8 Famous Photos and the Cameras They Were Captured On

Lee Harvey Oswald was shot exiting the Dallas Police Headquarters on November 24, 1963 after being arrested for the assassination of President John F. Kennedy two days prior. Photographer Robert H. Jackson caught the scene of Jack Ruby murdering Oswald for the Dallas Times Herald.

Photographed with: Nikon S3 

Photographer Dorothea Lange took this famous portrait of a mother and her two children at the Resettlement Administration in Nipomo, California in 1936.

Photographed with: Large Format Graflex 

Apollo 8 was the first crewed mission to orbit the Moon, launching on December 21, 1968. Astronaut William Anders took this photograph of the Earth rising above the horizon of the Moon on December 24, 1968.

Photographed with: Hasselblad 500 EL

This portrait of Buzz Aldrin was taken by fellow astronaut Neil Armstrong when the two walked on the surface of the Moon in 1969 as part of the Apollo 11 mission. The Hasselblad camera that this image was taken with was actually attached to Armstrong’s suit, and was fitted with a Réseau plate, leading to the cross-hatches seen.

Photographed with: Hasselblad 500 EL Data Camera

This famous image actually depicts the second flag raised on Iwo Jima following the Battle of Iwo Jima toward the end of the Pacific War—photographer Joe Rosenthal missed the first flag and had to stand on a pile of rocks for this shot.

Photographed with: Graflex Speed Graphic

The Trinity nuclear test, part of the Manhattan Project, was the most important scientific experiment in modern physics. The 1945 detonation was so fast and so bright that photographer Berlyn Brixner set up an array of cameras to capture the moment for Los Alamos Laboratory.

Photographed with: 50 different types of cameras, including a Mitchell camera and a Fastax camera

This portrait of Argentine Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara in 1960 is actually a cropped version of the wider image, which depicts a palm tree and the profile of Argentine journalist Jorge Masetti.

Photographed with: Leica M2

The Hindenburg was a feat of engineering like no other, until it’s untimely demise in May 1937, captured by photographer Sam Shere.

Photographed with: Graflex Speed Graphic