Top 10 Cameras That Changed Photography Forever

When Canon dropped the 5D Mark II in 2008, it wasn't the sensor or the autofocus that changed everything — it was the full-frame 1080p video recording. Overnight, independent filmmakers and journalists had a cinema-quality video tool for $2,700. The entire DSLR filmmaking revolution — from indie features to network TV to YouTube — traces back to this camera. "House" shot entire episodes on it. It destroyed the line between photography and filmmaking forever.

The 1959 Nikon F was the camera that made professional photojournalists abandon their rangefinders. Its interchangeable prisms, motor drives, and tank-like reliability made it the weapon of choice for Vietnam War photographers. Don McCullin, David Douglas Duncan, and Larry Burrows trusted their lives and careers to it. The F-mount it introduced lasted 65 years and over 400 lenses before Nikon finally retired it. No camera system has ever had a longer run.

In 1900, George Eastman released a cardboard box camera that cost $1 and used 15-cent roll film. Photography went from an expert craft requiring glass plates and darkrooms to something a child could do on a Sunday afternoon. The Brownie sold millions and created the concept of the snapshot. Every family photo album, every vacation picture, every candid moment captured by amateurs for the next century — it all started with this $1 box.

The Swedish medium-format camera that went to the Moon. NASA selected modified Hasselblad 500Cs for the Apollo missions, and every iconic lunar photograph — Buzz Aldrin's visor reflection, Earthrise, the bootprint — was shot on one. On Earth, it dominated fashion and studio photography for decades. Ansel Adams, Richard Avedon, and Annie Leibovitz all shot Hasselblad. The 6x6cm square format became synonymous with serious, deliberate image-making.

When Sony released the original A7 in 2013, it proved that full-frame sensors didn't need mirror boxes or pentaprisms. At $1,700 it was the cheapest full-frame interchangeable-lens camera ever made, and it was smaller than most APS-C DSLRs. Canon and Nikon initially dismissed mirrorless as a gimmick. Five years later, both scrambled to release their own mirrorless systems. By 2025, DSLR production had effectively ceased. The A7 killed the mirror.

Nick Woodman strapped a 35mm film camera to his wrist while surfing and couldn't get the shots he wanted. So he built the GoPro. The original 2004 Hero was a waterproof 35mm film camera. By the Hero3 in 2012, it was shooting 4K and mounted on helmets, drones, sharks, and the International Space Station. GoPro created the entire action camera category and a new visual language — the first-person, ultra-wide, in-the-action shot that now defines extreme sports content.

The iPhone 4's 5-megapixel camera with LED flash and 720p video recording, combined with the App Store's explosion of photo apps like Instagram (launched the same year), did something no standalone camera ever could: it put a decent camera in 1.7 million pockets on launch day. The "best camera is the one you have with you" era began here. Point-and-shoot camera sales dropped 80% over the next decade. Photography went from hobby to reflex.

Edwin Land's 1972 masterpiece was the first instant SLR camera — a folding chrome-and-leather machine that ejected self-developing color prints in 60 seconds. Andy Warhol became obsessed with it. Ansel Adams consulted on its development. The SX-70 made photography immediate and tangible in an era of week-long film processing waits. Its aesthetic — the white-bordered, slightly washed-out instant print — became an icon that Instagram literally copied as its original logo.

Released in 2011, the X100 combined a retro rangefinder design with a large APS-C sensor and a sharp fixed 23mm f/2 lens. It was the camera that proved enthusiasts wanted something smaller than a DSLR but better than a compact. The X100 series went viral on TikTok a decade later, with the X100V becoming so popular it was sold out worldwide for over a year. Fujifilm's film simulation recipes turned digital shooters into analog aesthetes. It made photography fashionable again.

When Canon dropped the 5D Mark II in 2008, it wasn't the sensor or the autofocus that changed everything — it was the full-frame 1080p video recording. Overnight, independent filmmakers and journalists had a cinema-quality video tool for $2,700. The entire DSLR filmmaking revolution — from indie features to network TV to YouTube — traces back to this camera. "House" shot entire episodes on it. It destroyed the line between photography and filmmaking forever.

The 1959 Nikon F was the camera that made professional photojournalists abandon their rangefinders. Its interchangeable prisms, motor drives, and tank-like reliability made it the weapon of choice for Vietnam War photographers. Don McCullin, David Douglas Duncan, and Larry Burrows trusted their lives and careers to it. The F-mount it introduced lasted 65 years and over 400 lenses before Nikon finally retired it. No camera system has ever had a longer run.

In 1900, George Eastman released a cardboard box camera that cost $1 and used 15-cent roll film. Photography went from an expert craft requiring glass plates and darkrooms to something a child could do on a Sunday afternoon. The Brownie sold millions and created the concept of the snapshot. Every family photo album, every vacation picture, every candid moment captured by amateurs for the next century — it all started with this $1 box.

The Swedish medium-format camera that went to the Moon. NASA selected modified Hasselblad 500Cs for the Apollo missions, and every iconic lunar photograph — Buzz Aldrin's visor reflection, Earthrise, the bootprint — was shot on one. On Earth, it dominated fashion and studio photography for decades. Ansel Adams, Richard Avedon, and Annie Leibovitz all shot Hasselblad. The 6x6cm square format became synonymous with serious, deliberate image-making.

When Sony released the original A7 in 2013, it proved that full-frame sensors didn't need mirror boxes or pentaprisms. At $1,700 it was the cheapest full-frame interchangeable-lens camera ever made, and it was smaller than most APS-C DSLRs. Canon and Nikon initially dismissed mirrorless as a gimmick. Five years later, both scrambled to release their own mirrorless systems. By 2025, DSLR production had effectively ceased. The A7 killed the mirror.

Nick Woodman strapped a 35mm film camera to his wrist while surfing and couldn't get the shots he wanted. So he built the GoPro. The original 2004 Hero was a waterproof 35mm film camera. By the Hero3 in 2012, it was shooting 4K and mounted on helmets, drones, sharks, and the International Space Station. GoPro created the entire action camera category and a new visual language — the first-person, ultra-wide, in-the-action shot that now defines extreme sports content.

The iPhone 4's 5-megapixel camera with LED flash and 720p video recording, combined with the App Store's explosion of photo apps like Instagram (launched the same year), did something no standalone camera ever could: it put a decent camera in 1.7 million pockets on launch day. The "best camera is the one you have with you" era began here. Point-and-shoot camera sales dropped 80% over the next decade. Photography went from hobby to reflex.

Edwin Land's 1972 masterpiece was the first instant SLR camera — a folding chrome-and-leather machine that ejected self-developing color prints in 60 seconds. Andy Warhol became obsessed with it. Ansel Adams consulted on its development. The SX-70 made photography immediate and tangible in an era of week-long film processing waits. Its aesthetic — the white-bordered, slightly washed-out instant print — became an icon that Instagram literally copied as its original logo.

Released in 2011, the X100 combined a retro rangefinder design with a large APS-C sensor and a sharp fixed 23mm f/2 lens. It was the camera that proved enthusiasts wanted something smaller than a DSLR but better than a compact. The X100 series went viral on TikTok a decade later, with the X100V becoming so popular it was sold out worldwide for over a year. Fujifilm's film simulation recipes turned digital shooters into analog aesthetes. It made photography fashionable again.