March 1963: Kodak Instamatic cameras

The Eastman Kodak Co. introduces its Instamatic line of cameras. From "National Geographic Ultimate Field Guide to Photography" (2009): In 1963 Kodak simplified photography for the amateur even more by creating cartridge film. The consumer could simply drop the cartridge into the back of the new Instamatic 126 camera, close the back, and the camera wound the film itself. The film was really 35mm film in a cartridge with its own built-in spools for the safe advancing of the film, frame by frame. It was a simple point-and-shoot camera that even had a built-in flash point where you could install a small disposable flashbulb. Kodak sold 50 million cameras, which meant almost one out of four people in American owned one.

* Entry from Kodak Classics website: @ 

* Entry from George Eastman House blog: @ 

* 1960-1979 timeline (from kodak.com): @ 

* Entry from Industrial Designers Society of America: @ 

* Advertisement from Life magazine (May 10, 1963): @ 

* Excerpt from "Discovering Cameras, 1945-65" (Robert White, 2001): @ 

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