Page 9 - Pharmacy History 29 Nov 2006

the pencil”.
Eastman’s experiments were directed to the use of a lighter and more flexible support than glass. His first approach was to coat the photographic emulsion on paper and then load the paper in
a roll holder. The holder was used in view cameras in place of the holders for glass plates.
The first film advertisements in 1885 stated that “shortly there will be introduced a new sensitive film which it is believed will prove an economical and convenient substitute for glass dry plates both for outdoor and studio work.”
This system of photography using roll holders was immediately successful. However, paper was not entirely satisfactory as a carrier for the emulsion because the grain of the paper was likely to be reproduced in the photo.
Eastman’s solution was to coat the paper with a layer of plain, soluble gelatine, and then with a layer of insoluble light-sensitive gelatine.
After exposure and development,
the gelatine bearing the image was stripped from the paper, transferred to a sheet of clear gelatine, and varnished with collodion –
Kodak merchandise on display in pharmacies.
a cellulose solution that forms a tough, flexible film.
As he perfected transparent roll film and the roll holder, Eastman changed the whole direction of his work and established the base on which his
success in amateur photography would be built.
He later said: “When we started out with our scheme of film photography, we expected that everybody who used glass plates would take up films. But
“The idea gradually dawned on me,” he (Eastman) later said, “that what we were doing was not merely making dry plates, but that we were starting out to make photography an everyday affair.” Or as be described it more succinctly “to make the camera as convenient as the pencil.”
volume 3 ■ no 25 ■ March 2005 Pharmacy History Australia ■ 9