The history of the single-lens reflex camera predates the invention of photography in 1826/27 by one and a half centuries with the use of a reflex mirror in a camera obscura first described in 1676. Such SLR devices were popular as drawing aids throughout the 18th century, because an artist could trace over the ground glass image to produce a true-life realistic picture.
A British patent was granted in 1861 for the first internal mirror SLR photographic camera, but the first production photographic SLR did not appear until 1884 in the U.S.
These primitive SLR cameras began to mature in the early 20th century, but their many disadvantages continued to make them unsatisfactory for general photographic use for decades. The SLR may be elegantly simple in concept, but it turned out to be fiendishly complex in practice. The SLR's shortcomings were solved one by one as optical and mechanical technology advanced and in the 1960s the SLR camera became the preferred design for many high-end camera formats. In the 1970s, the addition of electronics established an important place in the mass market for the SLR. The SLR remains the camera design of choice for most professional and ambitious amateur photographers.
Read more about History Of The Single-lens Reflex Camera: Early Large and Medium Format SLRs, Development of The 35 Mm SLR, Rise of The Japanese SLRs, General Operation of A 35 Mm SLR, Standardization of Designs, The Introduction of Light Metering, Through-the-lens Metering, The Autofocus Revolution, Consolidation To Autofocus and The Transition To Digital Photography, Medium-format SLRs, Future, Chronology
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“We said that the history of mankind depicts man; in the same way one can maintain that the history of science is science itself.”
—Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749–1832)
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“The camera has an interest in turning history into spectacle, but none in reversing the process. At best, the picture leaves a vague blur in the observer’s mind; strong enough to send him into battle perhaps, but not to have him understand why he is going.”
—Denis Donoghue (b. 1928)