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The first ever digital camera, built in 1975 by Eastman Kodak engineer Steve Sasson. It weighed 8 pounds (~3.6kg) and recorded 100x100 pixel photos to a cassette tape.
(static01.nyt.com)
More info:
- An image from the original digital camera on the prototype digital playback system, accodirg to NYTimes.
- Stephen Sasson of Eastman Kodak Invents the Digital Camera : History of Information
- Wikipedia: Steven Sasson - First self-contained digital camera
- Kodak’s First Digital Moment (Lens blog - NYTimes - WebArchive)
It's worth noting this is the first commercially available digital camera. The digital camera aboard Landsat 1 (launched 1972) was developed in 1969, predating this by 6 years.
EDIT: I looked at the wrong instrument. See comments below to read about the MSS, "the oldest operational multispectral digital sensor"
This is what I see from a quick search. According to Wikipedia page Landsat 1 - Sensors:
And from Return-Beam Vidicon (RBV) Overview:
So... if I understand it correctly, it was an analog camera which signal was at the end converted to digital. But please correct me if I'm wrong!
ninja-EDIT: What happened on 1969, according to The First Digital Camera Was the Size of a Toaster - IEEE Spectrum:
This also may be my lack of understanding, but I was referring to the Multi Spectral Scanner (MSS) on Landsat 1 which used band scanning and stored/transmitted digital images. https://gisrsstudy.com/multispectral-scanner-sensor/
Ok, I looked at the wrong instrument.
Regarding the MMS, here (page 3) it says:
Then I found this diagram (with some explanations on this link):
If I understand correctly, that means it has a 6 pixel-row resolution that it uses to scan a 2D area.
Finally, I realized I was using a wrong idea of "digital camera". There is no true "digital sensor", all sensors are analog and always need a postprocess to convert to digital... right?
As always, it's impossible to provide a non-ambiguous definition. Is a 6-pixel row res instrument on a satelite a "digital camera"? ... kind of :)
Anyway, fascinating topic. Thanks for the input!