Photography

History of the single-lens reflex camera

The history of the single-lens reflex camera (SLR) begins with the use of a reflex mirror in a camera obscura described in 1676, but it took a long time for the design to succeed for photographic cameras. The first patent was granted in 1861, and the first cameras were produced in 1884, but while elegantly simple in concept, they were very complex in practice. One by one these complexities were overcome as optical and mechanical technology advanced, and in the 1960s the SLR camera became the preferred design for many high-end camera formats. The advent of digital point-and-shoot cameras in the 1990s through the 2010s with LCD viewfinder displays reduced the appeal of the SLR for the low end of the market, and in the 2010s and 2020s smartphones have taken this place. The SLR remained the camera design of choice for mid-range photographers, ambitious amateur and professional photographers well into the 2010s, but by the 2020s had become greatly challenged if not largely superseded by the mirrorless interchangeable-lens camera, with notable brands such as Nikon and Canon having stopped releasing new flagship DSLR cameras for several years in order to focus on mirrorless designs.

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See also

• ▸Cesare Mattei
• ▸Boris Hambourg
• ▸Bertram Park

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