 

The F3HP has the hot shoe above the prism which fixes that problem, but if you are looking for the toughest possible camera I would take an F2 or original F ‘hockey puck’. I am not sure how useful the comparison is, but the main differences between the F3 and FM3A is that the F3 is heavier and larger, uses LEDs in the viewfinder, offers an interchangeable prism and pro accessories and is slower for flash sync (1/80 versus 1/250) and shutter speed (1/2000 versus 1/4000).

Comparison with Leica M

An odd comparison, for me at least, is one with the Leica M6. In some cases this occurs as part of a search for an SLR that feels as good as a Leica, in others I think it is just a comparison of late model film cameras – the M6 TTL was introduced in 1998, the FM3A in 2001. I shoot with both Nikon and Leica cameras – digital and film, but I am not sure of how useful comparisons are. Rangefinders and SLRs are very different, and Leica takes a unique approach to building cameras and lenses – which is reflected in the cost. I really enjoy shooting with both the M6 TTL (a 0.58 model) and M7 (a 0.85), but I don’t have to worry about finder magnification with the Nikons.

Discontinuation

Unlike the FM2 that was a best-seller for 16 years, the FM3A had a shorter production life. In January 2006, five years from its introduction, production of FM3A was discontinued along with the F100, F80 and other major film cameras. Nikon’s discontinuation was necessary to allow the firm to concentrate its resources on the digital cameras.

Nikon FM3A Specifications

  • Shutter: Vertical-travel, metal focal-plane shutter: 8 to 8 to 1/4000 sec step-less aperture-priority auto. Bulb, 1 to 1/4000 sec manual with mechanical control (all settings available without batteries in manual)
  • Viewfinder frame Coverage: Approx. 93%
  • Viewfinder Magnification: Approx. 0.83x with 50-mm lens set to infinity
  • Focusing screen: K3 type (split prism-image microprism type, Clear Matte Screen IIa) standard, B3 type and E3 type optional
  • Viewfinder information: Shutter speed, exposure meter indication, shutter indication, direct aperture value, exposure compensation mark, ready light
  • Exposure Compensation: ±2 EV in units of 1/3 EV
  • Auto Exposure Lock: AE lock button 
  • Self-timer: Mechanical, countdown time of approx. 4 to 10 seconds
  • Flash sync speed: 1/250
  • TTL flash Compensation: Compensation to -1 EV activated with the TTL flash compensation button
  • Automatic DX film recognition
  • Film-check window On rear of camera
  • Power Source: One 3-V lithium battery (CR-1/3N type), two 1.55 V silver batteries (SR44 type), or two 1.5 V alkaline batteries (LR44 type)
  • Dimensions (W x H x D): Approx. 142.5 x 90 x 58 mm / 5.6 x 3.5 x 2.3 in.
  • (camera body only)
  • Weight: Approx. 570 g / 20.1 oz. (camera body only, including battery)

Pros and Cons

Pros

  • Large, bright viewfinder
  • Exceptional build quality, including brass top and bottom plates and a chrome plated brass lens mount.
  • Easy manual focus using the split-image focusing patch and micro-prism focusing ring (standard K3 screen)
  • Accurate and intuitive needle matching metering
  • Fast (1/4000th second) hybrid shutter, which works even without batteries
  • Compact and light weight
  • Very large choice of lenses, including one designed for the camera (45mm pancake).
  • Extremely well featured, including AE lock, TTL flash exposure compensation for fill flash and film recognition window

Cons

  • Price – especially in pro black!
  • Viewfinder visibility in low light
  • Exposure compensation lock?

Conclusion: Future Proof Pleasure

The FM3A is an outstanding piece of engineering that will last long into the future. It is compact, handsome, precise, durable, reliable and a pleasure to shoot with. For me, along with the F, F2 and F6 it is one of Nikon’s greatest cameras. It makes an appearance on a few greatest ever and favourite film cameras lists too, though I think the FM2 shows up just as regularly.

Thoughts and Further Reading

If you have experience with the FM3A please leave me a comment below – I’d love to hear from you, and if you interested in classic cameras you might also enjoy these articles on the site:

For more about historically important cameras, visit the year by year timeline.

Photography Timeline – From Chemistry to Computation

Posted on by Nigel Williams
early cameras Kodak Autographic
My Kodak No 2 Folding Autographic Brownie

There are many strands in a photography timeline – the chemistry of film and processing, the physics of optics, the mechanical engineering of shutters, the electronics of metering and digital photography, and the iconic camera designs that bring everything together. At each end of the photography timeline, the science is bewilderingly complex – from the arcane chemical processes of early photography to the algorithms of computational photography, which enables cameras to go beyond capturing photons to compute pictures.

It’s not a linear journey; digital photography has been accompanied by a resurgence of interest in all things analogue, characterised by toy cameras, digital filters and apps that produce or replicate the look of film as well as the renewed growth of film photography. I started to shoot with film again in 2016 and around the time I first wrote this article, during the lockdowns of 2020, I started to expand my small collection of vintage film cameras and went back to film photography. There is an all-film gallery of the boats of Deal, Kent shot with a variety of film cameras including SLRs, TLRs and rangefinders here. It’s gratifying to see the growth of UK film businesses such as Analogue Wonderland, which supplies a vast range of film stock and The Intrepid Camera Company, which has reinvented large format photography for the twenty-first century. I’m as interested in looking forward as back however, and and follow new developments with great interest, including crowd funded ventures such as the AI powered Alice Camera.

I’ve reviewed, and borrowed from, many timelines and dozens of articles and books on the history of film, film processes, cameras, lenses, digital technology, phone camera development and computational photography to compile this photography timeline and in an attempt to combine these strands. The sections of the timeline are of my own devising.

I’ve tried to be diligent with my research and check the facts. The sources for the majority of entries are included as URLs. I have also referred to several excellent books: A History of Photography in 50 Cameras by Michael Pritchard; the Taschen books 20th Century Photography and A History of Photography; Photography A Concise History by Ian Jeffrey and Photography, the Definitive Visual History by Tom Ang, all of which I can recommend. If you spot any factual errors please feel free to share them with me along with the source(s).

There are two other timelines on this site, one for nineteenth century cameras and a year by year timeline for cameras from 1900. These exclude lens, photographic process and phone cameras covered in this article.

Photography Timeline 1826-2020

1826-1850 The Genesis of Photography

c. 1826 Joseph Nicéphore Niépce uses bitumen of Judea for photographs on metal and makes the first successful camera photograph, View From My Window at Gras

1827 Niépce addresses a memorandum on his invention to the Royal Society in London, but does not disclose details

1829 Unable to reduce the very long exposure times of his experiments, Niépce enters into a partnership with Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre

Charles Chevalier creates a compound achromatic lens to cut down on chromatic aberration, a failure of a lens to focus all colours to the same plane, for Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre’s photographic experiments

1832 Robert Hunt’s Researches on Light records the first known description employing platinum to make a photographic print, but does not succeed in producing a permanent image

1835 William Henry Fox Talbot makes his first successful camera photograph or “photogenic drawing” using paper sensitised with silver chloride,

1839 The public birthday of photography, from three inventors – Dagurerre, Fox Talbot and Bayard

Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre’s Daguerreotype becomes the first photographic process to be adopted, creating a unique image on a silvered metal plate of remarkable sharpness.

Hearing of Daguerre’s invention, Fox Talbot announces a paper process to achieve images by action of light and presents his photogenic drawings at the Royal Society in London

Hippolyte Bayard produces direct-positive images (like Daguerre’s process) on sensitized paper (like Talbot’s).

Sir John Herschel suggests fixing images in sodium thiosulphate. He also coins the terms photography, negative and positive.

The first camera to be manufactured in any quantity is the Giroux Daguerreotype, which uses a sliding box design.

Stereoscopic depth sensing is first explained by Charles Wheatstone as he invents the stereoscope

1840 The Petzval Portrait becomes the first wide-aperture portrait lens and the first photographic lens where the design was computed mathematically before construction

Alexander Wolcott opens The earliest known photography studio New York City – a “Daguerrean Parlor” for tiny portraits, using a camera with a mirror substituted for the lens

Alexander Wolcott patents a modified Daguerrotype camera using a polished concave mirror to reflect the focused light onto a photosensitive plate

The cyanotype or blue-print is invented by Sir John Herschel, the first photographic process not to use silver

Fox Talbot discovers what will be revealed as the Calotype process the following year, the first known method of multiplying an image

J.F. Goddard uses iodine to shorten exposure times for daguerreotypes

1841 Fox Talbot patents the Calotype process, or photogenic drawings that produces photographic images on salted paper – a negative-positive process that makes multiple copies possible.

The first photographic studio in Europe is opened by Richard Beard in a glasshouse on the roof of the Royal Polytechnic Institution in London

The Royal Academy of Science in Brussels displays the earliest stereographs

1843 Anna Atkins publishes the first book with photographic illustrations, using the cyanotype process.

Joseph Puchberger patents the first hand crank driven swing lens panoramic camera

1844 Fox Talbot publishes The Pencil of Nature bringing photography to the attention of a wider public

1845 The Bourquin of Paris camera is the first camera with the lens in a metal tube using a rack and pinion mechanism for focusing.

Two French Physicists, Fizeau and Foucault develop the first recognisable shutter mechanism in order to photograph the sun

1847 Louis Désiré Blanquard-Evard improves Talbot’s Calotype process and presents his research to the French Academy of Sciences

1848 Edmond Becquerel makes the first, temporary, full-colour photographs, though an exposure lasting hours or days is required and the colours sometimes fade right before the viewer’s eyes

Claude Felix Abel Niépce de Saint-Victor uses albumen on glass plates for negatives

1850 The albumen print is announced by Louis-Désiré Blanquard-Évrard, delivering greater density, contrast and sharpness than had been possible with a salted paper print.

1851-1870 Instantaneous Photography

1851 English sculptor Frederick Scott Archer invents the Collodion process, or collodion wet plate process, which is 20 times faster than all previous methods and is free from patent restrictions

The Great Exhibition transforms stereoscopy from a minor scientific interest to a craze which will not wane until the 1870s

1853 The Tintype process is first described by Adolphe-Alexandre Martin – an inexpensive direct positive on a thin sheet of metal coated with a dark lacquer or enamel

Thomas Ottewill registers the double sliding folding camera which combines the folding principle with the sliding box design

1854 James Ambrose Cutting takes out several patents relating to the Ambrotype process, underexposed or bleached wet collodion negatives that appeared positive when placed against a dark coating or backing 

Parisian portrait photographer André-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri patents the Carte-de-visite (CdV), a new style of portrait utilizing albumen paper the size of a visiting card that will become commonly traded among friends and visitors

1855 The carbon process is patented by A. L. Poitevin, producing an image resistant to fading which becomes widely used in book illustration

1857 The folding camera with tapering bellows is invented by C.G.H. Kinnear, forming the basis for subsequent bellows designs

1858 John Waterhouse invents Waterhouse stops, a system using plates with different aperture diameters that could be inserted into a slot in the lens barrel which are the earliest selectable stops.

John Harrison Powell registers his design for a portable stereoscopic camera.

Fox Talbot perfects photoglyphic engraving, the forerunner of the they dust-grain photogravure process.

1859 Thomas Sutton introduces the Panoramic Camera, which uses a spherical water-filled lens to create a panoramic photograph

Dr. J.M. Taupenot develops the dry collodion-albumen process, though adoption of dry plate photography would come later with the gelatine dry plate process

1860 John Jabez Edwin Mayall popularises the carte-de-visite with a set of portraits of the Royal Family at Buckingham Palace published in an album

1861 James Clerk Maxwell presents a projected additive colour image, the first demonstration of colour photography by the three-colour method

The first photographic single-lens reflex camera (SLR) is invented by Thomas Sutton

Oliver Wendell Holmes creates but does not patent a handheld, more economical, stereoscopic viewer than had been available before

1862 The first successful wide-angle lens is the Harrison & Schnitzer Globe

1863 The cabinet card is first introduced by Windsor & Bridge in London, a larger form of the carte-de-visite suitable for display in parlours

1866 The Rapid Rectilinear lens is introduced by John Henry Dallmeyer, reducing distortion, coma and lateral colour

The Woodburytype process is patented, producing very high quality continuous tone monochrome prints

1868 Louis Ducos du Hauron patents the process for making subtractive colour prints on paper

The South Kensington Museum (now the V&A) offers Julia Margaret Cameron space for a portrait studio, making her the museum’s first artist-in-residence

1869 Pictorialist photographer Henry Peach Robinson publishes Pictorial Effect in Photography with a goal of teaching aesthetic concepts to photographers

1871-1900 Instantaneous Photography without the Chemistry

1871 English physician Richard Leach Maddox invents the lightweight gelatin dry plate silver bromide process, assigning the complex and arduous chemistry work photographers had previously to undertake to a factory

1873 Charles Harper Bennett improves the gelatin silver process by hardening the emulsion, making it more resistant to friction

The platinotype process, which produces platinum prints, is patented by William Willis.

1877 George Eastman learns to make his own gelatin dry plates, based on the writings of the British innovators, including Charles Harper Bennett

Adolf Miethe and Johannes Gaedicke produce Blitzlicht – the first ever widely used flash powder

1878 Heat ripening of gelatin emulsions is discovered by Charles Harper Bennett, making possible very short exposures and paving the way for the snapshot

1879 George Eastman applies for a patent for an emulsion-coating machine, which enables him to mass-produce photographic dry plates

1881 Thomas Bolas patents a hand-held, box form camera he calls a detective camera

1882 Etienne Jules Marey perfects a chronophotographic gun, a device capable of taking 12 exposures a second.

1883 Ottomar Anschütz designs a camera with an internal roller blind shutter mechanism in front of the photographic plate – the first focal-plane shutter in recognisable form

William Schmid patents the first detective camera to be widely sold

1885 The first flexible photographic roll film was sold by George Eastman, though this original “film” was actually a coating on a paper base

1886 Frederick E. Ives develops the halftone engraving process, making it possible to reproduce photographic images in the same operation as printing text

The first single use camera, the Ready Fotografer, is introduced, using a dry plate, though it appears to have enjoyed very limited success

C.P. Stirn patents the Stirn Concealed Vest Camera (or waistcoat camera in the UK) which becomes a popular and much copied design

1887 The Rev. Hannibal Goodwin files a patent application for camera film on celluloid rolls, though it will be not granted until 1898, by which time George Eastman has started production of roll-film using his own process

1888 The Kodak n°1 box camera, the first ready-loaded, easy-to-use camera is introduced with the slogan “You press the button, we do the rest.”

1889 George Eastman introduces the first transparent plastic roll film, made from highly flammable cellulose nitrate film 

The Loman Reflex, the first commercially produced camera with a focal-plane shutter, is introduced

1890 The Zeiss Protar, the first successful anastigmat photographic lens, designed Dr Paul Rudolph, is introduced

Hurter and Driffield introduce the “S” shaped characteristic curve which is central to sensitometry, the science of light-sensitive materials

The Ilford Manual of Photography is first published, providing detailed technical information regarding optics, chemistry and printing.

W.W. Rouch and Co. introduce the Eureka, which will become a popular detective, or hand, camera

The German manufacturer C.P. Goerz incorporates the Anschütz focal-plane shutter into a camera

1891 Bausch and Lomb introduce the first of their iris diaphragm shutters, incorporating an f-stop and shutter speed setting device

1892 Samuel N. Turner applies for a US patent for paper-backed, daylight-loading roll film. The backing paper is printed with white exposure numbers which can read through a red window in the back of the camera. The idea is incorporated in the Boston Manufacturing Company’s ‘Bullseye” camera of the same year.

1893 The Cooke triplet lens is patented by Harold Dennis Taylor of T. Cooke & Sons, the first lens system that eliminates most of the optical distortion or aberration at the outer edge of lenses

1895 The Pocket Kodak appears, the first mass-produced snapshot camera.

Samuel Kodak recognises the potential of the Samuel N. Tuner’s daylight loading process and acquires his company, having licensed the process initially.

1896 The Zeiss Planar lens, designed by Dr Paul Rudolph, is introduced.

The Dallmeyer-Bergheim soft-focus lens produces soft definition without losing the natural structure of the object being photographed

A collapsible version of the Goerz Anschütz camera, the Ango, is introduced, which becomes popular and is widely copied

1897 Kodak markets the Folding Pocket Kodak which produces a 2 1/4″ x 3 1/4″ negative – the standard size for decades

1899 The Sanderson hand camera, the first highly flexible view camera that allows photographers to retain the correct perspective, is introduced

1900-1947 The Rise of Popular Photography

1900 Kodak bring the Brownie, an inexpensive user-reloadable point-and-shoot box camera and the most successful camera range of all time, to market

1901 The popular medium format film 120 film is launched by Eastman Kodak for its Brownie No. 2, and will become the longest surviving roll film format

1902 Carl Zeiss introduces the Tessar lens, an inexpensive design that becomes extremely popular

The Thornton-Packard Company introduces The Royal Ruby, a field camera in polished mahogany with brass fittings and leather bellows, as the King of Cameras

1903 To compensate for the curl resulting from gelatine emulsion, Kodak adds a layer of gelatine coating to the back of the film and introduces it as N.C. (Non Curl) film.

1904  Realising that tarnish reduces reflection, Dennis Taylor of Cooke Company develops a chemical method for producing lens coatings

The term Straight Photography is first used in the journal Camera Work as response to Pictorialism

The Midg No. 0, a quarterplate magazine camera that takes twelve glass plates in metal holder is introduced.

1905 The Soho Reflex large-format single-lens reflex camera is introduced and becomes the definitive SLR model until after WWII

The first telephoto lens optically corrected and fixed as a system is introduced – the f/8 Busch Bis-Telar

Thomas Manly introduces the Ozobrome process, a simplified carbon process, which becomes a favourite amongst Pictorialists

1906 Panchromatic plates, sensitive to all wavelengths of visible light, are marketed by Wratten and Wainright in England

c.1906 The Ticka, a watch-style disguised camera, is introduced and goes on to become the most popular watch-form camera ever made. It is loaded with a film carried in a one-piece drop-in cartridge.

1907 The Autochrome plate is introduced, the first commercially successful colour photography product.

1908 Kodak produces the world’s first commercially practical safety film using cellulose acetate base instead of the highly flammable cellulose nitrate base.

c. 1910 Adoption of the bromoil process begins, creating the soft images reminiscent of paint popular with the Pictorialists

1911 In Italy, The Bragaglia brothers begin experiments in photodynamism

1912 Kodak introduces the Vest Pocket Kodak, or ‘VPK’

The Graflex Speed Graphic press camera is introduced and will continue in production until 1973

1913 Kodak invents 35mm film for the early motion picture industry

Oskar Barnack, creates the Ur-Leica, the prototype of a small-format 35mm camera, doubling the width of 18x24mm cinema film and running it horizontally, rather than vertically as in cinema cameras of the time

The introduction of Eastman Portrait Film begins the transition to sheet film instead of glass plates for professional photographers

1916 The first camera with a coupled rangefinder is marketed – the 3A Kodak Autographic Special

1917 Paul Strand’s essay Photography and the New God in the final issue of Camera Works argues for images to be sharply focused and clearly camera-made

1924 The first common wide aperture lens becomes available with the f/2 Ernemann Ermanox

1923 The first fisheye lens is the Beck Hill Sky (or Cloud in the UK) lens designed for scientific cloud cover studies

1925  Leica introduces the Leica I, a watershed design that makes the 35mm format truly viable

The wide aperture Ermanox becomes available with an f/1.8 lens

1928 The Rolleiflex offers photographers superb build quality, superior optics and bright viewfinders

The Zeiss Sonnar lens is patented by Zeiss Ikon. It is notable for its relatively light weight, simple design and fast aperture.

The Vacublitz, the first true flashbulb made from aluminium foil sealed in oxygen, is produced in Germany by the Hauser Company.

1929 Minolta, originally named the Nichi-Doku (which means “Japan-German”) Photographic Company, introduces its the first camera, the Nicalette, which is equipped with a German shutter and lens.

1930 The Leica I Leica Thread Mount (LTM) offers a camera with interchangeable lenses.

LOMO (Leningrad Optical Mechanical Association) produce the first Russian-manufactured camera

c. 1931 Dr Harold Eugene “Doc” Edgerton, invents of the ‘strobe’ flash, transforming the stroboscope from an obscure laboratory instrument into a common device

Rodenstock introduces the Imagon, which will become one one of the classic professional soft-focus portrait lenses, a look strongly associated with images of Old Hollywood

Kodak introduces Verichrome film, offering greater latitude and finer grain than the Kodak NC (Non-Curling) Film that had been the standard since 1903.

1932 The Leica II is launched, the first Leica camera with a rangefinder, which becomes a signature of the company

Zeiss Ikon produce the Contax I to compete with the  Leica II

Group f.64 is formed – an association of California photographers who promote sharply detailed, purist photography

The first Agfacolor film is introduced, a film-based version of their Agfa-Farbenplatte (color plate) product which is similar to Autochrome

The first photo-electric light meter is introduced, the Weston Model 617

Voigtländer introduce the Prominent, a a6x4 folding bed, coupled rangefinder camera, Voigtländer’s first rangefinder camera

1933 The Leica III is introduced and is produced in parallel with the Leica II, and will remain in production in various iterations until 1960

The first Rolleicord is introduced, a simplified version of the Standard Rolleiflex, with a cheaper 75mm Zeiss Triotar lens

1934 Kodak releases the first preloaded 35mm film, the 135 film cartridge, removing the need for photographers to load their own film into reusable cassettes in a dark room

Minolta creates the first Japanese camera to use the 6 x 4.5cm format – the Semi Minolta I.

1935 Eastman Kodak markets Kodachrome film, the first colour film that uses a subtractive color method to be successfully mass-marketed

Zeiss Ikon introduce the Super Ikonta B, a premium quality, folding medium format rangefinder camera notable both for its build and image quality

Canon introduces the Hansa, the first Asian 35MM camera.

Leica introduces the Thambar, a legendary 90mm f2.2 soft focus portrait lens

Interference-based anti-reflective coatings are invented and developed by Alexander Smakula of the Carl Zeiss optics company

1936 the first widely-distributed 35mm SLR camera, the Kine Exakta, is introduced, with a design that will influence many subsequent SLRs.

Zeus Ikon launch the Contax II, the first camera with a rangefinder and a viewfinder combined in a single window.

1937 The Rolleiflex Automat introduces automatic film loading and transport.

The Minox subminiature camera is introduced, becoming one of the most suitable cameras for covert use.

1938 Kodak Introduces the Super Six-20, the world’s first camera with built-in photoelectric exposure control

The first hot shoe appears on the Univex Mercury, though hot shoes did not become common until the 1960s.

Jaeger-LeCoultre produce the Compass Camera, an Ultra-Compact 35mm Camera, machined out of solid aluminium and designed by Noel Pemberton Billing

1939 The Argus C3 is introduced and becomes the world’s best-selling 35mm camera, offering affordable 35mm rangefinder photography to amateurs

Kodak adds a ready-mount Service for 35 mm Kodachrome Film. This makes it possible to project slides as soon as they are received from the processing laboratory.

1939-40 The Zone System is formulated by Ansel Adams and Fred Archer as ” a codification of the principles of sensitometry“, based on the studies of Hurter and Driffield

1940 Kodak introduces Tri-X film in sheet film formats

The first Minolta-made lens with the “Rokkor” name appears on a portable aerial camera used for military purposes, named in honour of Mt. Rokko.

1941 The Kodak Ektra 35mm RF is introduced with the first complete anti-reflection coated lens line for a consumer camera

1942 Eastman Kodak introduces Kodacolor – the first negative film for making colour paper prints.

1945 The Kodak dye-transfer process is introduced

1946 Kodak markets Ektachrome Transparency Sheet Film, the company’s first colour film that photographers could process themselves using newly marketed chemical kits

1948-1984: The Refinement of Film Photography and the Birth of Digital

1948 Instant photography is introduced with the first instant-film camera, the Land Camera 95 or Polaroid camera.

The iconic Hasselblad 1600F camera is introduced and goes on to develop a reputation as the ultimate professional camera.

Nikon introduces the Nikon 1 rangefinder, the first Nikon-branded camera ever produced. The design is based on the Contax rangefinder but with a simpler shutter similar to that used by Leica.

1949 The modern lens aperture markings of f-numbers in geometric sequence of f/1, 1.4, 2, 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16, 22, 32 etc. is standardised

The Contax S camera is introduced, the first 35 mm SLR camera with a pentaprism eye-level viewfinder

1954 The Leica M is introduced with the new Leica M mount and combined rangefinder and viewfinder

Kodak introduces high-speed Tri-X black and white film on 35mm and roll film. Aimed squarely at photojournalists, it was the first fast film for general use.

1955 The Kilfitt Makro-Kilar f/3.5 is the first macro lens to provide continuous close focusing

1957 The Asahi Pentax SLR is introduced, placing controls in locations that would become standard on 35 mm SLRs

Hasselblad introduces the medium format 500 C system camera, which will go on too become one of most influential and successful cameras of all time

1958 Minolta introduces the first achromatic lens coating – two layers of magnesium fluoride deposited in different thicknesses to radically reduce glare and flare.

1959 The Nikon F is introduced, Nikon’s first SLR and the first SLR aimed at professional photographers

The the first production varifocal (zoom) lens for still 35mm photography is produced – The Zoomar 36-82mm f/2.8 for Voigtländer Bessamatic 35mm SLRs

Kodak High Speed Ektrachrome film becomes the fastest colour film on the market

1960 Konica introduces the Konica F, featuring the Hi-Synchro, the first SLR shutter with a speed of 1/2000s

1961 Eastman Kodak introduces faster Kodachrome II color film

1962 AGFA introduces the first fully automatic camera, the Optima, with an automatic programmed exposure, using a selenium-meter-driven mechanical system

The Nikkorex F is the first production single-lens reflex camera with the metal Copal square shutter

1963 Kodak introduces the Instamatic range of cameras, with the easy-to-use Kodapak 126 film cartridge and the phrase ‘load it you’ll love it’

Polaroid launches the first instant picture colour process, Polacolor

1964 The Pentax Spotmatic SLR is introduced with revolutionary stop-down light metering

1965 The word pixel is first published by Frederic C. Billingsley of JPL

1966 The VEB Pentacon Prakica is the first SLR with an electronically controlled shutter

Zeiss produce the Planar 50mm f/0.7, the world’s fastest lens, used by NASA to photograph the dark side of the moon

The Rollei 35 is introduced as the smallest full-frame 35mm camera in the world

1967 Nikon F Photomic SLR is the first camera with a centre-weighted exposure metering system

1969 The foundations for digital photography are established with the development of the charged-couple device (CCD) at Bell Labs. 

1971 Nikon introduce the F2 to succeed the legendary F with a variety of finder options.

1972 Kodak reduces the popular Instamatic Camera to pocket size with the introduction of the Pocket Istamatic Camera with the new easy-load 110 Film Cartridge, extending the cartridge loading principle to what had hitherto been known as the sub-miniature camera.

Polaroid introduces the SX-70 an improvement on previous models that ejects pictures automatically and without chemical residue,

1973 Fairchild Semiconductor launch the first commercial CCD chip (0.01 Megapixels) and the MV-100, the first commercial CCD camera.

Olympus launches the OM-1, an ultra-compact 35mm SLR that initiates the compact SLR revolution of the ‘70s and ‘80s.

1975 Steven Sasson invents the world’s first digital camera while working at Eastman Kodak which shoots shoots a mere 0.01 Megapixel image.

Bryce Bayer of Kodak develops the Bayer filter mosaic pattern for CCD color image sensors, an integral part of most digital camera’s image sensor.

Olympus launch the XA series, one of the smallest rangefinder cameras ever made, featuring a fast 35mm f2.8 F. Zuiko lens, and aperture priority metering.

1976 Canon introduces the AE-1, One of the most well known and widely circulated 35mm SLR cameras ever made

Leica experiments with the first autofocus camera system but abandons it.

The Copal Compact Square Shutter (CCS), one of the most notable focal plane shutters of the ’70s, is introduced with the Konica Autoreflex TC

1977 Fuji introduces the first zoom lens to be sold as the primary lens for an interchangeable lens camera – the Fuji Fujinon-Z 43-75mm f/3.5-4.5

The Minolta XD11 is the world’s first camera with aperture priority and shutter priority, as well as a fully metered manual mode.

Kodak enters the instant picture field with a range of cameras and a new film. Kodak instant cameras do not need a mirror to reverse the image laterally, which is a requirement for Polaroid cameras, but litigation from Polaroid soon follows.

1978 Konica introduces the C35 AF, the first point-and-shoot autofocus camera.

1979 The highly portable and collapsable medium format Plaubel Makina 67 is released

1980 The Ricoh AF Rikenon 50mm f/2, the first interchangeable autofocus SLR lens, is introduced

Nikon introduces the F3, with manual and semi-automatic exposure control.

1981 Sony introduces the Mavica, a TV camera that records TV-quality still images on magnetic floppy discs.

The Sigma 21-35mm f/3.5-4 becomes the first super-wide angle zoom lens for still cameras.

International speculation on the silver market causes a significant rise in the price of silver, an important base material for the photographic industry. Agfa-Gevaert’s struggles results in the group being acquired by Bayer.

The low-tech plastic Holga camera is introduced, which will later attain cult status with the advent of Lomography and become a major source of inspiration for Instagram.

1982 Nikon introduces the FM2, which uses an improved Copal Square Shutter to achieve an unheard-of speed range of 1 to 1/4000th second and a fast flash X-sync speed of 1/250th second.

Kodacolor VR 1000 film is announced at Photokina. It is a T-Grain film, which makes possible such a high speed film with tolerable grain.

1983 The Olympus OM-4 is the first camera with a multi-spot exposure meter, taking up to eight spot measurements and averaging them

Nikon introduces the FA, the first camera to offer a multi-segmented (or matrix or evaluative) exposure light meter, which uses two segmented silicon photodiodes to divide the field of view into five segments.

1984 LOMO begin mass-producing the LC-A, achieving popularity within the USSR and kickstarting Lomography.

The Contax T, the first in a series of high quality, exceptionally compact 35mm rangefinder cameras is introduced

Leica introduces the M6, which resembles the Leica M3 but adds a modern, off-the-shutter light meter with no moving parts and LED arrows in the viewfinder.

1985-2006: Autofocus to Camera Phones

1985 Minolta introduces the world’s first fully integrated autofocus SLR with the autofocus (AF) system built into the body – the Maxxum 7000.

1986 The disposable camera is popularised by Fujifilm with the 35mm QuickSnap, which helps to define consumer photography in the late ’80s and ’90s

The Canon T90 marks the pinnacle of manual-focus 35mm SLRs

Canon launches the RC-701 ‘Realtime camera’ the first commercially available Still Video Camera

Kodak introduces T-MAX film which is smooth, fine grained and sharp – characteristics due to its use of a tabular grain emulsion. T-MAX 100 has a very high resolution of 200 lines/mm and is often used for testing the sharpness of lenses.

1987 Canon launches the EOS (Electro-Optical System), an entirely new system designed specifically to support autofocus lenses.

Canon becomes the first camera maker to successfully commercialise Ultrasonic Motor (USM) lenses which appear with the introduction of the EF 300 mm f/2.8L USM lens

1988 The Fuji DS-1P, the first digital handheld camera, is introduced, though it does not sell

The JPEG and MPEG standards are set.

Kodak introduces the DC 210, the first “Megapixel resolution” digital camera selling for under $1000 ($899).

1989 Canon introduces the 50mm f/1.0L, the fastest AF EF mount lens, and one of the fastest lenses in the world.

1990 Adobe Photoshop 1.0 image manipulation program is introduced for Apple Macintosh computer.

Eastman Kodak announces the development of its Photo CD system

The gum oil process, a painstaking and highly expressive photographic method, is invented by Karl P. Koenig. 

1991 The world’s first digital SLR is introduced, The Kodak Professional Digital Camera System (DCS) based on the Nikon F3

1992 The Lomographic Society International (LSI) is founded

Leaf Systems Inc. release the first digital camera back for medium format cameras with a 4x4cm, 4-MP CCD.

1993 The f2 35 mm autofocus  Konica Hexar is introduced, one of the quietest of 35mm cameras

The instantly recognisable Nikon 35Ti compact camera is released with a distinctive analog display on top

The Canon EF 1200mm f/5.6L USM is introduced, which Canon claims as the longest focal length lens available for any interchangeable-lens autofocus SLR.

1994 The Apple Quicktake 100 is the first camera to use USB to connect to a computer.

Nikon introduces the Vibration Reduction system, the first optical-stabilized lens.

1995 The Casio QV-10 is the first camera to incorporate an LCD screen on the back for image preview and playback

1996 Eastman Kodak, FujiFilm, AgfaPhoto, and Konica introduce the Advanced Photo System (APS), enabling the camera to record information other than the image

The Canon IXUS is the first IXUS APS camera, Canon’s contribution to the launch of the APS film system and an important milestone in compact camera design

Hasselblad introduces the V-system 503 C/W medium format film camera which will continue into production until 2013 

1997 Philippe Kahn publicly shares a picture via a cell phone for the first time

1998 Leica launches The M6 TTL to replace the M6 with a larger, reversed shutter dial and TTL flash capability

Kodak introduces the Portra family of daylight-balanced professional colour negative films for portrait and wedding applications.

1999 The first commercial camera phone, the Kyocera Visual Phone VP-210, is launched in Japan

The Nikon D1 is the first fully integrated digital SLR designed from the ground up, rather than a digital modification to a film SLR

2000 Sharp and J-Phone introduce the first mass market camera-phone in Japan, The J-SH04

Canon introduces the EOS D30, the company’s first digital SLR produced in-house. Previously Canon had a contract with Kodak to rebrand DCS models. It was also the first DSLR with a price tag affordable to enthusiasts.

2001 Nikon produce the manual focus FM3a, the last manual focus 35mm SLR released by a major maker

Kodak lose $60 for every digital camera according to a Harvard case study

2002 Contax launch the N Digital the first full frame digital SLR digital camera

Europe gets its first camera phone with the arrival of the Nokia 6750

Canon introduces its full-frame DSLR, the Canon EOS-1Ds

Foveon X3 sensor technology is introduced in the Sigma SD9 DSLR camera

Leica introduces the M7 with auto-exposure in aperture priority mode and an electronically controlled shutter.

2003 The film market peaks with 960 million rolls of film sold

The Minolta Dimage A1 is the first model to stabilise images by shifting the sensor instead of using a lens-based system.

2004 The Epson R-D1 is the first digital rangefinder camera

The Nikon F6 is launched. It is the sixth and last high end professional film camera since the Nikon F of 1959

2005 The Canon EOS 5D is the first consumer DSLR to feature a full frame sensor

AgfaPhoto files for bankruptcy and the production of Agfa brand consumer films ends

Kyocera announces the company is to cease production of film and digital cameras, ending one of oldest brands in photography, Contax.

2006 DALSA Semiconductor announces the worlds first sensor with a total resolution of over 100 million pixels

ISO 518:2006 specifies the standard dimensions of camera accessory shoes

Konica Minolta announces the end of camera design and production, as well as the development and production of film and photo paper

2007-Present: Smart Photography and Analogue Nostalgia

2007 Apple reinvents the phone with the iPhone, replacing the keypad with a touchscreen and adding computer-like capabilities

The Samsung B710 offers a dual lens phone

2008 Panasonic releases the Lumix G1, the world’s first mirrorless interchangeable-lens camera – which uses the main image sensor for autofocus, metering and full-time electronic viewing.

The Nikon D90 is the first DSLR with HD video recording capabilities

2009 FujiFilm launches world’s first digital 3D system

The FinePix Real 3D System includes includes the FinePix Real 3D W1 digital camera, FinePix Real 3D V1 picture viewer and 3D print capability

 The Leica M9 is the first full-frame digital Leica M. 

2010 Instagram, the photo and video-sharing social networking service is launched on iOS.

Apple launches the iPhone 4S and pitches it as a point-and-shoot camera killer

Worldwide demand for photographic film falls to less than a tenth of what it had been ten years before

2009 Sony introduces the first consumer back-side illuminated (BSI) sensor, the “Exmor R“, which improves low-light performance

c.2010 Photographers start to use social media filters and apps such as Hipstamatic s part of a wave of analogue nostalgia

2011 Lytro releases the first pocket-sized consumer light-field camera, capable of refocusing images after they are taken

The Fujifilm FinePix X100 is introduced, the first model in the Fujifilm X-series, a range that makes the case for the benefits of APS-C over full-frame cameras

Instagram adds hashtags to help users discover both photographs and each other

2012  Sony launches the world’s first full frame compact camera – the RX1, with a fixed 35mm F2 lens

Olympus introduces the OM-D E-M5 with a 5-axis sensor-shifting image stabilisation system – the first of its kind in a consumer camera

Nokia launches the Lumia 920, the first cell phone with an optical stabilised sensor

The Nikon D800 is introduced with the world’s highest resolution DSLR sensor

2013 Sony announces the ⍺7 which starts the full frame mirrorless revolution.

Nokia launches the Lumia 1020 phone with a 1.5 inch 41 megapixel rear sensor

Sales of digital cameras in the United States of America start to fall in terms of revenue and in unit shipments, as more consumers turn to smartphones and social media

Hasselblad discontinues the 503CW medium format film camera

2014 The HTC One M8 popularises dual lens cameras

Leica introduces the Leica T (Typ 701) with Leica’s first fully-electronic, designed-for-mirrorless lens mount

2015 Google Photos delivers AI-based organisation of images

Sony announces the first camera to employ a back-side illuminated full frame sensor, the α7R II.

Leica announces the full frame, fixed-lens compact Leica Q (Typ 116) – the first full-frame Leica to incorporate an autofocus system.

2016 Apple introduces Portrait Mode, which uses the dual backside cameras to create a depth map to isolate a foreground subject and then blur the background

Apple introduces the iPhone 7 Plus. The iPhone offers a dual camera setup with different focal lengths, 23mm and 56mm, entering the realms of telephoto on a phone.

2017 Intrepid Camera launches its Kickstarter project for a light-weight, low cost, compact 10X8 film camera.

2018 The Huawei P20 Pro provides a new triple camera system

Canon officially discontinues the EOS-1V, the company’s last remaining film camera

Nikon introduces the Z6 and Z7 mirrorless cameras.

Canon introduces the mirrorless EOS R

Google Night Sight achieves similar results to a camera on a tripod with a handheld Pixel camera phone using consecutive shots reassembled into a single image via an algorithim

Production of Ektachrome film resumes

Leica introduce the Leica M10-D, a digital camera without an LCD screen designed to combine the excitement of film with digital technology.

Researchers at Dartmouth College announce the Quanta Image Sensor (QIS) which replaces pixels with jots, where each jot can detect a single particle of light (photon)

Mirrorless cameras overtake DSLRs based on value (CIPA data)

2019 Xiaomi introduce the CC9 Pro, with five rear cameras including one with 108-megapixels

The Fujifilm GFX 100 is the world’s first medium format camera to offer in-body image stabilization, with a 102MP BSI-CMOS sensor

Nikon officially releases the 58mm f/0.95 S Noct, its fastest lens.

4.5 million digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) cameras manufactured by CIPA companies are shipped, down from 16.2 million in 2012

2020 Samsung Introduces the Galaxy S20 Ultra with five cameras to capture 108MP photos, 100 x zoom and 40MP selfies

Nikon’s introduces the D780, its first DSLR to incorporate on-chip phase-detection autofocus, a feature inherited from its mirrorless Z series 

Canon launches the EOS R series next-generation full-frame mirrorless cameras featuring Dual Pixel CMOS AF technology that provides autofocus in low-light conditions previously too dark to focus in.

The Apple 12 ships, with a new 7-element design with an ƒ/1.6 aperture for the primary camera as well as advancements to Smart HDR and Deep Fusion.

Digital camera shipments drop to a new low of 8.9 million units, down from 121 million units in 2010.

The Nikon F6 film SLR is discontinued

Mirrorless cameras overtake DSLRs based on unit volume (CIPA data)

The first large-scale image recognition system based on transformers, Vision Transformer (ViT), is introduced by Alexey Dosovitskiy and Thomas Kipf

2021 Sony introduces the ⍺1, a 50.1MP, 8.6K camera capable of shooting bursts at up to 30fps blackout-free, with 15 stops of dynamic range, real-time animal eye AF and anti-distortion shutter technology.

Olympus exits the camera market, completing the sale of its camera business to JIP, a Tokyo-based venture capital firm.

Canon ships its 150-millionth interchangeable lens for EOS cameras – an RF 70-200mm f2.8L IS USM lens

Nikon announces, and very late in the year, ships, the Z9 – the first professional camera to arrive without a mechanical shutter without rolling shutter thanks to its fast stacked shutter. It also offers the world’s fastest still image frame rate of 120 fps.

2022 OpenAI launches DALL-E 2. A portmanteau of ‘Dali’ (as in Salvador) and Pixar’s ‘WALL-E’, it offers a massive upgrade on its predecessor, with more realistic results and four-times higher resolution

Stability AI launches Stable Diffusion, a deep learning, text-to-image model based on diffusion techniques.

Midjourney, Inc. launches Midjourney, a generative artificial intelligence program and service.

Apple introduces the Photonic Engine with the iPhone 14, a computational photography technique that enhances photos taken in mid-to-low lighting conditions.

Leica introduces the M11 with a 60MP full-frame back side illuminated sensor

Japanese media organisation Nikkei reports that the compact ‘point-and-shoot’ market has retracted to 3.01m units as of 2021, a drop of 97% from its peak of 110.7m cameras in 2008.

2023 Sony launches the a9 III which delivers the world’s first full-frame global shutter sensor, which allows the camera to freeze motion in captured images with a max shutter speed of 1/80,000 second and 120 fps continuous shooting.

Nikon introduces the Zf which draws inspiration from the FM2 film camera and features brass dials.

Leica releases the Q3, the third-generation model in its fixed-lens full-frame compact series, featuring a 60MP BSI CMOS and phase detection autofocus, which enhances focus speed and accuracy.

ChatGPT expands its capabilities by adding voice and image functionalities.

According to Nikkei, global shipments of digital cameras in 2023 totaled 7.18 million units, a slight decrease of 0.3% from the previous year.

Google introduces Magic Editor on Pixel devices, enabling context-aware, AI-powered edits like repositioning subjects, removing objects, and enhancing skies with simple gestures.

Adobe unveils Firefly, its generative AI engine, integrating text-to-image and inpainting tools into Photoshop and other Creative Cloud apps.

2024 Canon launches its mirrorless flagship, the EOS R1, featuring a newly developed full-frame stacked CMOS sensor that enables ultra-fast readout speeds and blackout-free continuous shooting. The camera’s Dual Pixel CMOS AF system uses deep learning algorithms for real-time subject recognition and tracking.

Google launches “Add Me” and “Reimagine” tools in the Pixel 9 series, allowing users to generate alternate facial expressions and poses or insert missing subjects using AI.

The year passes with no new releases of DSLRs, marking a near-total shift to the development of mirrorless cameras.

2025 Hasselblad launches the 907X 100C, a modular medium format system combining the CFV 100C digital back with the 907X body, offering a 100MP sensor and compatibility with vintage lenses

Fujifilm announces the development of the GFX ETERNA, its first medium format camera designed specifically for filmmaking, featuring a 102MP sensor.

Huawei’s Pura 80 Ultra merges two periscope lenses and a 1″ sensor, using AI to fuse data for improved dynamic range and enhanced detail.