When Were Video Cameras Invented? Things to Know

Over the years, there have been many changes to video cameras. Let’s go back to the beginning: when were video cameras invented.

The creation of the first video camera is generally attributed to Louis Le Prince, in 1888.

The function of a video camera is still to either record live or record to a storage device, even though they may record differently and with higher quality now.

In this article, we’ll be diving into the early video cameras and the historical figures behind them.

When Was the First Video Camera Invented?

Louis Le Prince is credited with patenting the first 16-lens movie camera in 1888. However, the Kinetograph, which received a patent in 1891, is regarded as the first operational movie camera with a single housing.

The first mass-market video cameras were released in the early 1900s. The first color video cameras were released in the 1950s.

Video Camera History Timeline

The Kinetograph, the first motion picture camera, was created in 1891 by Thomas Edison’s employer William Kennedy Laurie Dickson. Edison was working on a video camera at the same time, but Dickson’s design was far more effective.

The Pleograph, a camera and projector, was created by Kazimierz Proszynski in 1894. The first compressed air camera, the Aeroscope, was another creation of his. Additionally, because the Aeroscope was the first hand-held camera, news broadcasters could more easily film in the field to capture battles during World War I.

The film and theater industries were booming by the early 1900s, and video cameras were widely available. These movies were silent, black-and-white ones that were screened in theaters for years. Films first got sound as technology advanced, and by the 1950s, color had been added as well.

The film industry is where it is today thanks to the innovations of people like Louis Le Prince and William Kennedy Laurie Dickson.

Just imagine how both men would feel if they realized their film inventions would progress to the digital technology it is today!

Other Early Cameras

While Le Prince’s camera, which had a single lens and used paper film, is comparable to modern cameras, there were many other early motion picture cameras that were less traditional.

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The chronophotographic gun is the earliest and most bizarre video camera. It was invested by the French scientist Étienne-Jules Marey in 1882, just a few years before Invented by Le Prince.

It has a stock, barrel, rotating drum, and trigger, just like a gun would, as the name would imply. It was modeled after an even older invention called the photo revolver, also known as the Janssen revolver, which was created by French astronomer Pierre Jules Cesar Janssen in 1874.

Not quite a video camera, this device was capable of capturing 48 still frames in a 72 second period. The chronophotographic gun, on the other hand, was capable of capturing 12 frames per second.

Despite these facts, the chronophotographic gun was not a movie camera, and was not trying to be one.

The resulting image was 12 frames overlayed onto the same film, creating something akin to a double-exposure photo (well, a 12-exposure photo perhaps).

Scientists of the time were greatly assisted by these pictures and others like them in their study of motion, usually that of people and animals.

Final Words on When Were Video Cameras Invented

We’ve come a long way since the first video camera was invented. From analog cameras to the convenient smartphones we carry in our pockets, film has evolved.

Our multipurpose and easily accessible electronic devices have rendered obsolete the bulky and expensive inventions of the early film era.

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