Say Cheese!

The best consumer product has to be, hands down, the camera. It has revolutionalized the way society captures moments in time in a way which can be reserved years after it is produced. I think I speak for everyone when I say how much of a relief it is not to hire a professional painter and sit for 8 hours, where I could achieve a more accurate image in a split second.

 

The forerunner to the camera would be the camera obscura. It consisted of a small chamber or box in which light was admitted through a pinhole where it was reflected on either paper or glass, forming an external picture on the base of the chamber. Mathematician and astronomer Johannes Kepler coined the term "camera obscura" which he later added lens, legs and a tent to make the camera transportable and more sufficient.

 

From that point in history, the notion of capturing an image triggered a chain of camera/photographic procedures aiming to surpass the next. The discovery of mixing silver and chalk in order to darken images when exposed to light thus producing the first permanent photograph. Wet plating was then introduced where photographers could develop their glass plates in a darkroom cutting the exposure time dramatically. Before you know it, the Kodak Instamatic camera was born creating an entire line of instant photography up to the point of the digital cameras we hold in our hands today.

 

I could spend countless blogs reciting the development of the camera through the ages and still not give it justice. The impact it has made on society is no short of extraordinary; without it, history wouldn't be restored, moments wouldn't be captured and pictures WILL be worth a thousand words. We essentially wouldn't have videos or video cameras had it not been for the camera. Not only that, the camera has intergrated into other products such as the mobile phone, the computer webcam, laptops, macs, even portable gaming consoles, allowing us to capture and record those treasured moments at any convenient time. In my opinion, the camera definately embodies the title of being the best consumer product and will continue to develop as time progresses.

 

 

-Karen Ly