In 1889 George Eastman patented his first Kodak camera. While not the first to take roll film, Kodak's the new format revolutionised photography and led to the decline of the 'plate' camera. The cheap but remarkably robust Kodak cameras came in a range of formats to accommodate different sizes of film.

Over the next forty years Kodak's dominance of the mainstream camera market went virtually unchallenged. In 1923 however high quality Leica cameras were producing quality negatives on the tiny 35mm film format. Other camera manufacturers began to follow suit and by the 1940s 35mm film had become the de-facto standard.

Geoff Barker, Assistant Curator, December 2007

+ Photography
+ Roll film cameras

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