| George Eastman and his Eastman Dry
Plate
& Film Company introduced its first camera, "The Kodak", in
1888. It was a simple box camera that was advertised with the
slogan "you press the button and we do the rest". Kodak has made
cameras for virtually every film size there is (or was). Box cameras,
Bakelite cameras, folders, A Leica copy, Art Deco styled (Bantam
Special among others), vest pocket, instamatic, you name it, they made
one. In 1932 George Eastman bought Nagel Camera-Werke in Stuttgart,
Germany and the Kodak Retina was introduced in 1934. The Nagel Kodaks,
which include the Retinas, were of high quality and are the
subject of separate pages on this website. The name "Kodak" was
an invented name of which George Eastman said "I devised the name
myself. The letter "K" had been a favorite with me -- it seems a
strong, incisive 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" .
Today, Kodak holds a commanding place in the world of photography and
continues to make cameras. |
