The birth of digital imaging

We tend to
think of the
digital imaging
revolution as
something that
happened in the
early 2000s.

It is true that the displacement of film
primarily happened from 2000 and on…
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
Number of film and digital cameras
sold in the United States.

But digital cameras had been around for
a long time before the actual revolution.

Let’s go back in time and take a look at how
the technology evolved and how it was
followed by journalists and companies.

The key component in a digital camera is the
image sensor. Dr. Willard Boyle and Dr.
George Smith at Bell Labs created the first
solid-state image sensor in 1969.

Sony among other companies understood the
potential in this new technology and started
to experiment with it.

But it was Texas Instruments that patented the
filmless electronic camera in 1972.

Fairchild Imaging was the first company
to successfully launch a commercial
image sensor in 1973. It was a black-
and-white sensor which had 0,1
Megapixels.

The Fairchild sensor was used when
Kodak came up with the first prototype
of a camera that used an image sensor
in 1975.

The man behind the camera was an
engineer at Kodak named Steven
Sasson (rumours say that he still works
for the company).

It took 23 seconds for the camera to record an
image onto a digital cassette tape.

The Associated Press made the following
comment about the camera:
“An 8-pound, toaster-size contraption,
which captured a black-and-white
image on a digital cassette tape at a
resolution of .01 megapixel."

Quite an interesting comment about a
technology that 25 years later would turn
the entire camera industry upside down.

Throughout the 1970s, Fairchild and RCA
among others further developed image
sensors, primarily for usage related to
astronomy.

Digital imaging was superior to photographic
plates when it came to gazing at distant
planets and galaxies.

Another early application of digital
imaging was the transmission of
images from space vehicles back
home to earth (read more here).

In 1979, Emory Kristof was the
first to use an electronic camera
while photographing life at the
bottom of the ocean.

Electronic cameras were also
used when Kristof took photos of
Titanic at the bottom of the sea.

All these events have in common that they
created quite some media attention.
Therefore, digital imaging became a bit of a
hype in these years…

"What does this development
mean? That the working newspaper
photographer in the not-too-
distance future could be using an
electronic camera."
// Edward Dooks photographer, 1979

"It sounds like it (the digital camera) could
give us more speed, more time to do the
selection and cropping of photographs and
less time just doing the technical production
of it.“
// Ralph Langer, Dallas Morning News 1984

"Electronic photography is going to replace
the silver image. We are going to have to have
an understanding of how to edit pictures, how
pictures are stored electronically and how to
edit them electronically."
// Charles Scott, Photojournalism educator

"When the electronic camera, and all that
goes with it, is finally in our hands --
and it will be -- it will not be because we
have sought it out, but because we are
no longer left with a choice.“
Ed Breen, News Photographer in 1982

While the technology received a lot of
media coverage, it was still far away
from the mass markets.

Too complicated, poor image quality
and too high price.

Further developments were made. The
photo press continued to give plenty
of attention to the emerging
technology.

In 1991, Associated Press
published an article with the
headline:
“Electronics Takes a Big Step
Closer to Replacing Film.”

”The quality of high-end
digital studio cameras is
good enough to replace
film for most catalog and
magazine needs.”
MacWEEK 94-05-13

6 million pixel resolution is
good enough for most
applications. The
perception of colour is
more important than the
perception of sharpness.
Kodak, 1996

In an article titled “Cameras go digital:
Prices for filmless cameras are falling
fast” from 1996 states:
“One day in the not-too-distant future
your point-and-shoot camera may go
the way of the home movie camera and
record turntable”.

In the 1990s, digital imaging
prospered in the area of
studio photography.

Kodak made huge efforts to produce
smaller, cheaper and better products…

Digital backs
were
attached to
medium
format
cameras (this
one’s a
Hasselblad
with a Kodak
digital back)

All these applications existed
before the great imaging
revolution.

When looking back at the media
coverage and the discussions
about digital imaging it is
striking how much attention
the technology received in
relation to how small the
markets were.

This observation suggests that
the camera industry was by
no means surprised by the
shift to digital imaging once it
happened.

Some firms may have
underestimated the pace at
which the technology went
from strange niche markets
into a mass market.

But most of them succeeded in
anticipating the threat at an
early point. Responding in the
right way, at the right time,
turned out to be more difficult.

Sources
McGarvey, Jim, The DCS Story, 2004.

Image attributions

Christian Sandström is a
PhD student at Chalmers
University of Technology in
Gothenburg, Sweden. He
writes and speaks about
disruptive innovation and
technological change.
www.christiansandstrom.org
christian.sandstrom at chalmers.se