A brief history of Camera Interface Design
Cameras have come a long way. From the initial camera obscura that was basically a lens, a box and a mirror to modern mirrorless cameras that are run through advanced computer and sensor technology. A fascinating aspect of this technology is the way we interact with it through an interface.
The interface of this camera obscura is a simple piece of glass that the artist could trace on. Without the glass there was no way for the artist to engage with the image presented by the camera obscura. This was a big deal in the history of camera obscura because for a long time people didn’t have a way to record the images they created. Let’s move forward a little bit and look at the first film camera.
In 1888 George Eastman released the “Kodak” camera.
Very similar to a camera obscura the “Kodak” was a simple design. A box, a lens, a film slot and a shutter release. As a user this was a grand departure from the camera obscura. Simply point the box at what you’d like to image, insert some film, press the shutter release and wind onto the next slide of film.
George Eastman’s innovation would change how we saw the world. Suddenly anyone could be an artist with a simple push of a button. Truly innovative in the sense of user centered design. As technology evolved so did cameras and in the early 1920’s Eastman’s roll film and button shutter release model would get face lift.
35mm cameras would shape the next 50 years of culture and photography. Suddenly it was affordable for anyone to shoot and develop their own photos. The Leica 1 interface was brilliant for a number of reasons. It put everything a user needed at their finger tips. The easy to use film loader and winder in combination with the single button shutter release was revolutionary. Simple interface design = happy user.
The next large step in imaging tech would happen in 1975 with the creation of the first film free, digital camera.
The Cromemco Cyclops was the first camera to interface with a microcomputer and did not need any film in order to capture images. All one need do is simply focus the lens and then press a single button to capture a digital image. While this was a large step forward, this camera was not accessible to the masses and film would be a mainstay until the mid 2000’s. However one device released in June of 2007 would forever change how we take pictures.
Small and affordable digital cameras had been around for a while when the iPhone dropped. What the iPhone offered that other cameras didn’t was connectivity and post-processing. At the time point and shoot cameras still lived in a somewhat analog space. You still needed to upload the images to a computer to manipulate them in any way and manipulating the image was hard to do. If you also wanted to share any of the images you had to again upload them to a desktop computer and then laboriously send them via email.
The modern iPhone camera interface is incredible. One button for the shutter release, slide to change between modes and again built in image editing. In the past one would need a deep understanding of how light works, how film works and is developed as well as a an understanding of camera technology in order to produce an image. Now everyone of us can tap a button, in almost any kind of lighting and get a good image. We can then skip the hours of time needed in the darkroom in order to do any kind of image manipulation. A few more taps, a few sliders and BOOM we have “professional” quality images that are ready to be shared instantly with our social media followers.
A good interface on a camera will determine how a user creates images. If things are complicated, hard to find or understand or require additional training to use, users will disengage from the product. That being said if things are simple to use like the iPhone camera, users will embrace it. If we continue to destroy the barrier of entry to high level photography through user centered interface design then this medium will truly become everyone’s. I think that’s what George Eastman saw when envisioned the first personal camera. A universal and accessible art form for people to show their world to one another.
