Kodak No. 1 (1888)
The "No. 1 Kodak" - usually just called "the Kodak" - was George Eastman's first camera, introduced in 1888. It made the company's name, and it's the camera behind the slogan "You press the button, we do the rest." Before this, photography meant glass plates, chemicals, and know-how. The Kodak was a leather-covered wooden box that anyone could use. It came loaded with a 100-exposure roll of paper-backed film. When you finished the roll, you mailed the whole camera back to the factory. They developed the film, made prints, reloaded the camera, and sent it back to you.
The camera sold well. Eastman moved 13,000 in the first year alone. It shot circular pictures 2½ inches in diameter through a fixed-focus meniscus lens (focal length 2½ inches, aperture f/9) at a fixed shutter speed of about 1/25 second. You set the shutter by pulling a string, steadied the camera on a table or tripod, and pressed a button to make the exposure. Two reflecting viewfinders let you frame either horizontally or vertically. It weighed 1 lb 4 oz loaded.
Traditional photographers of the day dismissed it as too simple to be taken seriously, which was rather the point. The $25 price bought the complete kit: camera, film, and processing. Some accounts list the film separately at $10, but Kodak's own history describes the $25 package as including everything. The No. 1 was succeeded by the No. 2 Kodak in 1889, which took larger pictures and added a viewfinder.
Known specs:
- Introduced: 1888
- Price: $25 (camera with film and processing, per Kodak's history; some sources list $25 for the camera plus $10 for film)
- Film: 100-exposure roll, paper-backed, circular images 2½" in diameter
- Lens: fixed-focus meniscus, 2½" focal length, f/9
- Shutter: fixed, approximately 1/25 second, set by pulling a string
- Body: leather-covered wooden box, 1 lb 4 oz loaded
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