500 Cameras: 170 Years of Photographic Innovation

by Todd Gustavson, George Eastman House

Overview

From the world-famous Eastman House comes a lavish, expansive guide to nearly 200 years of photographic invention and innovation. Richly visual and wonderfully informative, it showcases 500 groundbreaking cameras from the museum's collection that forever changed our perception of the world, and of ourselves.

Todd Gustavson, curator of technology at the George Eastman House, organizes the cameras into genealogical categories--from detective to digital, stereo to subminiature. Alongside the 35mm, you'll see curiosities like stereoscopic cameras, postcard cameras, and spy cameras hidden in watches, buttons, and fountain pens.

Essays by experts in the field--including Robert Shanebrook, Martin Scott, and Mark Osterman--trace the technological development of the camera and provide insight into the innovators behind the lens.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781454900733
Publisher:	Sterling Signature
Publication date:	11/07/2011
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	480
File size:	53 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Todd Gustavson is curator of technology at the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York. He is responsible for the cataloging, storage, and maintenance of one of the world's largest collections of photographic and cinematic equipment, containing more than 20,000 artifacts. He has curated or co-curated many exhibitions for the museum, including the critically acclaimed traveling exhibition “The Brownie at 100.” His previous book, Camera: A History of Photography from Daguerreotype to Digital, was published by Sterling in 2009.

Editorial Reviews

"With so many pages of beautiful photographs and text, this is a book that any photographer or camera collector would want to own . . . Highly recommended." --Choice 

From the Publisher

In these pages, Gustavson (curator, technology, George Eastman House, Rochester, NY; Camera: A History of Photography from Daguerreotype to Digital) provides a visually stunning overview of the history of cameras and related equipment. After introductions by Gustavson and Anthony Bannon (director, George Eastman House), the book follows photography chronologically from the earliest daguerreotype cameras to contemporary cell phones. Drawing on the extensive archives of the George Eastman House collection, Gustavson devotes individual chapters to the following camera types: dry plate, field, detective, snapshot, reflex, twin-lens reflex, folding, 35mm, professional, panoramic, stereo, subminiature, toy, specialty, and in-camera processing. Each chapter is color-coded, and the book includes a detailed index, making it a handy reference—though this lovely tome is more than just that. Each of the cameras is beautifully illustrated with color photographs and described in lively prose, and the book benefits from handsome design. VERDICT Covering everything from significant inventions to quirky little detective cameras, this is a delightful volume, both serious and fun. Everyone interested in photography, from occasional shutterbugs to serious professionals, will absolutely love this book.—Raymond Bial, First Light Photography, Urbana, IL

Library Journal