Kodak Instamatic 100 (1963)

The marvel of this $15.95 camera was its easy loading system. Kodak wanted to eliminate amateur errors and make photography foolproof. To do this, the company put the film for this camera--and its successors--into a plastic cartridge. The user could pop the cartridge in and out, and not worry about exposing the film to light or misaligning it so that it wouldn't advance. To illuminate the subject, you placed a flashbulb in a little compartment on the camera's top that popped open. The camera was hugely popular: It is estimated that tens of millions of Instamatic-type cameras were sold. Photo courtesy of The George Eastman House.