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This is a camera.

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No really, a shoebox, a piece of aluminum foil 
with a tiny pinprick in it,

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a small flap, and a bit of opaque tape for light sealing

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is all you technically need to create a device which can take photographs.

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In fact, this is one of the photos it took.

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I made this thing in high school photography
class and I imagine many other students started

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their courses in a similar fashion.

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So, what better way to introduce the topic
of photography than with this obscure camera.

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Speaking of obscure cameras…

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The camera obscura is an ancient…

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device?

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Eh...more like a concept.

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An ancient imaging thing that’s very old

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and probably was discovered accidentally many many times
before anyone thought to make use of it.

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Its name is Latin and means “dark chamber”

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which should give you a decent clue about what it is.

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It’s a dark chamber but there’s a hole in it on one side.

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And because light travels in straight lines,

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if that hole is small enough it will actually cause an image
 to be projected onto the surface opposite the hole.

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Now, we can go deep into optics junk and talk
about diffraction and optimal ratios for the size of the hole vs. the chamber itself

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but I don’t want to do that so instead I’m gonna explain it like this;

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Imagine you have a piece of paper in front
of you with a hole in it.

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You can only see what’s on the other side
of the paper through that hole.

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Now, obviously that limits what you can see,
but if you move your eyes down

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- no, not just look -

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If you move your head down now you can see
something you previously couldn’t.

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You’re able to see objects through the hole that are higher up

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because the angle that you’re looking through the hole has changed.

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If you move to the left, now you can see things
that are to the right of your previous view.

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This is probably not a shocking discovery,
but here’s where things get weird.

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If that hole is really, really small, now
you basically can’t see anything through it.

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The only thing you can see is a tiny speck
of light coming from whatever is directly opposite the hole

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from where your eye happens to be.

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But the same positional phenomenon as before
is still occurring.

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What you can see depends on the angle that
you’re looking through the hole.

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Move down and you see things higher up,

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move to the left and you see things to the right.

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"But," I hear you say, 
"you can’t see anything! You can only see a speck of light."

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Ah! But that speck of light will change brightness
and color

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based on the tiny part of the whatever you can actually see through the hole.

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That was a confusing sentence, umm…

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OK so you can’t make anything out looking
through that tiny hole, it’s just too small.

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But the apparent brightness of the speck of
light you can see

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is directly correlated to the brightness of whatever tiny part of an object is on the other end of a straight line

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between your eye and that object which intersects that hole.

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That’s even more confusing.

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It’s just like before, move down and you see higher things.

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Move to the left and you see righter things.

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And vice versa.

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But what you’re able to see is such a small
part of whatever’s out there

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that all you end up with is a point of light.

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The hole got smaller, so the region of space
you can see got smaller, too.

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So small it’s just a point.

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Now I know what you’re thinking.

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A point of light’s not useful, is it?

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Can’t make anything out with that.

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Well that’s just a problem with your eyes.

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See, the goal isn’t actually to look through the hole.

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If instead of an eye you put a screen opposite the hole,

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then turn around so you’re facing that screen,

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suddenly that screen will reveal a projected image of whatever's on the other side.

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From the perspective of any point on the screen,
only a tiny speck of light is reaching it.

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But the speck of light that reached it came
from just a small region of space

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on the other side of the hole.

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See what’s happening?

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Every spot on the screen is only getting hit
with light from a tiny spot out there.

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Once it hits the screen and reflects off of
it, that allows our eyes to see an image on the screen.

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That image will be upside-down and backwards
because geometry, but still.

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Pretty neat.

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How is this useful?

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Well, back in the days of yore you could build a light-proof box,

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put a tiny hole in one side of it,

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point it at something,

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then have somebody go into the box with a canvas,

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put the canvas opposite the hole,

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and use the projected image to paint an accurate (if laterally reversed)
picture of a subject

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by simply drawing on top of the projection.

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The act of drawing over a projected image was called

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ray tracing.

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We’ll see how well that joke ages…

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Anyway, before long we grew tired of the really
dim images produced by pinholes

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and started playing around with these lens things.

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We found that if you take some glass and make it all curved-like,

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you can make light bend as it enters and exits the glass 
and behave a lot like it does through a pinhole,

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while allowing for much more light to be collected
and still form a projected image on a screen

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or whatever.

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That made the image much brighter.

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And before long we started using mirrors and
translucent screens

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to un-flip and de-upsidedown the image
for less confusing and more accurate tracing.

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Neat stuff.

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But tracing was annoying.

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It took some skill, was really slow, and generally
was just a bummer.

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Plus tracing was just the first step.

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If you wanted, like, shading and color you’d
need some sort of artist.

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Where are you gonna get one of those?

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Photography was born as a means to eliminate
the human-drawing part of the camera obscura.

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The name photography is actually quite fitting
for what it does.

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Its Greek roots translate to "drawing with light."

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If we could somehow use the light itself to
make a drawing,

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we’d save a lot of headaches.

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We had a pretty good idea of what needed to be invented;
some sort of light-sensitive material.

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And boy did lots of people take their cracks at this.

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One of the most well-known early photographic
techniques was the daguerreotype,

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named for its inventor Louis Daguerre.

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This was the first photographic process to
attain widespread adoption,

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announced to the public in 1839.

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Now, I’m not going deep into the history of photography here

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but I will talk about this photographic process because it’s chemically
quite similar to the modern-day

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black and white process.

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The implementation is just a little - no, strike that.

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Really wonky.

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Daguerre took highly-polished plates of silver-coated
copper and, in the dark,

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exposed them to iodine gas 
(later other halogens — chlorine and bromine — would also be used).

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This changed the very top surface of the plate’s
coating from pure silver to halides of silver,

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in the case of iodine specifically that would
be silver iodide,

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and at this point the plate was now light-sensitive.

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These silver iodide molecules would, when
hit with photons, undergo a reduction reaction

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and revert back to tiny bits of pure silver.

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If you kept this plate in the dark until it
was placed in a camera obscura,

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then used the camera to project an image of a subject
onto the plate,

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you’d now have a plate where certain parts of its surface

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no longer contained silver iodide but actually contained pure silver.

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And of course those transformed parts corresponded
to the areas of the plate that were hit with light,

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and therefore captured the shape of the image chemically.

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A drawing was made with light itself, thus photography was born.

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However, at this point that image would not be visible.

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For one thing, you couldn’t expose the plate to light outside the camera

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until you had done some processing to it,

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but for another the image formed in the exposure is hardly an image at all.

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This so-called latent image needed development to become visible,

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and in the days of the daguerreotype that happened by exposing the plate to mercury vapor.

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Fun!

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Quick note, development didn’t need to be done chemically.

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Some processes took the camera-exposed plate
and exposed them further to light through color filters.

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Others would simply expose the plate in the camera for a
very long time but that had obvious limitations.

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From now on we’re talking about chemical
development of the latent image.

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The development process took the exposed spots of the plate
with infinitesimally small silver molecules

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and enlarged those molecules into merely microscopically
small particles of pure silver.

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Now they were large enough to be visible on
the parts of the plate in which they were present.

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The last step was to get rid of the silver iodide

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that had not been transformed into pure silver
 in a process known as fixing.

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Daguerre initially used a hot bath of saltwater to do this,

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but later sodium thiosulfate was used.

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And at this point the plate contained a permanent, viewable image.

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A photograph happened!

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Now if you know anything about analog photography
you might be a little confused here.

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As was I.

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I’m used to the thing that comes out of the camera being a negative image

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where areas hit with light become dark and so the image appears inverted.

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Yet the very plate that was in the camera
is what becomes viewed in a daguerreotype,

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and they’re clearly positive images.

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Reversal film, also known as slide or positive film, is a thing

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but the process I just described is not that.

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Well, as it turns out, daguerreotypes are only sort-of not negatives.

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Here, look at this website I found:

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“The experience of viewing a daguerreotype is unlike that
of viewing any other type of photograph.

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The image does not sit on the surface of the plate.

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After flipping from positive to negative as
the viewing angle is adjusted,

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viewers experience an apparition in space,

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a mirage that arises once the eyes are properly focused.”

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Sounds like I need to get my hands on a daguerreotype.

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Luckily, through the magic of buying two of them,

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I have one of them right here.

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We’ll get to this guy.

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It’s not actually a daguerreotype.

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This is now handily the oldest not-book object I’ve ever held in my hands.

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At least I’m pretty sure.

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Daguerreotypes fell out of fashion by 1860,

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you’ll soon see why,

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so this is probably at least 160 years old.

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And literally one-of-a-kind, which is pretty neat I gotta say.

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Daguerreotypes were extremely fragile objects which could not be touched,

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so almost always they were mounted behind glass in cases like this.

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This is a 1/6th size daguerreotype, meaning
that the same sensitized plate was divvied up and used for six photographs.

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Would you like to see it?

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Here it is.

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This is really a lovely photograph.

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00:11:01,360 --> 00:11:03,760
A woman and her infant child.

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The “Anson” stamped in the border suggests that
this was taken at the studio of Rufus Anson,

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a photographer active in New York from 1851 to 1867.

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00:11:14,155 --> 00:11:17,350
So, given that this appears to be an Anson daguerreotype,

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it probably dates from somewhere between 1851 and 1860.

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00:11:22,330 --> 00:11:27,516
For being so old it’s held-up pretty well,
and the image looks remarkably life-like.

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00:11:27,516 --> 00:11:30,460
It’s very sharp and highly detailed.

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00:11:30,460 --> 00:11:33,941
Just about the only flaw is this bit of tarnishing
down here,

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00:11:33,941 --> 00:11:38,470
and the fact that little baby Gertrude didn’t quite keep still for the exposure.

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00:11:38,470 --> 00:11:42,682
Her right hand is blurred as is her (I’m assuming this is a girl)...

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hairpiece?

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Whatever you’d call this.

190
00:11:45,199 --> 00:11:48,189
I’m no expert on mid-nineteenth century baby fashion!

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00:11:48,189 --> 00:11:51,379
Oh and yes, that is almost certainly her right hand.

192
00:11:51,379 --> 00:11:56,313
Most daguerreotypes are mirror-images because
of that pesky geometry thing.

193
00:11:56,313 --> 00:12:01,968
Some photographers used cameras with mirrors
in them to un-do this but that was uncommon

194
00:12:01,968 --> 00:12:04,091
as it made the image less clear.

195
00:12:04,091 --> 00:12:09,239
Since this looks so good, you might be wondering
why the daguerreotype fell out of favor.

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00:12:09,239 --> 00:12:14,971
Well, I have the camera positioned as perfectly
as I can for you to be able to see this.

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00:12:14,971 --> 00:12:17,469
If I move it even just a little bit…

198
00:12:18,065 --> 00:12:19,682
that happens.

199
00:12:19,682 --> 00:12:23,163
I had no idea daguerreotypes were like this.

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00:12:23,163 --> 00:12:28,274
When you see pictures of them online, those pictures were taken as I took this shot.

201
00:12:28,274 --> 00:12:33,829
But you need fairly specific lighting conditions
to do that because of how this is structured.

202
00:12:33,829 --> 00:12:36,773
And this reveals how we’re getting a positive image

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00:12:36,773 --> 00:12:41,664
out of the same silver-halide chemistry that produces negatives like these.

204
00:12:41,664 --> 00:12:44,773
The image is in fact barely there.

205
00:12:44,870 --> 00:12:50,201
If you angle the plate to reflect something
bright, you’ll see that it practically disappears.

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00:12:50,201 --> 00:12:55,863
And when you remind yourself how this plate
was sensitized, you’ll probably figure out why.

207
00:12:55,863 --> 00:12:59,803
Remember that this is a polished plate of silver-coated copper.

208
00:13:00,180 --> 00:13:05,682
The very top layer of silver was converted
to silver iodide (or some concoction of other halides)

209
00:13:05,682 --> 00:13:11,397
to make it sensitive to light, 
and the areas that got hit with light then turned into…

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00:13:11,397 --> 00:13:12,630
silver.

211
00:13:12,850 --> 00:13:16,418
The image is made of the same material as its backing,

212
00:13:16,418 --> 00:13:21,320
but that’s OK because under the right conditions
that actually makes a positive image.

213
00:13:21,320 --> 00:13:24,610
The plate itself is basically a mirror.

214
00:13:24,610 --> 00:13:31,310
If you position it so that it reflects something
dark, then you end up with the unexposed parts of the plate appearing black.

215
00:13:31,310 --> 00:13:34,490
The areas that got hit with light, though, have impurities.

216
00:13:34,490 --> 00:13:39,560
It’s still particles of silver, but they
aren’t part of the polished mirror finish anymore.

217
00:13:39,560 --> 00:13:44,090
They’re sitting on top of what’s left of the original, un-converted silver.

218
00:13:44,090 --> 00:13:48,057
So, as long as there is some ambient light to hit
them and become scattered,

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00:13:48,057 --> 00:13:52,051
those parts will appear brighter than the reflection of darkness.

220
00:13:52,365 --> 00:13:57,220
This makes it an apparent positive, 
though with serious viewing limitations.

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00:13:57,502 --> 00:14:01,263
Oh, and if you position it so that it reflects
something very bright -

222
00:14:01,263 --> 00:14:04,312
well now you see the negative image you might expect

223
00:14:04,312 --> 00:14:10,180
because those impurities are now blocking the reflection 
and so appear darker than the background.

224
00:14:10,180 --> 00:14:13,970
Really, this is just… rather difficult to view.

225
00:14:13,970 --> 00:14:17,382
In some lighting situations it’s practically impossible.

226
00:14:17,382 --> 00:14:22,848
But funnily enough under these studio lighting conditions... it's really easy.

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00:14:22,848 --> 00:14:26,450
But it’s important to keep in mind that
when these were being produced,

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00:14:26,450 --> 00:14:29,909
artificial light was still coming from these things.

229
00:14:29,909 --> 00:14:32,230
The gas mantle hadn’t even been invented yet.

230
00:14:32,230 --> 00:14:37,648
I have way more opportunities to make this
image pop than the people in it ever did.

231
00:14:37,648 --> 00:14:42,529
So it’s no surprise that as soon as we figured
something better out, we flocked to it.

232
00:14:43,502 --> 00:14:45,239
And this is that.

233
00:14:45,239 --> 00:14:49,264
The image of this fine gentleman appears on an ambrotype.

234
00:14:49,515 --> 00:14:53,045
Ambrotypes were an implementation of the wet collodion process.

235
00:14:53,045 --> 00:14:56,401
Not to be confused with the Nick collodion process.

236
00:14:56,401 --> 00:15:01,791
Here, collodion, which is a syrupy alcohol and ether-based
solution of nitrocellulose,

237
00:15:01,791 --> 00:15:06,017
is used as a carrier medium for particles of silver halides.

238
00:15:06,017 --> 00:15:12,604
It was much easier to produce plates this
way since they didn’t require the perfectly polished surface

239
00:15:12,604 --> 00:15:14,284
that daguerreotypes did.

240
00:15:14,284 --> 00:15:21,735
After coating a plate of glass in iodized collodion, the plate was then immersed in silver nitrate which sensitized it.

241
00:15:21,735 --> 00:15:27,993
Then when it was still wet it was placed in a camera,
exposed, developed, and finally fixed.

242
00:15:27,993 --> 00:15:30,590
And this is the end result.

243
00:15:30,590 --> 00:15:35,985
Note that there’s some very subtle tinting
done on the face to make a blushing effect.

244
00:15:35,985 --> 00:15:39,550
Hand-tinting was somewhat common in ambrotypes.

245
00:15:39,550 --> 00:15:42,986
In this case the effect is so subtle I didn’t notice it for days,

246
00:15:42,986 --> 00:15:50,120
though it’s very possible the coloring has simply faded
in the century-and-a-half since this was taken.

247
00:15:50,120 --> 00:15:53,447
If you look closely you’ll see that the
light areas of the image

248
00:15:53,447 --> 00:15:56,600
appear to be floating on top of the dark areas.

249
00:15:56,600 --> 00:16:00,300
It’s particularly noticeable at the edges
of his shirt and coat,

250
00:16:00,300 --> 00:16:02,640
also with the coat and the background.

251
00:16:02,640 --> 00:16:06,380
This was another trick to get a positive image out of a negative.

252
00:16:06,380 --> 00:16:10,149
The dried collodion layer that contains the image,
known as the emulsion,

253
00:16:10,149 --> 00:16:12,823
is placed in front of something dark.

254
00:16:13,043 --> 00:16:17,350
This could be done by varnishing the glass,
or by putting velvet behind it,

255
00:16:17,350 --> 00:16:20,480
or even simply by using dark glass.

256
00:16:20,480 --> 00:16:23,211
In this case, I believe there’s velvet behind glass.

257
00:16:23,211 --> 00:16:27,340
Under intense light I can see some sort of texture in the darkness.

258
00:16:27,340 --> 00:16:31,393
To reveal the image, the metallic silver particles
in the developed emulsion

259
00:16:31,393 --> 00:16:38,850
reflect and scatter ambient light, appearing a milky-grey or tan
and thus brighter than the dark background

260
00:16:38,850 --> 00:16:42,172
they either float in front of or are on top of.

261
00:16:42,172 --> 00:16:45,282
Therefore the image appears as a positive.

262
00:16:45,282 --> 00:16:49,650
While the image in an ambrotype is much easier to view than a daguerreotype,

263
00:16:49,650 --> 00:16:52,070
it’s also much duller.

264
00:16:52,070 --> 00:16:58,220
To attain desirable results the plates were
underexposed, creating limited tonal range.

265
00:16:58,220 --> 00:17:04,262
To highlight the difference, notice how there
is basically no detail to be seen in the man’s forehead.

266
00:17:04,262 --> 00:17:06,740
Compare that to the woman in the daguerreotype.

267
00:17:06,740 --> 00:17:13,514
However, given that these were so much easier
to view they quickly displaced the daguerreotype.

268
00:17:13,514 --> 00:17:17,354
Then again, the ambrotype was itself displaced quickly, too,

269
00:17:17,354 --> 00:17:20,899
once people had figured out that glass was a waste of time.

270
00:17:20,899 --> 00:17:24,875
In the later tintype the light-sensitive emulsion coats a sheet of metal

271
00:17:24,875 --> 00:17:27,370
which has been covered in a dark lacquer.

272
00:17:27,370 --> 00:17:31,978
In principle the image is created in the exact
same fashion as the Ambrotype,

273
00:17:31,978 --> 00:17:38,476
but because of the inexpensiveness of the plates and likely
due to the greater amount of practice that allowed photographers,

274
00:17:38,476 --> 00:17:45,879
tintype plates could go from being prepared for exposure to the customer’s hands with their faces on them in mere minutes.

275
00:17:45,879 --> 00:17:49,249
This actually allowed the tintype to hang around for a long time

276
00:17:49,249 --> 00:17:53,443
as a sort of novelty photograph sold in places like carnivals.

277
00:17:53,443 --> 00:17:55,483
Think of it like an early photo booth.

278
00:17:55,483 --> 00:17:59,380
For those uses it clung to life into the early 20th century,

279
00:17:59,380 --> 00:18:04,185
and some people are still making them today for artistic or possibly hipster reasons.

280
00:18:04,185 --> 00:18:08,612
However, the tintype wouldn’t hang around
for too long as a mainstay of photography

281
00:18:08,612 --> 00:18:11,347
because we had other ideas up our sleeves.

282
00:18:11,347 --> 00:18:16,877
Photographs made using the wet collodion process were still… finicky.

283
00:18:16,877 --> 00:18:20,345
Up till now, becoming a photographer was a serious commitment.

284
00:18:20,345 --> 00:18:22,822
You’d need to be able to make your own plates,

285
00:18:22,822 --> 00:18:24,928
have all of the necessary chemicals,

286
00:18:24,928 --> 00:18:28,118
know how to operate a camera to make useful images out of it,

287
00:18:28,118 --> 00:18:30,085
have access to a darkroom,

288
00:18:30,085 --> 00:18:35,663
oh and you’d need all this stuff with you when
you took photographs because the plates, again,

289
00:18:35,663 --> 00:18:37,150
were wet.

290
00:18:37,150 --> 00:18:41,460
They needed to be prepared mere minutes before a photograph was taken.

291
00:18:41,460 --> 00:18:46,851
Early attempts at making dry plates resulted
in very insensitive plates which were quite rude

292
00:18:46,851 --> 00:18:50,240
and also took way too long to expose for portraits.

293
00:18:50,240 --> 00:18:55,959
So, the early decades of photography were
limited to professionals who either had their own studios

294
00:18:55,959 --> 00:19:01,958
or who had built portable darkrooms and went from town to town offering their portraiture services.

295
00:19:01,958 --> 00:19:05,232
Luckily for them, we’re all at least a bit narcissistic

296
00:19:05,232 --> 00:19:07,306
so they sold like hotcakes!

297
00:19:07,306 --> 00:19:11,013
Oh, and hats off to this 19th century dog lover.

298
00:19:11,013 --> 00:19:13,363
For photography to spread to the general public,

299
00:19:13,363 --> 00:19:15,675
a number of things needed to happen.

300
00:19:15,675 --> 00:19:21,725
First, we needed to develop some type of photographic
emulsion that was decently sensitive while dry.

301
00:19:21,725 --> 00:19:26,957
Then we’d need to find some way to use that
emulsion that was more user-friendly than plates.

302
00:19:26,957 --> 00:19:29,177
Also cameras needed to get smaller.

303
00:19:30,000 --> 00:19:33,289
As luck would have it, all those things would soon occur.

304
00:19:33,289 --> 00:19:37,446
George Eastman, who had started a business
producing Dry Plates in 1880

305
00:19:37,446 --> 00:19:40,420
(by then we figured out how to make them decently sensitive)

306
00:19:40,420 --> 00:19:45,373
patented a method of depositing a light-sensitive emulsion on a flexible backing,

307
00:19:45,373 --> 00:19:48,734
which you might call a film, in 1884.

308
00:19:48,734 --> 00:19:55,027
Previously, in 1881 a man named David Houston
had obtained a patent for a camera design

309
00:19:55,027 --> 00:19:57,043
which could use this roll film.

310
00:19:58,047 --> 00:20:00,986
I don’t exactly know how the timing worked out on that one.

311
00:20:00,986 --> 00:20:04,674
Maybe he just theorized the possibility of roll film... but whatever.

312
00:20:04,674 --> 00:20:11,557
In any case, in 1888 Eastman developed a basic camera
which held a long roll of this new film stuff,

313
00:20:11,557 --> 00:20:13,844
enough to take 100 pictures.

314
00:20:13,844 --> 00:20:17,183
He decide to make up a name for this camera and called it

315
00:20:17,183 --> 00:20:18,669
the Kodak.

316
00:20:18,669 --> 00:20:23,985
Yep, Kodak literally was the thing that brought
photography to the masses.

317
00:20:23,985 --> 00:20:28,284
Eventually Eastman would rename the entire
company around this made-up word.

318
00:20:28,284 --> 00:20:30,350
But also still his own name.

319
00:20:30,350 --> 00:20:34,937
It’s technically still Eastman Kodak and has been since 1892.

320
00:20:34,937 --> 00:20:37,579
Imagine a world in which Eastman called it

321
00:20:37,579 --> 00:20:39,418
the Flarble.

322
00:20:39,418 --> 00:20:45,717
Anyway, the original Kodak camera was a small
leather-bound cardboard box with two spools inside of it.

323
00:20:45,717 --> 00:20:51,678
One contained the supply of film, and the
other was used to pull the film through the camera as you took pictures.

324
00:20:51,678 --> 00:20:54,676
When you had finished taking the 100 shots on the roll,

325
00:20:54,676 --> 00:20:57,577
you would send the entire camera to Kodak,

326
00:20:57,577 --> 00:21:02,801
they would remove and develop the
film and send you back prints along with your camera.

327
00:21:02,870 --> 00:21:06,850
Kodak developed the slogan 
"You push the button, we do the rest."

328
00:21:07,101 --> 00:21:08,574
Prints, you say?

329
00:21:08,574 --> 00:21:10,126
What is a print?

330
00:21:10,848 --> 00:21:12,220
Well, hold your horses.

331
00:21:12,220 --> 00:21:15,279
We gotta talk more about this film stuff first.

332
00:21:15,279 --> 00:21:17,353
With the development of the Kodak camera,

333
00:21:17,353 --> 00:21:22,320
no longer was the object in the camera the thing that made the final photograph.

334
00:21:22,320 --> 00:21:26,041
Now the camera was making those negative images
you might be used to seeing,

335
00:21:26,041 --> 00:21:31,355
and there was a second step required to turn that negative
image into a viewable positive.

336
00:21:31,355 --> 00:21:34,803
I'm going to be covering that process in a
later video on this subject,

337
00:21:34,803 --> 00:21:37,270
and for now we're gonna get back to the film.

338
00:21:37,270 --> 00:21:40,900
Although the first Kodak camera wasn't designed to be opened by the user,

339
00:21:40,900 --> 00:21:45,674
in no small part because doing that in the daylight would ruin
all of the film in the camera,

340
00:21:45,674 --> 00:21:51,789
Kodak moved away from this model and began selling cameras
with user-replaceable film.

341
00:21:51,789 --> 00:21:56,131
To enable this, Kodak developed film formats
which could be loaded in daylight

342
00:21:56,131 --> 00:21:58,918
while protecting the film itself from light.

343
00:21:58,918 --> 00:22:05,208
One of these early formats, 120, endures to
this day as a medium-format film.

344
00:22:05,208 --> 00:22:10,608
Introduced in 1901 for the second in their
wildly successful Brownie camera line,

345
00:22:10,608 --> 00:22:12,914
the Brownie No. 2

346
00:22:12,914 --> 00:22:14,209
(very clever name)

347
00:22:14,209 --> 00:22:16,851
120 format is quite simple.

348
00:22:16,851 --> 00:22:18,840
I mean it's a…

349
00:22:18,840 --> 00:22:22,170
120 year old design. Huh. Its golden year.

350
00:22:22,797 --> 00:22:27,391
Anyway it's hella old so it's simplicity shouldn't be surprising, but

351
00:22:27,391 --> 00:22:29,217
here's what it actually looks like.

352
00:22:29,217 --> 00:22:33,920
It's merely a spool holding paper that's been
wrapped around it a bunch of times.

353
00:22:33,920 --> 00:22:40,269
The paper is blackened, sometimes only on
one side, to protect the film in the middle from ambient light.

354
00:22:40,269 --> 00:22:44,872
Now, this is terrible, terrible film so I'm
willing to destroy a roll

355
00:22:44,872 --> 00:22:48,976
for you to see how exactly this works as a film format.

356
00:22:49,384 --> 00:22:53,210
As you unroll the paper you'll see that there are markings on it.

357
00:22:53,210 --> 00:22:57,710
These help with loading the camera and identify when to stop unrolling it.

358
00:22:57,710 --> 00:23:02,539
Often there will be some sort of mark inside the
camera to align these arrows with.

359
00:23:02,539 --> 00:23:06,618
If we keep going though we get to the actual film.

360
00:23:07,340 --> 00:23:09,728
And there it is.

361
00:23:09,728 --> 00:23:15,623
A sheet of transparent plastic covered in
a gelatin-based emulation of silver halide molecules.

362
00:23:16,533 --> 00:23:19,271
Absolutely useless now that we've seen it in the light but hey,

363
00:23:19,271 --> 00:23:21,152
now you've seen what it looks like.

364
00:23:21,152 --> 00:23:24,034
It's simply taped to the paper backing on one end,

365
00:23:24,034 --> 00:23:28,435
and as the backing gets pulled through the camera, so does the film.

366
00:23:28,875 --> 00:23:31,956
[soft unrolling paper noises]

367
00:23:32,740 --> 00:23:33,857
There yet?

368
00:23:34,108 --> 00:23:35,592
Are we there yet?

369
00:23:37,381 --> 00:23:38,651
Well I won't let it go yet.

370
00:23:38,651 --> 00:23:42,427
On the backing you'll notice that there are
a series of numbers printed.

371
00:23:42,427 --> 00:23:45,450
This is one of my favorite details of 120 film.

372
00:23:45,450 --> 00:23:50,344
To tell you which shot your camera is about
to take (and thus how many you have left)

373
00:23:50,344 --> 00:23:56,086
many 120 cameras have little red-tinted peepholes
allowing you to see these numbers.

374
00:23:56,086 --> 00:24:00,293
There are different sets with different spacing
because, depending on the camera,

375
00:24:00,293 --> 00:24:02,958
different images sizes were taken.

376
00:24:02,958 --> 00:24:08,610
Cameras which took 6x6 centimeter square images
could get 12 shots per roll,

377
00:24:08,610 --> 00:24:11,169
and they placed their window in the center.

378
00:24:11,169 --> 00:24:16,456
The arguably nicer 6X9 centimeter size only
yielded 8 shots,

379
00:24:16,456 --> 00:24:20,249
and cameras which took those put the peephole on the left.

380
00:24:20,249 --> 00:24:21,436
And...

381
00:24:24,040 --> 00:24:26,028
this is such a camera.

382
00:24:26,028 --> 00:24:30,007
This Agfa Shur-shot Special is quite similar to the original Brownies,

383
00:24:30,007 --> 00:24:32,596
and the design dates from 1932.

384
00:24:32,596 --> 00:24:36,476
And sure enough its film viewing peephole is on the left.

385
00:24:36,476 --> 00:24:38,431
But you'll notice it has two.

386
00:24:39,121 --> 00:24:41,541
Ah, this camera lets you cheat.

387
00:24:41,541 --> 00:24:42,770
Let's talk about it, shall we?

388
00:24:43,241 --> 00:24:49,185
These so-called box cameras, for obvious reasons, 
are about as simple as it gets

389
00:24:49,185 --> 00:24:56,870
(and for what it’s worth the original Kodak wasn’t all that different, though remember in that camera the film was not user-reloadable).

390
00:24:56,870 --> 00:25:02,360
All this is is a light-proof cardboard box
with a film holder, film winder,

391
00:25:02,360 --> 00:25:07,169
a couple of viewfinders, and a very basic control panel.

392
00:25:07,169 --> 00:25:08,490
If you can call it that.

393
00:25:08,741 --> 00:25:10,408
We’ll start with the controls.

394
00:25:10,408 --> 00:25:12,128
First there’s this lever marked shutter.

395
00:25:13,164 --> 00:25:16,400
Believe it or not, this controls the shutter.

396
00:25:16,400 --> 00:25:18,100
And on this thing it’s very basic.

397
00:25:18,100 --> 00:25:21,639
This front lens element shifts the focus of
the camera to infinity

398
00:25:21,639 --> 00:25:27,798
and can be slid out of the way for a closer 5-10 foot focus range, 
ideal for portraits.

399
00:25:27,798 --> 00:25:32,227
Behind it is the actual shutter, a simple
sliding cover with a hole in its center

400
00:25:32,227 --> 00:25:36,038
that’s spring-loaded and blocks light from entering the camera.

401
00:25:36,038 --> 00:25:41,675
When you slide the lever over, spring tension
builds until you cross a threshold and…

402
00:25:41,675 --> 00:25:42,211
[fwip]

403
00:25:42,399 --> 00:25:43,896
A photo was just taken!

404
00:25:44,806 --> 00:25:47,675
If there was film in there, of course.

405
00:25:47,675 --> 00:25:51,215
The shutter opens when you slide this across in either direction,

406
00:25:51,215 --> 00:25:54,857
letting light into the camera as its hole passes over the lens,

407
00:25:54,857 --> 00:25:58,652
and the exposure time is about 1/50th of a second.

408
00:25:58,652 --> 00:26:02,480
Skipping over the thing marked diaphragm let’s look at the time lever.

409
00:26:02,982 --> 00:26:04,949
No, it’s not a time machine…

410
00:26:04,949 --> 00:26:09,389
when you pull this out a little metal stopper moves in the shutter’s path.

411
00:26:09,389 --> 00:26:15,120
This, with the help of a little nub on the shutter,
holds it open if you want to try and take low-light shots.

412
00:26:15,873 --> 00:26:18,222
It’s up to you to figure out how you’re gonna keep this steady,

413
00:26:18,222 --> 00:26:24,659
oh but you could also use this with a flash if you opened the shutter, 
activated the flashbulb, then closed it.

414
00:26:24,659 --> 00:26:28,147
And yes, when this thing was made, flashlamps
were just becoming available

415
00:26:28,147 --> 00:26:33,358
but nothing was stopping you from using one of them old-timey
stick things with some flash powder.

416
00:26:33,358 --> 00:26:35,118
And then the diaphragm.

417
00:26:35,400 --> 00:26:37,889
This gives you three delightful options.

418
00:26:37,889 --> 00:26:41,689
When pushed in all the way, there is no additional
restriction to the diaphragm

419
00:26:41,689 --> 00:26:44,570
and you get an aperture of approximately f/13.

420
00:26:45,323 --> 00:26:50,254
That’s a geometric ratio based on the size of the opening and the lens's focal length

421
00:26:50,254 --> 00:26:56,253
which we don’t need to get into the weeds of right
now but the number describes how much light makes it through.

422
00:26:56,253 --> 00:26:59,613
Smaller numbers is actually more light.

423
00:26:59,613 --> 00:27:04,272
Anyway, pull this out to the first click and you’ll see it’s marked “filter.”

424
00:27:04,272 --> 00:27:06,946
And no, it’s not for instagram.

425
00:27:06,946 --> 00:27:11,603
In this position there’s a yellow-tinted
filter placed in front of the lens.

426
00:27:11,603 --> 00:27:13,892
Now, if you’re wondering why you would want that,

427
00:27:13,892 --> 00:27:18,957
well keep in mind that this thing was taking
black and white photos when it first came out,

428
00:27:18,957 --> 00:27:23,241
and a yellow filter lessens the amount of blue light that hits the film.

429
00:27:23,241 --> 00:27:28,578
This can make the sky look more vivid by darkening
the blue and thus making clouds pop,

430
00:27:28,578 --> 00:27:35,190
or simply give more natural images with early films
that were more sensitive to blue than other colors.

431
00:27:35,190 --> 00:27:40,563
Then, if you pull this all the way out, a
second restriction finds its way behind the first,

432
00:27:40,563 --> 00:27:44,872
reducing the size of the aperture down to approximately f/22.

433
00:27:44,872 --> 00:27:48,995
Alright, so let’s actually put this camera to use and take some pictures.

434
00:27:48,995 --> 00:27:52,358
To load it with film, you simply unclip the back to open it,

435
00:27:52,358 --> 00:27:55,902
pull out the winding key from the body to release the film holder,

436
00:27:55,902 --> 00:27:59,339
and then the entire film holder assembly slides out.

437
00:27:59,339 --> 00:28:02,311
The main lens of the camera is right here.

438
00:28:02,311 --> 00:28:07,481
I’m not sure what its focal length is but
it’s a simple meniscus lens. Nothing fancy.

439
00:28:07,481 --> 00:28:11,110
Now, notice there’s an empty spool up here at the top.

440
00:28:11,110 --> 00:28:14,227
With 120 film and other roll-film formats like it,

441
00:28:14,227 --> 00:28:18,639
you need an empty spool to roll the film onto as it's taken.

442
00:28:18,639 --> 00:28:24,549
When you’re done shooting you don’t rewind
the film, instead you keep winding until it’s all on that second spool.

443
00:28:24,549 --> 00:28:27,672
Then when you open the camera, 
you seal the completed roll

444
00:28:27,672 --> 00:28:29,573
(I’ll show you that when we get there)

445
00:28:29,573 --> 00:28:36,071
and you move the now-empty lower spool up to the top 
where it becomes the take-up spool for your next roll of film.

446
00:28:36,071 --> 00:28:39,259
Before we load it, though, we need to decide if we want to cheat.

447
00:28:39,259 --> 00:28:42,418
Normally this camera takes 6X9 negatives,

448
00:28:42,418 --> 00:28:47,750
but these flaps here can be moved to block a quarter of the frame on each end.

449
00:28:47,750 --> 00:28:54,360
That allows you to take 15 or 16 if you’re
lucky 6 by 4.5 cm pictures on a roll.

450
00:28:54,360 --> 00:28:57,250
And that’s why it has two film peepholes.

451
00:28:57,250 --> 00:29:00,017
You can see here in the instructions how they’re
meant to be used;

452
00:29:00,017 --> 00:29:04,043
if shooting full-size pictures, only use the lower peephole.

453
00:29:04,043 --> 00:29:10,453
If you’re shooting half-frames, shoot A first, 
then move the same number up to window B.

454
00:29:10,453 --> 00:29:18,867
Pretty clever, though I don’t understand why they wouldn’t have just put a window on the right to show the closely-spaced frame numbers on the film backing.

455
00:29:18,867 --> 00:29:23,704
Perhaps they thought that was too confusing,
or maybe at that time those numbers weren’t there.

456
00:29:23,704 --> 00:29:24,484
I dunno.

457
00:29:24,484 --> 00:29:27,255
But that’s why you might only get 15 shots.

458
00:29:27,255 --> 00:29:30,405
Technically if you position frame 8 up here

459
00:29:30,405 --> 00:29:33,316
you might be past the edge of the film already.

460
00:29:33,316 --> 00:29:39,968
Oh, and I should mention, this is calling
it B-2 film because of the Agfa connection.

461
00:29:39,968 --> 00:29:45,048
In Germany 120 film was called B-2 for… reasons.

462
00:29:45,048 --> 00:29:47,759
So, for this roll I’ll shoot the full frame.

463
00:29:47,759 --> 00:29:51,396
Making sure the flaps are retracted and locked
like any good pilot,

464
00:29:51,396 --> 00:29:53,541
I’ll get a fresh roll of film.

465
00:29:53,541 --> 00:29:57,062
I’ll still use this terrible stuff because
I’ve got a lot of it to get rid of.

466
00:29:57,062 --> 00:30:01,765
I’ll take it out of its seal, then tear the bit of masking tape holding it tightly to the roll,

467
00:30:01,765 --> 00:30:05,172
and simply place it here in the void space below the lens.

468
00:30:05,172 --> 00:30:06,894
It snaps right in.

469
00:30:06,894 --> 00:30:11,689
Now I’ll carefully pull this around the back, over these rollers, and up to the top,

470
00:30:11,689 --> 00:30:15,603
all the while pushing on the supply roll to
make sure it doesn’t fall out.

471
00:30:15,603 --> 00:30:18,828
Also you can just rest this on the table, that works too.

472
00:30:18,828 --> 00:30:24,850
This is always a little bit fiddly, sometimes
it makes sense to remove the take-up spool and start threading it a bit.

473
00:30:24,850 --> 00:30:31,039
You could also use tape — sometimes even the
tape that sealed the roll — to affix it to the take-up spool.

474
00:30:31,039 --> 00:30:33,519
Good news is there’s lots of backing paper.

475
00:30:33,519 --> 00:30:36,627
Anyway, once you’re sure it’s not gonna
slip off the spool

476
00:30:36,627 --> 00:30:43,212
you can then carefully put the carrier back in the camera, push in
the winding key, and start turning it.

477
00:30:43,212 --> 00:30:45,634
Technically I could close the camera at this point,

478
00:30:45,634 --> 00:30:49,600
but I’ll keep turning until I see the index arrow appear.

479
00:30:49,600 --> 00:30:52,789
Now I’ll close it up and the camera is ready for use.

480
00:30:52,789 --> 00:30:54,480
Well, almost.

481
00:30:54,480 --> 00:30:58,388
Now we need to wind the film while looking through that little peephole.

482
00:30:58,388 --> 00:31:02,999
Remember we’re shooting the full frame so
we can ignore the top window, B.

483
00:31:02,999 --> 00:31:07,860
As I keep winding eventually those warning marks will
appear, telling me to slow down.

484
00:31:07,860 --> 00:31:10,925
And then, once the number 1 is visible in
that window,

485
00:31:10,925 --> 00:31:15,220
the first frame of film is in place and ready to be exposed.

486
00:31:15,220 --> 00:31:18,380
A while back I mentioned there were a pair of viewfinders.

487
00:31:18,380 --> 00:31:22,380
Well, that’s what these two lenses are for.

488
00:31:22,380 --> 00:31:26,359
On the top and side of the camera are simple viewing windows.

489
00:31:26,359 --> 00:31:32,860
You don’t hold these up to your eye, instead
you hold the camera at about your stomach level and look down at them.

490
00:31:32,860 --> 00:31:38,530
You’ll notice that there are little frame lines
for composing the half-frames this camera can take as well.

491
00:31:38,530 --> 00:31:42,379
Otherwise the entire area represents the image-to-be-taken.

492
00:31:42,379 --> 00:31:46,745
And of course having two of them is not only magical,
but also allows you to compose

493
00:31:46,745 --> 00:31:49,860
in either landscape or portrait orientations.

494
00:31:50,000 --> 00:31:52,110
So, let’s take some pictures.

495
00:31:52,110 --> 00:31:55,029
To give you an idea of how this goes, I’ve set up a simple still-life.

496
00:31:55,029 --> 00:31:59,057
I’ve brought my camping stove and a tea kettle as subjects.

497
00:31:59,057 --> 00:32:03,109
Hang on, I just gotta light the stove and put the kettle on to get ready.

498
00:32:03,109 --> 00:32:06,384
While we’re waiting for that, remember that the film is already in place

499
00:32:06,384 --> 00:32:08,131
for the first shot.

500
00:32:08,131 --> 00:32:09,980
We can double-check through the window.

501
00:32:10,419 --> 00:32:12,659
Now let’s get ready and compose our shot.

502
00:32:12,659 --> 00:32:17,610
We’re using the whole film frame, remember,
so we can ignore those lines in the viewfinder.

503
00:32:17,610 --> 00:32:22,288
OK now that the water’s boiling, make sure
the time doohickey is pushed in,

504
00:32:22,288 --> 00:32:26,954
I’m actually gonna pull the diaphragm out all the way to
f/22 since this is in direct sunlight,

505
00:32:26,954 --> 00:32:32,409
oh and also I’ll be holding the front element
out of the way since this is relatively close up.

506
00:32:32,409 --> 00:32:35,479
But now just hold the camera as steady as you can,

507
00:32:35,479 --> 00:32:37,783
flip the shutter lever over annnd….

508
00:32:37,783 --> 00:32:38,783
[fwip]

509
00:32:38,783 --> 00:32:39,844
There we go.

510
00:32:39,844 --> 00:32:43,888
On the film we now have a latent image of vaporization.

511
00:32:44,736 --> 00:32:45,969
[uncomfortable stare]

512
00:32:46,157 --> 00:32:47,938
And now we can take the next picture.

513
00:32:47,938 --> 00:32:55,201
However, with these early cameras, there’s nothing stopping you from taking 
a second exposure on the same frame of film.

514
00:32:55,201 --> 00:33:01,714
This little shutter mechanism will work every
time you flip the lever so you gotta remember to advance the film on your own

515
00:33:01,714 --> 00:33:05,235
(unless you deliberately want a double-exposure but…

516
00:33:05,235 --> 00:33:06,251
you probably don’t).

517
00:33:06,251 --> 00:33:11,593
So, you turn the winding key until frame 2
appears in that lower peephole.

518
00:33:11,593 --> 00:33:17,499
Remember we should stop it when we see 1 in
the top window if and only if we’re shooting half frames.

519
00:33:17,499 --> 00:33:19,721
Since we’re not, just keep on going.

520
00:33:19,721 --> 00:33:22,231
And there we go, ready to take another picture.

521
00:33:22,419 --> 00:33:24,351
Rinse and repeat.

522
00:33:24,351 --> 00:33:26,652
That is until frame 8.

523
00:33:26,652 --> 00:33:31,769
Once you’ve taken that, you’re out of
film and it’s time to unload the camera.

524
00:33:31,769 --> 00:33:36,210
Before you open it, you have to wind and wind and wind with the key.

525
00:33:36,210 --> 00:33:42,075
There’s just about as much paper on the
trailing end as there was on the leading end to protect the film from light,

526
00:33:42,075 --> 00:33:44,868
so just keep on going.

527
00:33:44,868 --> 00:33:47,966
Eventually you’ll see the paper end through
the little window

528
00:33:47,966 --> 00:33:50,982
(sometimes, it's a lot easier if the backing is white)

529
00:33:50,982 --> 00:33:54,482
Uh, but you’re still not done. Just keep turning.

530
00:33:54,482 --> 00:34:00,764
You’ll probably hear the paper slip past
the rollers and eventually you’ll know you’re just spinning the roll around.

531
00:34:00,764 --> 00:34:02,758
It also gets easier.

532
00:34:02,758 --> 00:34:06,102
Once you're there, you can pull out the winding key,

533
00:34:06,102 --> 00:34:07,646
open the back,

534
00:34:07,646 --> 00:34:09,636
remove the film holder,

535
00:34:10,860 --> 00:34:12,042
and there it is.

536
00:34:12,042 --> 00:34:14,236
Your exposed film.

537
00:34:14,236 --> 00:34:22,256
Remove it, and there will be some sort of
seal that you can either peel or perhaps moisten with your tongue

538
00:34:22,256 --> 00:34:24,964
(or other wet object, though the tongue is traditional)

539
00:34:24,964 --> 00:34:28,444
and once sealed you’ve successfully used the camera.

540
00:34:28,444 --> 00:34:29,890
But now what?

541
00:34:29,890 --> 00:34:32,232
Well, this film needs to be developed.

542
00:34:32,232 --> 00:34:36,935
And it will be done using pretty much the
same process that Daguerre was using,

543
00:34:36,935 --> 00:34:38,771
except with different chemicals.

544
00:34:38,771 --> 00:34:41,996
Turns out mercury vapor is bad for you.

545
00:34:41,996 --> 00:34:44,762
Oh, and I’m going to be the one that does it.

546
00:34:44,762 --> 00:34:46,584
But not in this video.

547
00:34:46,584 --> 00:34:49,792
We’ve spent quite a long time on this subject

548
00:34:49,792 --> 00:34:51,639
and I think this is a good cliff hang…

549
00:34:51,639 --> 00:34:54,413
uh did I say cliff hanger? I meant stopping point.

550
00:34:54,413 --> 00:34:58,867
In the next video we’ll explore the modern
black and white development process.

551
00:34:58,867 --> 00:35:03,874
It’s actually very very simple and just
about anyone can do it with minimal equipment.

552
00:35:03,874 --> 00:35:08,113
All you really need is one of these and a
completely dark room.

553
00:35:08,898 --> 00:35:10,000
Dark room.

554
00:35:10,675 --> 00:35:11,490
Darkroom.

555
00:35:12,180 --> 00:35:13,177
Hmm.

556
00:35:13,491 --> 00:35:16,922
But you don’t even need one of those, you
can also use one of these!

557
00:35:16,922 --> 00:35:18,802
A changing bag.

558
00:35:18,802 --> 00:35:21,928
But I’m getting ahead of myself, 
it’s time to cut to black.

559
00:35:22,768 --> 00:35:25,267
♫ photographically smooth jazz ♫

560
00:35:26,252 --> 00:35:30,080
No really, a shoebox, a piece of aluminum foil with a…

561
00:35:30,865 --> 00:35:31,645
[sigh]

562
00:35:31,645 --> 00:35:33,820
How many words did… was that?

563
00:35:34,919 --> 00:35:38,240
One two three four five six seven eight nine
ten eleven twelve.

564
00:35:38,240 --> 00:35:41,140
We got twelve words in and I fumbled up.

565
00:35:41,140 --> 00:35:45,385
One of the most well-known early photographic
techniques was the daguerreotype,

566
00:35:45,385 --> 00:35:48,170
named for its inventor Louis…

567
00:35:48,170 --> 00:35:49,213
DA GUERRE

568
00:35:49,213 --> 00:35:51,977
But, I hear you say, you can’t see anything!

569
00:35:53,734 --> 00:35:55,475
Ya gotta start the… you have to be moving.

570
00:35:55,475 --> 00:35:58,250
The words need to be moving. 
Otherwise this doesn't work.

571
00:35:58,250 --> 00:36:01,369
Some processes took the enc [then mouth noises]

572
00:36:01,369 --> 00:36:06,852
The last step was to get rid of the silver iodide 
that hadn’t been transform into pure sil..

573
00:36:07,354 --> 00:36:08,857
You monster.

574
00:36:08,857 --> 00:36:10,149
You missed a D.

575
00:36:10,149 --> 00:36:15,712
The last step was to get rid of the silver iodide that hadn’t been transdformed into
pure s ---

576
00:36:16,999 --> 00:36:21,002
transformed is a word that suddenly I can’t say correctly.

577
00:36:21,002 --> 00:36:22,262
Remarkably lifelike.

578
00:36:22,890 --> 00:36:24,220
Just about the ed…

579
00:36:24,220 --> 00:36:25,840
I skipped a sentence!

580
00:36:25,840 --> 00:36:27,270
...which sensitized it.

581
00:36:27,270 --> 00:36:29,640
Then it was placed in… whoops!

582
00:36:29,640 --> 00:36:31,750
Think of it like an early photobooth.

583
00:36:31,750 --> 00:36:33,170
To those use f…

584
00:36:34,676 --> 00:36:35,390
ARRGH!

585
00:36:35,390 --> 00:36:39,453
So… the early decades of photography were
limited to professiomals.

586
00:36:41,932 --> 00:36:43,152
Sometimes words are hard.

587
00:36:43,560 --> 00:36:46,970
I skipped the word “cardboard” and I feel
like that’s important.

588
00:36:46,970 --> 00:36:50,214
With the development of the Kodak ca… oh.

589
00:36:51,218 --> 00:36:54,248
Darkening the blue helps make com....

590
00:36:56,382 --> 00:36:57,904
You gotta read the words, man.

591
00:36:57,904 --> 00:36:58,660
You can’t skip ‘em.

592
00:37:01,453 --> 00:37:04,836
I bet you're wondering why those peepholes are red, huh?

593
00:37:04,836 --> 00:37:09,948
And what about those scenes in movies where people are putting sheets of paper into trays with liquid in them under a dim red light?

594
00:37:09,948 --> 00:37:13,293
Well have I got news for you.

595
00:37:13,293 --> 00:37:14,398
Video's a comin'.