Discovering the Security Camera

Welcome to Becoming Sage, where the ordinary becomes extraordinary! My name is Elan Baumgarten, and this is our third episode where we will delve into the history of something that really is everywhere, even if you don’t think about them. That is the security camera. From the CCTV camera on the street corner, to traffic lights, to home security cameras, almost everyone passes by them on a daily basis. To truly discover the origin of the security camera, we have to find the first camera. In 1893 Thomas Edison and William Dickson put on the first live demonstration of the motion picture, after experimenting throughout the 1880s. After only a handful of years the motion picture industry was already up and rolling! The industry would shove many into the spotlight after the first Hollywood studio opening in 1911. Charlie Chaplan would first appear on film in 1914. By 1939, almost 25 years later, smaller hand-held cameras would find their way into WW2 surveillance and reconnaissance. The film could be processed and recorded later. Walter Bruch is widely accepted to have created the first closed-circuit television, in Nazi controlled Germany. Its application was to allow scientists to safely watch V-2 rocket launches. While these cameras allowed watching these events from a distance, it is important to recognize that they could not record the film on his device, so they had little application for security at the time. The first commercial security camera was released in 1949 by the American company, Vericon. Only two years later in 1951 the VTR would be invented, allowing the film to be copied onto a magnetic reel while being viewed live. While this may sound very similar to the modern security cameras we think of that can sit in a corner of your house, or on top of a traffic light, these cameras were still the size of a large washing machine, and could cost up to 50 thousand dollars, meaning that it still wasn’t practical for personal use. After this point we can see the applications in the security sector jump. Countless of these cameras were used in 1953 during Queen Elizabeth the Second’s coronation. London would be one of the first cities to adopt these security measures. During the early 60’s they would use them to monitor train stations, and New York would soon use them to monitor Times Square by the mid-60’s. The first city to ever apply security cameras to their main street would be Olean, New York in 1968, and many towns would soon follow their lead. Cities still had to employ people to change the camera reels, and monitor the cameras. Now for the first main-stream recorder, the Videocassette. First arriving in 1969, these smaller and cheaper reels completely changed the way that security and videotaping works. Their cheaper materials and small design allowed them to be the first widely-used public consumer recording and storage device, especially after the VCRs introduction in 1971. By the mid-70s and even into the early 80s stores and banks would start to implement CCTV security systems with VCRs. A new break through in CCR or Charge-Coupled Device technology in 1976 would pave the way for night time recording and surveillance as they allowed for better recordings in low-light conditions. While these cameras were still very bulky, over the next few years camera manufacturers would work on making these cameras easier, cheaper, and perhaps most importantly, less obvious. Some of the more wide-known renditions of these designs would be the dome or bullet cameras. Through the 90s CCTV footage and VCRs still had to be swapped and stored. As the digital revolution started to kick off, we were brought the digital recorder. The first was Kodak’s digital recorder in 1987, but they really took off when digital video compression was introduced in 1993 and then a year later when Apple released digital image capture with their QuickTake 100. These digital cameras swapped magnetic reels for flash and hard drives, which were not only more efficient, but did not degrade over time. The first nanny-cam saw its introduction in 1992. By 1996 we had the first internet protocol camera, the Axis NetEye 200. Modern video cameras have everything from two-way audio connection, weatherproofing, and near perfect night vision. Today the average American is caught on camera 238 times a week. The highest concentration of those 238 times are through driving. Today there are over one billion installed security cameras, with 54% of them in China. China also boasts 11 of the 20 most surveilled cities in the world. Thanks for listening to Becoming Sage, my name is Elan Baumgarten, make sure to tune in next time or follow us to hear the ordinary become extraordinary!