The Kodak camera

1. Popular photography can properly be said to have started in 1888 with the introduction of the Kodak. The Kodak camera was the invention of an American, George Eastman. Advertised as “the smallest, lightest and 1.………. of all Detective cameras” (a popular term of the 1880s for hand-held cameras), it was a simple wooden box. It was small and light enough to be held in hands while in use.

2. He chose the name for his camera with great care. “The letter K had been a favourite with me – it seems a strong, 2.………sort of letter. It became a question of trying out a great number of combinations of letters that made words starting and ending with K. the word Kodak is the result”.

3. Taking a photograph with the Kodak camera was very easy, requiring only three simple actions: 3.…………the key (to wind on the film); pulling the string (to set the shutter); and pressing the button (to release the shutter and make the 4.…..…..). It was, in many respects the forerunner of today’s point-and-shoot cameras. No viewfinder was needed, the camera was simply pointed at the subject to be photographed.

4. Poor definition at the edge of the image area, however, meant that a circular mask had to be used in the camera, placed in front of the film. This accounts for the distinctive round of photographs which the Kodak camera produced.

5. Ingenious, compact and simple to use though it was, the 5.…………..of the Kodak camera was not particularly revolutionary. It was not the first hand camera, nor indeed was it the first camera to be made solely for 6.…………film. The true significance of the camera, which makes it a landmark in the history of photography, is that it was the first stage in a complete system of amateur photography.

6. The Kodak camera was sold already loaded with enough film to take 100 photographs. After the film had been exposed, the entire camera was posted to the factory where it was unloaded and the film 7.…………and printed. The camera, reloaded with fresh film, was then returned to its owner together with the negatives and a 8…………….. Previously photographers had had no choice but to do their own developing and printing. This, more than any other factor, had delayed the popularization of photography.

7. The new convenience, however, did not come cheap. In Britain, the Kodak camera sold for five guineas (£5.25). The developing and printing service cost a further two guineas (£2.10). In 1888, £1 was a week’s 9.…………. for many workers. However, in 1900 the five-shilling (25 p) Brownie camera was introduced. For the first time, the pleasures of photography had been brought within reach of 10..………….everybody.