Cameras

The California Museum of Photography's camera collection has grown from the original gift of 2,000 vintage cameras donated by Dr. Robert Bingham in 1973 to a current count of 10,000 cameras, viewing devices, and photographic apparatus. The collection includes encyclopedic collection of Zeiss, Polaroid, Ihagee-Exacta, and Kodak Brownie cameras. Other significant artifacts include a Lewis daguerreian camera, a Simon Wing multi-lens wet-plate camera, a fully functioning Caille Brothers Cail-O-Scope, and a Ponti megalethoscope. This is the most complete and actively used public camera collection in the western states.

Box Cameras

Box cameras are simple cameras with a fixed lens, generally box-shaped. This includes early cameras for daguerreotypes, as well as Kodak Brownie cameras.

Cameras in Disguise

Sometimes called "spy cameras," cameras in disguise are cameras that allow a photographer to make photographs without a traditional camera-shaped object being visible.

Digital Cameras

Digital cameras make photographs without using film. The collection includes Sony Mavica cameras, Kodak's 1991 DCS camera, and a first generation iPhone.

Equipment and Accessories

Although these objects are not cameras, they were essential tools in photographic picture-making. The CMP's collection of equipment and accessories includes a variety of meters, flash units, and darkroom equipment.

Field and View Cameras

View cameras are large-format film cameras with a ground-glass back. A field camera is a view camera that can be folded to a compact size.

Folding Cameras

Folding cameras have bellows that fold into a compact package for storage, such as a folding bed, folding plate, or folding strut camera. Examples include Kodak's folding pocket cameras and Zeiss Ikontas.

Instant Cameras

Instant cameras are used to make 'instant' photographs, such as Polaroids or Mandel street cameras.

Novelty Cameras and Photographica

Novelty cameras are toy cameras made for children or promotional purposes, and are often in the shape of another object. Photographica are non-camera objects that relate to the camera collection, such as promotional giveaways and branded merchandise, as well as camera-shaped objects and collectables.

Panoramic Cameras

Panoramic cameras have moving lenses or swinging bodies that enable them to capture a longer photograph than a traditional camera.

Point-and-Shoot Cameras

A point-and-shoot camera is a simple compact camera with a fixed-focus lens and no exposure settings.

Rangefinder Cameras

Rangefinder cameras are those fitted with a rangefinder focusing mechanism, such as a Leica camera.

Reflex Cameras

Reflex cameras include both single-len reflex (SLR) and twin-len reflex (TLR) cameras. The reflex focusing mechanism allows for more precise visualization of the image in the viewfinder than point-and-shoot, rangefinder, and viewfinder cameras. Reflex cameras include Hasselblads and Zeiss Contaflex cameras.

Stereoscopic Cameras

Stereoscopic cameras are used to make stereoscopic photographs (paired images that look three-dimension when seen through a stereoscope). Also included here are lenticular cameras.

Subminiature Cameras

Subminiature cameras are cameras that uses film smaller than 35mm.

Three-Color Cameras

Three-color cameras allow for the simultaneous production of three monochrome negatives, filtered for red, green, and blue light. These negatives could then be printed as a full color image, before color films were commercially available.

Viewers and Projectors

This section includes a variety of viewing and projecting devices for photographic images, including stereoscopes, lantern slide projectors, a camera obscura, and a megalethoscope.

Viewfinder Cameras

Viewfinder cameras are cameras with no optical viewer or finder. Any viewing glass is not connected to the lens, its focal-length, or focusing mechanism.