The KODAK Story

Or part of it, at any rate! Kodak's name will be remembered, not because of any major technical development, but because it was the first company to produce equipment that could be used by anyone. Up till this time would-be photographers virtually had to be chemists as well as artists; they were picture makers in a very real sense! When Kodak cameras appeared on the scene, picture taking came to the fore, and this paved the way for people to concentrate on the image, and leave the preparation and the development processes to others.

The genius behind the Kodak camera - and its name - was George Eastman. His first box camera (the Eastman Cossitt) was produced in 1886, but it was too costly. In July 1888 the Kodak camera was exhibited for the first time in Minneapolis, and became an instant success.

Why the name Kodak? It was short, and easy to pronounce. In the 1920s Eastman wrote: The letter "K" had been a favourite with me - it seems a strong, incisive sort of letter. It became a question of trying out a great number of combinations of letters that made words starting and ending with "K".

The Kodak was relatively small (approximately 6"x3"x3") and though it weighed nearly three pounds, was still much lighter than current cameras. There was no film counter, and the camera was sold with film for 100 exposures (paper-based, incidentally). The lens was wide, with a sixty degree angle of view, thus anything from four feet onwards would be in sharp focus. Because of the wide angle, it was not considered necessary to have a viewfinder. However, the wide angle lens had very poor definition at the edges, so a circular mask was placed in front of the film at the focal plane - which was not to everybody's liking.

As the advertisements claimed, there were only three simple movements to make: setting the shutter, pressing the exposure button, and winding the film on. And at the end of the film one simply sent the entire camera for processing, and it would be returned with a new film installed. Hence the famous advertising slogan You Press the Button, We do the rest! The Kodak reached Britain fowards the end of 1888, and was immediately acclaimed. The Amateur Photographer review stated:

We venture to say that it is, without exception, the most beautiful instrument that has ever been offered for the public in connection with photography.

It rapidly became the tourist's camera. From the Photographic News Almanac, 1891:

"In my varied wanderings I have met the gentleman with the black leather covered box everywhere.... where the American tourists swarm, the Kodak seems as necessary a part of their belongings as the portmanteau" ( a leather trunk for clothes etc., opening into two equal parts).

Other versions soon followed, the No.2 Kodak camera introducing transparent celluloid film for the first time.

The camera was remarkably easy to use. One holiday akrer in 1889 wrote:

"We have brought a litle photography machine called the Kodak. It takes a hundred views. All you have to do it just pull a string and press a spring and the business is done."

Fool-proof? Well. almost! A photographic dealer recalled how back in 1884 he has sols his first camera:

"We sold one for a customer who was depaerting on a pleasure trip round the world. We loaded it for him and he went away. He returned in about five months and brought in his film to be developed. The result was about twenty five feet of clear film with a very dense, black spot at one end. Our travelled customer had made a hundred exposures without once turning the film!"

If you are visiting the UK or already live there, the National Museum of Photography Film and Television is a must. The Kodak Gallery will take you through the history of popular photography from its earliest days up to the present.

© Robert Leggat, 2006.