The most revolutionary camera designs in photo history... suggest your top 3!

[Theodoros]

Lets have some fun shall we? It would be nice to hear your experience with cameras that suggested for the game to change and why...

 Here is my top 3:

1. The Voightlander Prominent rangefinder... (bellows focusing & leaf shutter with flash sync at all speeds in a Leica M?)
2. The Fuji GX-680... (MF format with full view camera abilities, Reflex, huge image area with 120 film, MFDB ready with whatever other camera mount).
3. The Sinar M.... (the definition of modularity - my opinion is that this system didn't change the game only because MFDBs where lacking high LV quality at the days.)

Lets hear and discuss your top 3 most favor implementations.... and the reasoning behind the favor.

[BernardLanguillier]

The Nikon D1 comes to mind since it has pretty much defined what a DSLR is with hardly any evolution since then.

Cheers,
Bernard

[Theodoros]

...Nikon D1 ....pretty much defined ....hardly any evolution since....

Cheers,
Bernard

That's all true... but among the top three?

[Ellis Vener]

1) The view camera with with movements for rise, fall, shift, and tilt
2) The rangefinder
3) the SLR.

Designs are ideas, not specific products.

[Theodoros]

I guess you forgot the pin hole camera, or the camera obscura...  Still the O/P is specifically asking for certain "revolutionary cameras" (that suggested more than the common designs)    Please keep on subject, ....the aim (behind my O/P) is to question the reasons why brilliant ideas didn't (or did) advance and to help/educate new comers to photography on past knowledge... 

[Paulo Bizarro]

I can only offer my opinion based on my experience, mostly SLR/DSLR. I think one of the most revolutionary designs was the one introduced by the Canon T90, which paved the way for the highly successful EOS system. The industrial and ergonomic friendly design, plus the control wheel, have remained basically unchanged since 1986.

The basic SLR design is so good, that even modern MILC are mimicking it (i.e. Olympus, Fuji, Sony), to allure old timers.

[SZRitter]

I'll throw one more into the mix, and feel free to point me to an earlier camera that fulfilled the same roll, but I would say the Brownie had to be one of the most revolutionary cameras. This is the camera that was designed for the masses and made photography accessible, at least by my understanding, to said masses.

[NancyP]

The Polaroid instant film and camera concept.

[Theodoros]

I'll throw one more into the mix, and feel free to point me to an earlier camera that fulfilled the same roll, but I would say the Brownie had to be one of the most revolutionary cameras. This is the camera that was designed for the masses and made photography accessible, at least by my understanding, to said masses.

That's interesting... Good suggestion I think... Can you please suggest on the "why" (other than the price) question?  The focusing solution (considering the times) perhaps?  Have you used one? (I haven't, I've only seen an early one out of a collector friend who also has never used it...) 

[NancyP]

The Brownie was the 1900 camera that made it possible for the average hobbyist to try photography, and made Kodak into a great company. The original Brownies were small cardboard box cameras with integrated lens, roll film pre-loaded. You took your shots, and mailed it back to Kodak for development and printing. The only controls you had were a crank to advance the film. In a way, this was the precursor of the cardboard disposable camera still seen until recently. The later folding models added variable-timing shutters ("sunny", "cloudy", "dark") and a diaphragm ("landscape" "portrait").

http://www.geh.org/fm/Brownie/htmlsrc/index.html  (full list, from Eastman House museum)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brownie_%28camera%29  (third photo down, the "Hawkeye", was my first camera, a hand-me-down from my mom, made of Bakelite, very sturdy, perfect for a 7 year old).

[SZRitter]

That's interesting... Good suggestion I think... Can you please suggest on the "why" (other than the price) question?  The focusing solution (considering the times) perhaps?  Have you used one? (I haven't, I've only seen an early one out of a collector friend who also has never used it...)

I've never touched one and know it by reputation only. For me the camera was revolutionary because of the packaging and accessibility. Beyond the technical things that NancyP pointed out (thank you, by the way), it was a camera that lead a social revolution that lead to photography being what it is today. By moving the camera out of highly trained photographers hands and moving it to everyone you gained a whole new meaning to photography as we know it. And opening it up to so many more people also allowed the industry to become as large as it is. I'm sure, had the Brownie not existed, this same revolution would still have happened, but it is the camera that sparked it.

Just think, the Brownie is what lead to SnapChat...

[Paulo Bizarro]

Well, an obvious one is the incorporation of cameras in mobile phones. The Brownie of the modern times:)

[AlterEgo]

if design is as in technology and not look & feel then

RF -> dSLR -> dSLM

[razrblck]

http://www.olympus.co.jp/jp/fun/wallpaper/camera/dl.cfm?id=287&type_id=1&la=en

This would've been such an awesome design. The final OM-1 is still a beautiful camera, mine has been working flawlessly since 1979 without a single issue, but a fully modular 35mm system would've been really nice to have.

[AlterEgo]

The Nikon D1 comes to mind since it has pretty much defined what a DSLR is with hardly any evolution since then.

as if Kodak dSLRs did not exist (even built on bodies from other manufacturers)

[jwstl]

as if Kodak dSLRs did not exist (even built on bodies from other manufacturers)

Built on film bodies from other manufactures. And much more expensive. The D1 was built to be a digital SLR camera at a price point that changed the industry. If not the most influential in design, the most influential DSLR in price.

[john2]

What about the Nikon F? Fabulous construction, lenses so good that people thought the photos were medium format.

[AlterEgo]

Built on film bodies from other manufactures. And much more expensive. The D1 was built to be a digital SLR camera at a price point that changed the industry. If not the most influential in design, the most influential DSLR in price.

it does not matter - what exactly technologically new D1 had what Kodak was not selling already retail ?

[AlterEgo]

The Nikon D1 handles like a camera, the Kodak handles like a digital imager.

that's ergonomics , granted looks nicer

[NancyP]

Actually, the "Hawkeye" Brownie camera led to my love of photography at age 7, and to the magic of the darkroom at age 10 at summer camp. I still think that there is something uniquely thrilling about seeing a print image come up in the developer tray, under that red light. That's the strongest memory I have of that summer at camp.