In the last issue, we talked about the entire development process of the traditional film camera from its birth nearly two centuries ago to the evolution to its peak in the nineties of the last century, and I believe you must have a deeper understanding of the "first half of life" of the camera, a great invention in human history! In the not-so-short history of science and technology, mankind has finally acquired a method that can record images of reality more accurately than painting, and mankind has finally acquired the ability to leave a real image of the past.
The high cost of film photography (especially the cost of film and printing), low real-time performance (printing required), and high technical threshold for use have led to its inability to be popularized.
At the beginning of this century, with the advancement of science and technology, film cameras were gradually replaced by digital cameras. The emergence of the latter marks a new era of photography technology, which has changed many limitations of traditional photography and made photography more convenient and popular. It also truly makes the image spread in real time and explosively around the world, and it will last forever. Since then, ordinary people can also see the world without traveling far, through the past and the present, thanks to the rapid development of digital photography and the Internet, since then, human beings have entered a lifelike multi-** era. Next, let's talk about the development history of digital cameras in detail (the article is a bit long, please read it patiently).
Closer to home, the development of digital cameras has gone through several key stages, from the earliest concepts to the emergence of modern advanced digital cameras, a process that involves many technological and commercial changes.
The 60s to 80s of the last century was the starting point and embryonic stage of digital cameras. The earliest digital camera concepts date back to the late 60s and early 70s of the 20th century. At that time, scientists had already begun to explore the use of digital sensors instead of traditional film to capture images. On October 17, 1969, Bauer and Smith of the Bell Institute in the United States announced the invention of "CCD" (charge-coupled element), which began to be widely used after further refinement.
The invention of the world's first digital camera is attributed to Steven J., an engineer at Kodak's Applied Electronics Research CenterSasson) and his team. In 1975, they developed a prototype called the Handheld Electronic Camera, a digital camera that used magnetic tape as a storage medium. This camera is 8 degrees wide25 inches, 6 inches thick, 8 inches high9 inches and weighs about 85 pounds with 16 AA batteries. Its sensor is based on the CCD array of the Fairchild 201100 model (001 megapixels, 100 x 100), can only shoot black and white still images. The innovation of Sharson and his team was that they envisioned a camera with no mechanical moving parts, which foreshadowed the design direction of future cameras.
Although Kodak saw at the time the threat that digital cameras could pose to its traditional film business, the company eventually halted further research and development of digital cameras due to cost and technical constraints. This eventually led to Kodak lagging behind Japanese competitors in the field of digital cameras in the future, thus gradually losing the market and development opportunities.
It should be noted that while the 1975 Kodak prototype is considered by most to be the world's first digital camera, it was not the only early digital camera. But the Kodak prototype is still an important milestone in the history of digital cameras, although it was not the first product to hit the market.
In 1981, Sony launched the world's first digital camera with interchangeable lenses, Mavica (M**ica), the full name of English is Magnetic Video Camera, which can be regarded as the prototype of today's digital camera and opened the era of digital photography. M**ica is capable of replacing standard zoom and mid-focus lenses. In 1997, Sony made another big move, successively launching the Digital M**ica MVC-FD5 and FD7 two ** cameras, which used 3A 5-inch floppy disk serves as a storage medium, and the latter even boasts a 10x optical zoom. Similar to today's digital cameras, the storage medium is taken out and then inserted into the computer to read and edit the ** files inside.
In 1988, Fujifilm and Toshiba exhibited the DS-1P, a jointly developed digital camera, at the World Image Exposition in Cologne, Germany. This camera is the first camera to be a true face consumer, with 400,000 pixels and a memory card for storage. During this period, major manufacturers began to release their own digital camera prototypes one after another.
From the early 90s to the beginning of this century, digital cameras matured and became commercialized. With the advancement of CCD (charge-coupled device) and CMOS (complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor) technology, the quality and performance of imaging sensors are gradually improving. Beginning in the 90s, digital cameras were gradually commercialized and began to enter the mass market. In 1990, Logitech launched its own digital camera, the Dycam Model 1 (also known as Logitech Fotoman), but it was not only expensive, but also not particularly brilliant, with less than 100,000 pixels (376*240), and it could only shoot in black and white.
In 1991, Kodak released the DCS DSLR, which used a 1.3 million pixel color CCD sensor and adopted the classic Nikon F3 SLR camera body of the film era. Interestingly, it doesn't have a memory, but instead needs to carry a separate storage unit, which is connected to the camera via a data cable, so photographers may get a little tired. Three years later, Kodak developed a digital SLR camera for photojournalism, the AP NC2000, which also uses the body of a Nikon camera (N90), which is also 1.3 million pixels, and unlike the former, it has an ISO value of 1600, which has a certain ability to shoot in low light.
In 1992, the manufacturer Leaf developed a digital back that looks like a brick for medium and large format cameras, using a 4*4 cm, 4 million pixel sensor, which can only shoot black and white**. With a digital back, it is possible to convert medium and large format film cameras to digital photographic use, a mode that is still used on most medium and large format cameras today.
Since then, major camera manufacturers, such as Nikon, Canon, Olympus, etc., have successively launched various types and specifications of digital cameras. During this period, the resolution and storage capacity of digital cameras increased significantly, and they became more and more practical.
In 1993, Fujifilm launched the DS-200F digital camera, its innovation is that, compared with the previous products of other manufacturers, the DS-200F shoots ** is stored on a solid-state storage medium, just like the current U disk, CF card, SD card, can be permanently retained, not stored in memory, lost when the power is off. Another highlight of the DS-200F is that it reaches the VGA (640*480) level of resolution - 300,000 pixels.
Maybe many people didn't think that in fact, Apple also released a digital camera, the Quicktake100 digital camera that came out in 1994 is Apple's product, it was designed by Kodak, produced in Japan, and Fujifilm's DS-200F, it is also VGA resolution, the reason why it is mentioned is because it may be the first color digital camera to use a single sensor (because the previous color digital cameras are by superimposing red, green and blue three-channel sensors to achieve color shooting** functional). For some reason, Apple has not been deeply involved in the imaging field since then, and has instead focused on other products. The QuickTake100 became a single seedling, and after a few years of production, it disappeared.
Next, let's talk about Casio's QV-10 digital camera launched in 1995, it is not special in itself, it seems, Casio, the famous electronic watch brand, has nothing remarkable in the field of imaging, the reason why it is mentioned is because it used LCD as the camera's playback device for the first time, and it can also be used for framing, not just to display some control menus, so, digital photography is no longer like film photography like opening a blind box, Instead, it greatly improves the user experience.
Ricoh's RDC-1 digital camera, launched in 1995, was the world's first digital camera with the best shooting function. It can shoot sound at 30 frames per second** and can also be played back via the LCD display on the back of the camera. This is yet another perfect innovation and milestone in the field of digital cameras.
The next thing to talk about is an unpopular product, SVMINI, out of the Sound Vision company founded by the employees of the Leaf digital back company before the freedom, SVMINI is also a milestone, it is the first consumer camera to use a CMOS sensor, you know, the CMOS sensor is the mainstream sensor used by almost all digital cameras, compared with the CCD sensor, it has a higher tolerance, with better low-light ability, At the same time, it has the advantage of low cost, and CMOS was previously considered less promising than CCD.
Nowadays, taking pictures is an indispensable and important function of all smartphones nowadays, but it is unattainable and difficult to imagine at the end of the last century. However, the Japanese Kyocera (Kyocera, which I believe many people know about it from the photocopier) brand, which focuses on fine ceramics and industrial products, was prescient and launched a front-facing camera at the end of the last century (1999), which can be used as a VP-210 mobile phone, and can also store 20 photos. The reason we don't know about it is because it's never sold outside of home.
From the end of the 90s to the beginning of this century is the stage of digital camera development, only in 1998, the world's major manufacturers released more than 60 new digital camera products, a large number of megapixel cameras emerged, the more representative is Kodak KODAK DC290, in addition to having megapixels, what is more commendable is that it also supports 2x optical zoom.
In 1999, more than 20 digital cameras with 2 million pixels were released, and 2 million pixels gradually became the mainstream of digital cameras. Also in the same year, Nikon launched the D1, a professional-grade DSLR camera using a 2-million-pixel APS-C format CCD sensor, ushering in Nikon's "D" era.
In 2000, the 3-million-pixel digital camera began to become the mainstream, the focusing and continuous shooting performance was also significantly improved, and more professional DSLR cameras were also about to emerge, and Canon also released the world's first DSLR camera EOS D30 with a 3-million-pixel APS-C size CMOS type image sensor, which was compatible with the previous Canon EF lens system and supported RAW lossless format output. As a result, DSLR cameras began to rise, slowly becoming the new favorite of professional photographers, and gradually replacing the position of film SLR in the field of professional photography.
In 2001, Canon introduced a more professional-grade DSLR camera, the EOS-1D, which surpassed Nikon's D1 in terms of performance across the board, and it used the larger APS-H (28.).7*19.1mm) sensor with a resolution of 4 million pixels, in addition to better ISO range, continuous shooting speed, focusing performance, and higher durability; At the same time, Contax, a subsidiary of Kyocera Corporation, released the world's first model with CCD full-frame (359mm x 24mm) sensor for the DSLR camera Contax N Digital, with a resolution of 6 million.
In December 2003, Olympus, Kodak, and Fujifilm jointly developed the E-1 using the "4 3 System". The sensor area of the "4 3 system" is 135mm 18mm, much smaller than APS-C. The single 4 3 system unifies the sensor area, focal length, flange distance, etc., and the digital SLR accessories that use this system can be compatible with each other, which is much more authentic than the early manufacturers in order to maximize their benefits, deliberately maintain their own standards, and are not compatible with other manufacturers. So that consumers have other choices other than the original factory!
In the years since, digital camera technology has continued to evolve at a rapid pace, with more pixels, richer features, and the pinnacle of development. As of 2022, the pinnacle products of the more representative DSLR cameras are, Canon EOS-1D X Mark III and Nikon's D6, I won't introduce much about how powerful their performance is, you all know! Everything will flourish and decline seems to be an eternal law, and digital SLR is no exception.
While professional SLR digital cameras are booming, pocket-size and fashion have gradually become the selling points of consumer-grade digital cameras, and all kinds of portable card cameras and medium and telephoto consumer-grade cameras have also become popular. These consumer-grade products have gradually become popular in the hands of consumers and have become an indispensable part of people's daily life and work. Sony's "black card" Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-RX100 series is a very successful card camera, which incorporates a large sensor (1 inch) in a small form factor, which can provide excellent image quality, and the black card has been launched into the seventh generation; Nikon's Nikon CoolPix P100 is a popular consumer telephoto camera with powerful optical zoom capabilities and multiple shooting modes, a 26x optical zoom lens with image stabilization, making it ideal for shooting distant scenes or animals, and its versatility makes it widely appreciated. After 2010, the market for consumer cameras gradually shrank due to the impact of increasingly sophisticated camera smartphones.
In the previous article, the most talked about is a digital SLR, so there should also be a digital sideshaft, right? Naturally, the pioneer of the digital rangefinder was the Epson R-D1 launched by Epson in 2004, with 6 million effective pixels, using lenses produced by Konica, it is also compatible with Leica's M-mount, and can use all Leica M-mount lenses. However, due to its relatively high ** and relatively low pixels, it did not succeed in the market and was just a flash in the pan! Epson also eventually withdrew from the production and manufacturing of cameras.
Leica is still one of the manufacturers that are still developing and producing rangefinder cameras (including digital cameras) to date, and Leica's most classic M-series rangefinder system has been upgraded to a digital rangefinder camera since the introduction of the M8 in 2006, which uses a 10-million-pixel CCD sensor. As of now, the latest model in the M series is the M11. Although the performance is far inferior to that of the DSLR, this does not affect the evolution of Leica cameras into luxury goods, often around 100,000 sets**, so that ordinary consumers have to be discouraged.
If you're really craving a digital rangefinder and have an alternative to Leica, check out Fujifilm, the brand's 2010 and 2012 X100 fixed-lens digital rangefinder (using an optical-electronic hybrid viewfinder and a manual macular focusing system without a rangefinder) and the Xpro-1 series of interchangeable digital rangefinder cameras. Fujifilm's hybrid viewfinder is not as realistic as Leica's purely optically linked viewfinder, but it gives users an experience similar to that of a rangefinder and better focus aid. Their latest models are X100V and X-Pro3, only the APS-C sensor, but the price of more than 10,000 yuan, seems to be a bit overflowing, but compared to Leica, it is already very "cabbage"! Besides, Fuji's picture quality is still handy.
In the process of digital evolution of cameras, medium and large format models are naturally indispensable, and this kind of machine is expensive and the user group is relatively single.
1. Niche, generally for commercial use. The digitization process of medium and large format cameras is mainly to replace the traditional film back with a digital back. This process enables medium to large format cameras to capture images with digital sensors, replacing traditional film recording methods and thus digitizing. This application of digital backs is a key method for digitizing medium to large format cameras.
The digital back is often detachable when digitizing medium and large format cameras, which means that photographers can choose to use a digital back when they need it, while in some cases they can still use a traditional film back. This flexibility allows photographers to combine the needs of traditional and digital photography, choosing to use film or digital backs depending on the specific shooting task, so as to better adapt to different shooting scenes. The ability to convert this gives photographers more options, making medium to large format cameras more versatile.
For example, the Hasselblad H6D-100C. The camera was originally designed as a film camera, but by replacing the digital back, it was transformed into a digital medium to large format camera. It is equipped with a 100-megapixel digital sensor that provides high-resolution image capture capabilities. This flexible digital design allows medium to large format cameras to adapt to the needs of the digital age.
However, not all medium to large format cameras have a detachable back design, and some have the same integrated design as DSLR cameras. For example, the 645D released by Pentax in March 2010 is a medium-format (44mm*33mm) digital camera, and the GFX 50S released by Fujifilm in September 2016 is a medium-format mirrorless digital camera (i.e., medium-format mirrorless camera), both of which are 50 million pixels. This is enough to show that medium format is also developing in the direction of lightweight.
After 2010, with the market's unremitting pursuit of miniaturization, mirrorless cameras (mirrorless) gradually emerged and became the mainstream of the photography market, and we began to enter the "mirrorless era", during this period, major camera manufacturers began to launch the first batch of mirrorless cameras, such as Sony NEX series, Olympus PEN series, Fujifilm X series, etc. These cameras eliminate pentaprisms and reflectors, introduce mirrorless designs, electronic viewfinders, and smaller sizes, and introduce a range of innovative technologies such as live view, fast focus, and high-speed continuous shooting, making the photography experience more convenient and intuitive. With the continuous maturity of mirrorless camera technology, more and more photographers choose mirrorless cameras as their main shooting tools, and the original darling (digital) SLR has slowly begun to decline. In July 2022, Nikon announced that it would stop developing new (digital) SLR models and would focus on the development of mirrorless Z model machines, such as the Z6 and Z9. In addition, other manufacturers have announced similar plans. The (digital) SLR is a thing of the past, it's a foregone conclusion!
In 2000, Sharp launched the world's first camera phone with a rear camera, the J-SH04, which vaguely heralded the convergence of mobile phones and digital cameras.
Since 2010, with the rise and popularity of smartphones with built-in cameras, they have gradually become the most portable and convenient shooting tools, and photography has become more popular. With the rapid development of smartphone camera technology and AI algorithms, smartphones have gradually replaced many people's needs for traditional consumer-grade digital cameras. At the same time, high-end digital cameras and traditional film cameras still maintain a certain market share among professional photography and photography enthusiasts.
In addition to cameras and smart phones, modern social life is full of a lot of integrated image (photographing, **, etc.) function of the device, such as laptops, tablet computers, drones, medical imaging equipment, astronomical observation equipment, action cameras, law enforcement recorders, dash cams, surveillance cameras, etc., the list goes on, they are all derivatives of the development of digital camera technology, including many products with excellent imaging effects and cameras! All this makes the current era of national photography.
In recent years, the development of digital cameras has focused on higher pixels, more advanced focusing technology, and more powerful image processing capabilities. Improvements in lens technology, sensor technology, and image stabilization and low-light performance are the focus of camera manufacturers. Overall, the development of digital cameras has been a process of technological innovation and market adaptation, from the initial concept to the popularization of smartphones today, digital photography has undergone a huge transformation.
The above is just a brief microcosm of the development history of digital cameras, in fact, the development of this field is very extensive and complex, involving countries, industries, enterprises, and technologies are also very many, limited to space, this article aims to briefly describe, it is impossible to cover everything, for example, the development of medium and large format digital cameras, I have not introduced too much, and I hope you will forgive me. All we need to know is that there are many outstanding companies, engineers, scientists, and inventors who have made important contributions and continued to push the boundaries of camera technology.
Finally, let's take a look at the future development direction of digital camera technology, firstly, the performance of the sensor will continue to improve, the resolution, low-light performance and HDR dynamic range will be further improved, and there may even be new sensor types to provide higher quality images and better performance; Second, the application of AI in digital cameras will continue to increase, helping to improve the focusing, scene recognition, and image processing performance of cameras. Thirdly, the wireless connection performance will be enhanced, which will greatly facilitate the user's social sharing. In addition, the size and weight of the camera will be further reduced while maintaining high performance; And, with the popularity of content, cameras may focus more on providing higher quality and more advanced features, including higher resolutions, higher frame rates, and more powerful editing features; Finally, lens technology will continue to evolve, such as larger apertures, wider angles, and perhaps higher refractive index translucent materials to replace current glass or resin materials.
That's all for the history of the camera! In general, the development of camera technology has gone through a long process from the birth of the first permanent ** to the current popularization of digital shooting equipment. It not only represents the continuous progress of science and technology, but also reflects the endless pursuit of human beings to record images and use visual expressions to express emotions.