A short history on digital cameras
In the 1980’s, with video cameras becoming more and more popular with consumers around
the world, there were thoughts of attempting the same thing with still cameras. Only a few companies actively pursued these notions. Two of them were notably, Sony and Kodak.
Kodak had begun research into digital cameras from as early as 1975, when they produced the first digital camera in a laboratory. This camera, designed by Steve Sasson, was about the size of a large microwave.
Kodak dedicated their research towards still cameras and, coupled with a Nikon F3 camera, they produced the first digital camera with a 1.3 megapixel (mp) sensor. Once the world heard of this, there was a large scramble amongst companies to get their R+D divisions into looking into digital imaging. The race had begun, and it was an unusual camera maker that made the first commercial digital camera. The Apple computer company, in 1994, produced the first consumer digital camera. It looked somewhat like a pair of binoculars and took tiny images for computer screen use only. But it was the start and Kodak and Sony soon followed suit with their own cameras in the same year. After a few years of bad design and computing logistical nightmares, all major camera companies were actively involved in the digital imaging research.
I believe that Nikon made the first major breakthrough in pro digital imaging. In 1999, just in
time for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Nikon released the D1 camera. It was a Professionally built camera, with a 2.1mp sensor and a buffer that allowed it to take 4 frames a second for about 18 frames. A major advancement in showing the world that digital was ready for the fast moving sports and journalism world. The response was immediate: At the Olympics the following year, almost 80% of the cameras used by the Sports photographers, were Nikon D1’s. After this point, companies and public realised that digital cameras were here to stay and were a part of our lives.
In the film world, a specific camera was generally replaced every 7 years or so. In the digital arena, some camera makers were turning over new models of the same camera every 14 months! More recently, camera companies are touting ‘Intelligent pixels’. This is very true that all pixels are not the same and if a pixel in one camera can capture a ray of light better than another pixel, in another camera, you are going to get a better image. Hence, more marketing has now gone into this part of the market- where companies are selling image quality rather than quantity. It reflects the true nature of the market though, as people want good images, and not large files of bad quality.
The advantages of digital over film
There are many immediate advantages that digital has over film.
They are:
o A LCD screen to instantly review your images. For novices, this is great to check up
on composition, whilst for the enthusiast and professional, it is an excellent tool to
review exposure on.
o EXIF data on image. All the camera settings at the time of shooting the image are
automatically tagged onto your image. This allows you to see what date, time and
exposures you shot your image at.
o Print only the prints you want. This is a cost saving exercise par non.
o Shoot as many images that you like with the option to delete bad images. Another
cost saver and also an opportunity for people to experiment more with photography.
o Edit your own pictures. This feature has turned many casual photographers into
Photoshop experts! Users, can with very simple software, edit, manipulate, add
borders, text and make cards for all manners of use.
o Memory cards have more capacity for images than film. Now cameras can hold
hundreds of images on one memory card, making travelling a lot easier.
o Memory cards can be reformatted to allow continual use.
o Different file formats can be selected for various uses. An image format in camera can be used for e-mail quality images and another for print quality images.
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All text copyright C4 Images and Safaris
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