In its first fifty years, photograph was the preserve of a relatively small number of professionals and enthusiastic amateurs. It was very expensive, time consuming and awkward. All that changed in 1888, when American inventor George Eastman began selling a cheaper camera, which was also easier to use.
His first camera to feature a roll of the film dubbed the ‘detective camera’, was available in 1885. The roll was made of paper, but this was not ideal since the grain of the paper showed up on the prints. In 1900, the Eastman Kodak Company introduced the first of its most successful range of cameras: The Brownie. Eastman Kodak made and sold 99 different models of Brownies between 1900 and 1980s. The first Brownie was a cardboard box that contained a roll holder, a roll of film and a lens.
