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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)
I remember reading about how Kodak tried to block digital cameras (even its own) so as not to compromise their own film business, only to be caught unprepared later on when the digital camera revolution came anyway and then took massive losses.
It's funny how they build the first.
I read an interesting analysis: We as consumers just see pictures, but to them they were a chemical processing company. That didn't translate at all to digital pictures in any way like corporate experience, mindset, technical expertise, etc. It would have been hard to mentally make the change before it hit them in the face.
Then later they almost shut down their entire consumer film production because of digital cameras. So they were right in thinking it would massively impact them, but made some very wrong choices because of it.
It's a bit like discovering electric lighting and brushing it under the carpet, since your candle factory is blooming, while thinking/hoping that no one else will ever see a future for electric lights.
It must be one of the biggest faux pas in corporate history.
If only they would've started first instead of pretending change wouldn't happen.
So suppressing the next big competing technology just put their company behind after it became ubiquitous? Is there a lesson to be learned here? I don’t have time to figure it out—somebody’s gotta mine all this coal.