Friday Fun: How Film Cameras Imposed the Date on Photos
Whether you’re old enough to remember them, or you’ve just noticed them while sorting through old family photos, you might be curious how the little glowing date was imprinted on photos in the late-20th century.
In the digital photography era, the little orange date stamp in the lower-right corner of snapshots has largely fallen by the wayside. However, the technology used to superimpose the dates on old photos is pretty cool—and surprisingly low-tech.
In this video from Applied Science, we’re treated to a tour of an old camera body. You’ll see how a little extra bit in the body made it possible to add the date to a photo negative the moment it was taken.
Pretty cool! We love finding out how things work—even more so when how they work is so simple and elegant.
[via PetaPixel]
