History
The earliest photographs were actually glass plates that were covered with a wet, light sensitive, silver halide emulsion. These coated plates would then have to be exposed to light before the emulsion dried. It was a very expensive, time consuming process in which timing was everything to gain a proper photograph. Soon though, a dry emulsion was developed that allowed for proper storage of plates before their use. Still, photography at this point was available only to an elite few who either had the money or financial backing to pay for this very expensive new media. However, the push was on to develop a way for photography to be brought to the masses at a reasonable cost.
In the late 1870's, George Eastman, a high school drop out who at the time was working for a bank, had developed a machine that would coat glass plates with the photo sensitive emulsion. He traveled to London, which at the time "was the center of the photographic and business world", to try and patent his machine. He received the patent in London as well as an American patent. In 1880, Eastman and a fellow businessman named Henry Strong began commercially producing these "dry plates". The business did well enough that Eastman was able to leave his banking job and devote all of his time to the photo business. He spent much of his time in researching ways to reduce the cost and complexity of photography.
"In 1883, Eastman startled the trade with the announcement of film in
rolls, with the roll holder adaptable to nearly every plate camera on
the market. With the KODAK camera in 1888, he put down the foundation
for making photography available to everyone.
The KODAK camera, pre-loaded with enough fi ...