A History of Photography in Fifty Cameras

A History of Photography in 50 Cameras explores the 180-year story of perhaps the most widely used device ever built. It covers cameras in all forms, revealing the origins and development of each model and tracing the stories of the photographers who used and popularized them. Illustrated throughout with studio shots of all fifty cameras and a selection of iconic photographs made using them, it is the perfect companion guide for camera and photography enthusiasts alike.

The cameras include:

• The Nikon F, the "hockey puck" that saved photographer Don McCullin's life when it stopped a sniper's bullet during the Vietnam War. Its indestructibility, reliability and interchangeable lenses made it a favored workhorse of photojournalists.
• The Leica M3-D was also favored by war photographers, including David Duncan Douglas, who used the camera during his coverage of the Korean and Vietnam Wars. In 2012, one of his four customized Leica cameras sold at auction for nearly $2 million.
• A Speed Graphic was used to take Sam Shere's widely published photograph of the 1937 Hindenburg disaster, "the world's most famous news photograph ever taken." With few shots left and no time to get the camera to his eye, he shot his Pulitzer Prize-winning image "literally from the hip. It was over so fast there was nothing else to do."
• The camera phone has transformed picture-taking technology most profoundly since the invention of cameras. The "selfie" has become a new genre of photography practiced by everyone, and shared globally. In 2014, Ellen DeGeneres shared her selfie taken at the Academy Awards. By the end of the ceremony, it had been shared 2,070,132 times with no sign of stopping, crushing the record of 780,000 held by President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, for their 2012 post-election self-portrait.

“This new volume in Firefly's wonderful Fifty series outlines the history of photography through a chronological look at various cameras, from the Giroux Daguerreotype of 1839 through the smartphones of today. The entry for each device discusses its creation, design, usage, and place in history. Important people in photography are profiled, and illustrations and photos are included for each entry. This book goes beyond just facts, however, by offering a snapshot (sorry) of each era, with trivia and pop-culture references--for example, the entry on the Kodak Nikon DCS100, from 1991, discusses how an AP photographer was able to transmit a photograph of President George H. W. Bush to news outlets around the globe less than a minute after he was sworn in (seems practically prehistoric in the selfie age!). This readable volume is recommended for most public libraries and is a must-purchase where there is any interest in photography.”

(starred review) This beautifully illustrated and meticulously researched book is highly recommended for camera enthusiasts, amateur and professional photographers, and history buffs.-- "Publishers Weekly" (12/7/2017 12:00:00 AM)
(An) excellent book... Such things surely seem quaint when anyone with a halfway decent smartphone can take a halfway decent photo and our lives are awash in images. A History of Photography explains the technological and scientific changes that brought us here.--Laura Mallonee "Wired" (1/6/2016 12:00:00 AM)
A meta-gift for photography lovers, this modest photo book presents the history of photography as told through 50 cameras, from daguerrotypes to digital.-- "Los Angeles Times" (12/6/2015 12:00:00 AM)
A wonderful reference.--Natosha Miller "Test Try Results Blog" (6/17/2016 12:00:00 AM)
If you're new to photography or photo history--or if, like me, you just love cameras--you may want to pick up a copy of this new book. A History of Photography in 50 Cameras comes to you from a reliable source, Michael Pritchard, the director-general of the Royal Photographic Society in England. The book covers the full timeline of commercially available cameras, opening with the Giroux Daguerreotype in 1839, and closes appropriately with a camera-phone, 2013's Nokia Lumia 1020. Throughout its pages you'll find familiar names, from the Kodak Brownie to the Leica M3 and Nikon F, each described with a short history and illustrated with several images. Perhaps more interesting, however, are the unlooked-for and unusual. You'll no doubt want to spend some time getting to know the Enjalbert Revolver de Poche, a pistol-shaped device which produced images on tiny glass plates within its barrel. Pritchard also reveals the surprisingly long history of surreptitious photography in describing cameras shaped, variously, like books, packs of cigarettes, and even cravat pins. While this book is sure to please photo nerds, it's much more than a list of camera facts. A History uses each of the cameras Pritchard has selected as a jumping-off point to discuss a moment in the medium's history and the people who made use of the technology.--Adam Ryder "American Photo" (11/25/2015 12:00:00 AM)
The book explores 50 cameras that played a huge role in photographic history placed in chronological order... It tells stories and facts about the inventors, how it was conceived, the designs, its impact on photographic history, and the people who used them. Aside from the photos of each camera, you will also find photos and illustrations of their inventors and samples from that camera... So if you are a photographic historian or a film camera buff, you will find yourself very happy with this book... As a fellow photographic enthusiast, I highly recommend this book. You will always find something new that you didn't know about photographic history in a readily available and condensed form, I know I did.--Derek "Straight No Chaser Blog" (12/4/2015 12:00:00 AM)
There are many, many fascinating cameras profiled in this book from the ones you'd expect such as the Pacemaker Speed Graphic of 1947 and the Nikon F and the Pentax Spotmatic of the 60s and 70s to the eclectic such as the Scoville Book Camera of 1892 and the Ermanox of 1924 and into the future with the Nokia Lumia 1020... One of the things I liked most about this book is the inclusion of the years the cameras were produced, the country they were produced in, and the manufacturer... This is an excellent book that will not only appeal to camera lovers, but photography and history buffs as well. The cameras, photographs, and photographers highlighted in this book are well selected and the author, Michael Pritchard is about as high an authority on cameras as you can get so you know you are getting accurate information. If you love cameras and photography this book belongs in your collection. Even if you, like I, live in a virtual world where everything is "disposable" and you no longer buy books or haven't bought one in a while, "A History of Photography In 50 Cameras" deserves a spot on your shelf.--Sam "Camera Legend Blog" (12/2/2015 12:00:00 AM)
--Rebecca Vnuk "Booklist" (1/1/2016 12:00:00 AM)

Dr Michael Pritchard, FRPS, has over thirty years' experience as a researcher of photographic history and technology He has written and lectured extensively and was awarded the Fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society for his work on the history of photography He has contributed to numerous journals and publications, including The Oxford Companion to the Photograph and the Encyclopaedia of Nineteenth-Century Photography Michael has been director-general of the Royal Photographic Society since 2011

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