A 'toaster with a lens': The story behind the first handheld digital camera
4 days ago
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- #photography
- Steve Sasson, a young engineer at Eastman Kodak, invented the first handheld digital camera in 1975.
- The camera was bulky, weighed 8lb (3.6kg), and used a CCD (charge-coupled device) to capture images electronically without film.
- Sasson's invention was initially met with skepticism within Kodak, as the company was deeply invested in film photography.
- The first digital image was of a colleague, Joy Marshall, and took 23 seconds to capture and display on a TV.
- Kodak patented the digital camera in 1978, earning billions in licensing fees, but struggled to capitalize on the technology early on.
- Sasson predicted it would take 15-20 years for digital photography to become viable; Kodak's first consumer digital camera, the DC40, launched in 1995.
- The rise of personal computing and the internet in the 1990s helped digital photography go mainstream.
- Sasson received the National Medal of Technology and Innovation in 2009 for his groundbreaking work.
- His original camera is now displayed at the George Eastman Museum in Rochester, New York.