Photography - Snapshots: Popular Photography

For the first 50 years of its existence, photography was so difficult it usually dissuaded amateurs. In 1888, the first Kodak camera, aimed at the amateur market, sold for $25. It used factory-loaded film of 100 exposures, and had to be returned to the factory for film development. In 1900, the first of the very popular Brownie cameras was released. The camera cost $1, the film was 15 cents a roll, and the camera was light and simple to operate. The Brownie, and the cameras that followed it, quickly made photography part of American family life.