How it works
What does the oldest surviving photograph show, and why is a tintype not made of tin? These photography trivia questions cover the camera, the darkroom, the lens and the pictures everyone knows.
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Camera trivia questions
How a camera works asks what the aperture is, what the B setting does and how a rangefinder finds its distance. Lenses and light has the golden hour, bokeh and the physicist who named the fisheye lens.
Photography trivia questions and answers, from 1827 on
The first photographs starts with a view from a window in France and a bootblack's customer in Paris. Film and the darkroom covers the stop bath, hypo and dodging. Famous pictures and later firsts ends with a galloping horse, the Blue Marble and the photo booth.
- At a camera club, give Film and the darkroom to the members who learned on film.
Questions and answers
What are some easy photography trivia questions?
What does a pinhole camera have in place of a lens? When is the golden hour? What do the Greek roots of the word photography mean? The answers are a tiny hole, just after sunrise or before sunset, and drawing with light.
What was the first photograph ever taken?
The oldest that survives is View from the Window at Le Gras, made by Nicéphore Niépce in France in 1827. It shows his estate from a high window, and the exposure is traditionally put at about eight hours.
What does ISO mean on a camera?
It is the scale of sensitivity to light. The ISO system for film speed came in 1974, and digital cameras use a closely related one. A higher setting needs a shorter exposure but gives coarser grain or more noise.
How were the answers checked?
Each was read on October 14, 2026 in the English Wikipedia article linked beside it, 70 articles in all. No camera or film maker is a question, an answer or a choice, and no living photographer is an answer.