Humanity has entered a precise era
——The invention of the camera in 1830. It is rare to find an invention that has so many uses as photography. In addition to daily life, it It is also widely used in education, scientific research, medicine, information, media and other fields, allowing us to have endless reveries when recalling the past. If we put our souvenirs together, we will find that photos account for a large proportion.
In the 1830s, Louis Daguerre successfully invented a technology of practical value-photography. There is also a tortuous experience regarding its invention.
Daguerre was born in Cambrai, northern France, in 1787. He was an artist in his youth. In his 30s, he designed "dioramas," panoramic pictures displayed with special lighting effects. While he was working on this, he became interested in developing a machine that could automatically recreate scenes from the world without the use of brushes and paint. From then on, he began to try to develop a camera.
Initially, his efforts to design a practical camera were unsuccessful. He met Niépce in 1827, and it is possible that Niépce was also trying to invent a camera at that time (by that time he had achieved some success). Two years later they became partners. After Niepce died in 1833, Daguerre continued this effort alone. By 1837, he had succeeded in inventing a practical photographic system, which became known as Daguerreotype.
In 1839, Daguerre announced his photographic process to the public, but did not apply for a patent. In return, the French government granted Niepce's son and Daguerre a life annuity. The announcement of Daguerre's invention caused a huge stir among the public, and he became a hero of the day and received many honors. At the same time, daguerreotypes quickly became widely used. Daguerre soon retired and died in 1851 at his country home not far from Paris.
No invention is entirely due to the work of one person. Indeed, before Daguerre, many other works prepared the way for Daguerre's success. The camera obscura (a device similar to a pinhole imaging camera but without a negative) was invented at least 800 years before Daguerre. In the 16th century, Cardano took an important step forward in how to mount a lens in the hole of the camera obscura, which was the exciting beginning of the modern camera. But since the images it produces cannot be saved at all, it can hardly be considered a camera. Another important preparatory discovery was made by Schulz in 1727, who discovered that silver salts are sensitive to light. Although he used this discovery to create some temporary images, Schulz did not really delve into the phenomenon.
The closest forerunner to Daguerre's achievements was Niepce, who later became Daguerre's partner. Around 1820, Niepce discovered that asphalt produced in Judea (the southern region of ancient Palestine) was sensitive to light. By combining this light-sensitive material with a camera obscura, Niepce succeeded in making the world's first camera (a camera he made in 1826 is still preserved). It is for this reason that some people believe that Niepce was the inventor of the camera. However, Niepce's photography method was completely impractical. It required an 8-hour exposure time. Even so, the result was still It's a rather blurry image.
With Daguerre's method, the image is recorded on a flat plate coated with silver iodide, and an exposure time of 15 to 20 minutes is sufficient. In this way, this method, although still cumbersome, is practical. In the two years after Daguerre made his method public, others proposed a small improvement: adding silver bromide to the silver iodide used as the light-sensitive material. This small change played an important role in greatly reducing the necessary exposure time, thus making it practical to produce images using photography.
In 1839, shortly after Daguerre announced his invention, the British scientist Talbot announced that he had developed a different method of photography. Like the method we used, it uses negative film.
An interesting record shows that Talbot actually produced his first photograph in 1835, two years before Daguerreotype. Talbot was also engaged in several other research projects and was unable to complete his photographic experiment quickly.
Daguerre passed away. Daguerre’s very popular invention played a huge role in promoting the development of subsequent history. People's research work on cameras did not stop. At the same time as the invention of the daguerreotype camera, the Englishman Talbot created the "Talbot Photography Method", which allowed multiple photos to be obtained from one negative. Another few decades passed, and Americans caught up. George Eastman in the United States invented roll film, which paved the way for photography to reduce costs and enter thousands of households. In 1891, the price of the camera became affordable for many people, and it became a simple and popular entertainment tool in the family.
Later, people began to be no longer satisfied with the original black and white photos. They needed a higher level of photography technology, hoping that photos could comprehensively show all the colors of life. This is how color photography technology came into being. In addition to being used for home entertainment, it has also been gradually promoted to various fields of scientific research and many aspects such as industry, military, medicine, and commerce, thus promoting the development of these industries.