Est. 1892 · Rochester, New York, United States · 3 lenses
Kodak grew from George Eastman's dry-plate business in Rochester. Eastman and Henry Strong formed the Eastman Dry Plate Company in 1881, the Kodak camera appeared in 1888 with the promise that the user only had to press the button, and Eastman Kodak Company was incorporated in 1892. Kodak's business model joined cameras, film, processing, printing, and distribution into a complete consumer system, making snapshot photography affordable and familiar at a global scale.
Kodak's cameras covered nearly every consumer category: the Brownie box cameras, folding roll-film cameras, Retina and Retinette 35 mm cameras from Kodak AG in Germany, Instamatic cartridge cameras, professional aerial and motion-picture equipment, and later compact digital cameras. Kodak lenses appeared under names including Kodak Anastigmat, Ektar, Anaston, Anastar, and Ektanon; some were Kodak-designed and Kodak-made, while many camera lines used optics from partners such as Schneider Kreuznach, Rodenstock, and other specialist manufacturers.
The Ektar name became Kodak's prestige photographic-lens label, covering high-quality taking lenses for Ektra, Medalist, large-format, aerial, and process applications. Kodak's motion-picture film business also shaped cinema optics indirectly by setting capture and projection standards. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2012, emerged smaller, and now operates mainly in printing, advanced materials, chemicals, motion-picture film, and licensed consumer products, but its camera and lens history remains foundational to twentieth-century photography.
Notable designs: Kodak Brownie, Kodak Retina, Kodak Ektra, Kodak Medalist, Ektar lenses, Kodak Anastigmat, Aero-Ektar, Cine Ektar, Instamatic