Interactive historical camera

Annum

Photography since 1839, in your pocket.

35 cameras, 1839 to 2010. Lift the lens cap, line up the rangefinder, turn the crank: work each camera the way its owner did and get the photograph it would have made.

Coming soon to the App Store

The daguerreotype camera of 1839 as drawn for Annum

Annum on iPhone: the Classic 35 mm B&W camera of 1936 with its viewfinder, dial and controls

35 camerasFrom 1839 to 2010
Each era’s own controlsPlates, cranks, rangefinders
A historically informed lookLight sensitivity, lens, grain, paper
Made for iPhoneDeveloped on your device
A history page per cameraLearn while you shoot

Explore the cameras

From daguerreotype to digicam

See all 35 cameras

Daguerreotype 1839
Tintype 1856
Cyanotype 1842
Carte de visite 1864
Stereo camera 1898
Silent film 1925
Instant film 1972
CCD digicam 2003

Examples made with Annum, developed by the app from one set of photos. The demo photos are AI-generated; every plate, print and file on this page was developed in Annum.

All 35 cameras, by year

Three are free forever: Tintype, Classic 35 mm B&W and Disposable. Every other camera gives 3 free shots before you decide.

1839 Daguerreotype Silver-plated copper, mercury-developed
1841 Calotype Paper negative, salt print
1842 Cyanotype Iron salts printed in sunlight
1854 Ambrotype Wet collodion on glass
1856 TintypeFree Wet collodion on lacquered iron
1864 Carte de visite Multi-lens camera, albumen print
1870 Albumen cabinet card Albumen print on a card mount
1898 Stereo camera Glass plates, stereo pair
1899 Swing-lens panorama Roll film, rotating lens
1900 Box camera Orthochromatic roll film
1907 Autochrome Colour screen glass plate
1920 Hand-tinted portrait Gelatin silver print, painted by hand
1925 Silent film Hand-cranked 35 mm orthochromatic film
1926 Folding camera 120 roll film, bellows and leaf shutter
1927 Photo booth Direct-positive paper strip
1936 Classic 35 mm B&WFree Panchromatic 35 mm film
1947 Press camera Film pack and flash bulbs
1950 Early colour slide Colour reversal film
1952 Twin-lens reflex 120 roll film, 6 × 6 cm
1963 Half-frame 35 mm film, half-size frames
1968 Square cartridge 126 cartridge film, square frame
1972 Instant film Integral instant print
1975 SLR 35 mm film, through-the-lens viewing
1976 110 pocket 110 cartridge film
1982 Plastic toy camera 120 roll film in a plastic body
1992 Four-lens camera 35 mm film, four lenses in sequence
1994 DisposableFree ISO 800 film in a plastic box
1995 35 mm compact Consumer colour negative, date back
1996 Panoramic compact 35 mm film with a panorama mask
1998 APS compact APS cartridge, three print formats
2003 CCD digicam Small CCD sensor, compressed JPEG
2004 VGA camera phone 640 × 480 phone sensor
2005 Early DSLR 6 to 8 megapixel APS-C sensor
2006 Webcam USB camera, 320 × 240 to 640 × 480
2010 Early phone square Phone sensor and a square filter

More than filters

Operate the camera.
Get its picture.

Old cameras are worked the way they were. Slide in the plate, lift the cap and count the seconds; crank the film by hand; wait for an instant print to develop. Prefer one tap? Quick shoot in Settings does the plate, cap and winding for you.

Plate cameras show the dim ground glass upside down and reversed, as it really was
The 1925 camera films as you turn the crank, with title cards and a piano rag
The 1898 stereo camera makes a stereo card and a small animation that shows the depth

The silent film camera of 1925 in Annum, with its hand crank

Real app footage

Tintype, 1856 Slide in the plate, lift the cap, count, and the plate appears.
Silent film, 1925 Turn the crank, add a title card, and the film is developed.
Instant film, 1972 The print develops on screen in about a minute.

One photo, four eras

The same picture, developed four ways

Annum puts one photo on a single sheet as an 1839 daguerreotype, a 1907 colour plate, a 1950 slide and a 2003 digicam file. Save it as an image or a one-page PDF; Pro lets you choose the eras.

The original colour portrait used for the sheet — Original photo

A 4-era sheet made with Annum: the same portrait as a daguerreotype (1839), an autochrome (1907), an early colour slide (1950) and a CCD digicam (2003) — Example made with Annum

Features

Inside the app

The lab: tintype, 1856
A wet-plate session in six steps: prepare the plate, judge the light, lift the cap, count. Your exposure is graded against the light the scene really had.
Load a film or a plate
Black and white from 100 to 3200, everyday and fast colour, slide, tungsten, expired film, infrared. Plate cameras take wet collodion, dry, orthochromatic or panchromatic plates.
A look that is historically right
Collodion saw almost only blue light, so red lips turn dark and blue eyes go pale. Annum models light sensitivity, lens, grain, paper and the damage of time, era by era, then frames the print in the mount of its day.
Missions, album and darkroom
Missions set small photographic tasks, and some unlock a camera you keep. The album sorts pictures by roll and by camera. An optional darkroom lets you develop black-and-white prints yourself.
Your own photos, any era
Pick any photo from your library and develop it through the camera in your hand. Annum saves a new photo; the original is never changed.
Fair and private
Three cameras free forever. Annum Pro: yearly with a 7-day free trial, or a one-time lifetime purchase. No ads, no credits, no weekly plans, no account, no tracking.