How Far We’ve Come: The World’s First Digital Camera
Invented in 1975 by Steven J. Sasson. It weighed eight pounds, was the size of a toaster, and produced a 0.01 megapixel image that took 23 seconds to record onto a digital cassette tape.
Personally I remember the first digital camera I ever used, the Apple Quicktake 100, which was back in middle school, circa 1994. (Don’t remind me that it was nearly 15 YEARS ago!)
The Quicktake was an innovation its time, boasting 1mb of flash memory, which could hold eight “high resolution” 640×480 images. It had an optical viewfinder, and an LCD screen which displayed status information only. The cost? Only $750.
Nowadays, I use the Canon 5D for my primary professional camera, which touts a more generous 12-megapixel resolution (and thankfully better storage!)
Of course, nothing on the market right now compares to the Gigapxl company’s 100-pound 4-GIGApixel camera (that’s 4,000 megapixels). Check out the sample pictures!
Update: My buddy Chris has been kind enough to inform me that the Gigapxl camera actually utilizes a substance called “FLIM” to aide in the capture process. This, FLIM apparently has been around for a long time and is a non-digital method of capturing images. Perhaps next time I visit the Smithsonian, I may be able to have a peek at this “FLIM”.
Currently one of the highest-resolution all-digital image capturing device on the market right now would be the PhaseOne P45+, which is a medium-format digital back capable of capturing 39-megapixel images. The cost? Why, only $33,700 for the digital-back ONLY. Sign me up for three, please.
