The Journey of the Kodak Camera

The Eastman Dry Plate Company

After George Eastman invented his revolutionary “dry plate” photography process in the 1870s (a much cleaner and more convenient than the common “wet plate” photographic process of his day), he began looking for an avenue to mass-produce his invention. In 1880, he invented a machine that was able to mass-produce his dry plates, and began producing them in the loft of a rented building in Rochester, N. Y.[10] In 1881, he formed a partnership with Henry A. Strong that allowed him to quit his job as a banker and focus full-time on the new “Eastman Dry Plate Company.” By 1884 Eastman had added other inventions – dry negative paper, an early version of transparent camera film, and negative paper holders – to the company, which had now expanded into a thriving corporation and held 14 shareowners.

The Eastman Kodak Company

In the late 1880s, Eastman began to imagine his company going forward as one centered around his newly-invented film system of photography, and cameras that were built to easily and conveniently use it.[11] The company introduced Eastman American Film in 1885 – the first modern, transparent, mass-produced camera film. Eastman invented and trademarked the “Kodak” name and changed the company name from the “Eastman Dry Plate and Film Company” to the “Eastman Kodak Company” in 1892.[12]

The Eastman Kodak company gained much of its popularity because it for the first time put photography into the hands of everyday novices, rather than professional photographers. No longer was a darkroom necessary to merely load a camera with film, and, because of Eastman’s inventions, the messy and cumbersome wet-plate system was now becoming obsolete. Additionally, through its diverse portfolio of photographic products, Kodak quickly gained popularity through the entire film industry, making photography accessible to both amateur and professional photographers throughout the world.[13]

The Start of the Original Camera

It was not until 1888 that Kodak, already a thriving company, introduced its first camera to the market. The first Kodak camera – the Kodak Original – camera was a simple and inexpensive box camera that came pre-loaded with an 100-exposure film roll. This enabled buyers to simply follow the instructions provided by the Kodak company, take their pictures, and send the entire camera apparatus back to the Kodak company for development.[14]

After the Eastman Kodak company’s first camera entered the market, Kodak became one of the leading global photography companies for the rest of the 20th century. Its simple, easy to use products and inexpensive film developing system made photography accessible to millions of people around the world.[15]

Footnotes

[10] The Kodak Company, “Milestones,” Eastman Kodak Company, 2026, https://www.kodak.com/en/company/page/milestones/.

[11] Carl W. Ackerman, George Eastman: Founder of Kodak and the Photography Business (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1930), 47.

[12] Thomas Carson and Mary Bonk, editors, “George Eastman,” Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History, (Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, 1999).

[13] Peter A. Stanwick and Sarah D. Stanwick, “The Rise and Fall of Eastman Kodak: Looking Through Kodachrome Colored Glasses,” American Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences Research 4, no. 12 (2020), 219.

[14] Mia Fineman, “Kodak and the Rise of Amateur Photography” The Met, 2026, https://www.metmuseum.org/essays/kodak-and-the-rise-of-amateur-photography.

[15] Stanwick and Stanwick, “The Rise and Fall of Eastman Kodak”, 1.