These days, digital
photography has encompassed virtually all aspects of daily life. Film has been forgotten by all but a
dedicated few. Digital photography,
along with the ever increasing automation of our cameras, has resulted in
pictures being taken with a frequency and multitude never seen before.
Leica has become an important
player on the field of digital cameras with products that have to be considered
at the forefront of digital photography, along with the names of many of their
competitors. Yet few are aware of the
development of digital cameras. It seems as if they suddenly appeared out of
nothing, destined to take over the world of photography.
Digital photography is a
rather recent development, one that took substantially less time than the
development of photography in the 19th century. The first digital electronic camera was shown
in 1975. It was designed by Steven
Sasson, an engineer at Eastman Kodak in Rochester, NY. It used a CCD (charge coupled device) as a
sensor. The camera was a huge, 8 pound
device, devoid of any portability. But
it did render digital images of 0.01 megapixels in black and white, using a
cassette tape for storage. The first
images took 23 seconds for each exposure.
To view the images, the data was read off the tape and displayed on a TV
monitor.
A portable digital camera
would not appear until 1981. This was
the first marketed digital camera, the Sony MAVICA. The name Mavica stood for Magnetic Video Camera. It too used a CCD as a sensor, but it produced
an analog video signal in the NTSC format at a resolution of 570 × 490 pixels
(0.28 megapixels). The color images were
stored as still pictures on 2” magnetic discs which could be viewed with the
help of a special playback unit on a television screen or they could be made
into color photographs on a printer which was developed later on.
The magnetic disks were
called “Mavipack” with a recording capacity of 50 color pictures. The discs could be erased, reused, and removed
from the camera at any given time, with no threat to their longevity or
dependability.
The camera also allowed to be
used as a motion picture video camera when coupled to a Betamax videotape
recorder. When the camera became
available on the photographic market it sold for $646.00 which was a huge
amount of money in 1981.
Of course image quality was
very low and the camera was incapable to compete with analog film cameras. Film would still rule supreme for a few more
years until the digital photography revolution set in. I think it is safe to say that most
photographers and other members of the photographic industry were surprised how
quickly digital photography replaced film.
It was this incredibly fast change that spelled the demise of many well
established photographic companies.
Kodak, Agfa and Ilford, just to mention a few, have all but disappeared
from the market and are alive today by name only. Even Leica ran into considerable difficulties
until the company was saved by Dr. Andreas Kaufmann. Leica’s success with their digital (and
analog) products has to be considered one of the photographic success stories of
recent years and we can look forward to more exciting new items from Leica Camera
AG.
Leica S1, the first digital camera from Leica
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0.01 and 0.28 megapixel. That ought to be enough for a postage stamp.
ReplyDeleteDon't knock it, we have to start somewhere. Without these pioneers, digital photography wouldn't be anywhere near of what it is today.
DeleteWhat was the resolution of the Leica S1 and when was it built?
ReplyDeleteThe camera was made in 1996 with a resolution of 26 megapixels.
ReplyDeleteThis blog has an article about it at http://gmpphoto.blogspot.com/2014/11/26-mehapixel-leica-s1.html