Gaming, Technology, and Gadget News, Reviews, and Previews.
  • members
  • register
  • subscribe via rss
  • Home
  • About TTB
  • Post Archive
  • Submissions / Contact
  • Gift Shop
  • Games That Time Forgot
  • Retro Computing Corner
  • Video Friday

Retro Computing Corner: World’s First Digital Camera (c. 1975)

Author: SmellyGeekBoy | Date: May 4, 2008

World\'s First Digital Camera, Made By A Kodak Engineer in 1975

This digital camera prototype was invented in 1975 by Kodak engineers Steven Sasson and Jim Schueckler. It was the size of a toaster, and captured black and white images at a resolution of 100×100 - or 0.01 megapixels in today’s marketing terminology. The images were stored on cassette tape, taking 23 seconds to write.

The camera uses an ADC from Motorola, a bog-standard (for the 1970s) lens from a Kodak movie camera, and a CCD chip from Fairchild Semiconductor - the same technology that digital cameras still use today. To playback the images, a special computer and tape reader setup (pictured below) was built, outputting the grainy images on a standard TV. It took a further 23 seconds to read each image from tape.

-

Computer Used To Transfer Images From The First Digital Camera

Not bad for 1975, eh? It’s strange how it took nearly 30 years for the technology to really catch on, although I’m pretty sure the big film manufacturers, including Kodak themselves, had something to do with it.

(MSNBC interview with Sasson)

Other posts in this series

Other TTB Posts Like This One

  • More Retro Handhelds Coming From ‘Megadrive’ Maker
  • Retro Computing Corner: The World’s First Laptop? (c. 1982)
  • Retro Computing Corner: The World’s First MP3 Player (c. 1998)
  • Awesome Gadget Of The Week: Fingermouse!
  • Pandora Demoed On Video: Runs Linux, Quake 2, And More!
Email To A Friend Email To A Friend Add to Google

2 Comments »

Comment by RancidAmoeba
2008-05-04 17:56:41

Yes, but does it take standard compact flash storage cards? Because I won’t plonk down a dime otherwise.

Reply to this comment
Comment by SmellyGeekBoy
2008-05-05 02:15:28

Surely everyone has some old cassettes lying around that they no longer have a use for? After all, At 23 seconds per image, that’s over 200 images per 90-minute tape!

I wonder if they built any error correction into this thing, or if warped / damaged parts of the tape resulted in interference in the image? The mind boggles.

Reply to this comment
 
 
Click here to cancel "reply".
Name (why not register?)
E-mail (not required)
Your Website (not required)
Your Comment
Comment moderation is enabled so there may be a delay until your comment appears. Basic HTML is allowed. Stupid comments will be deleted!

Trackback responses to this post

Recent Posts

  • New MS Ad “Icebreaker” To “Reintroduce Microsoft To Viewers”
  • Square Enix: the Electronic Arts of the East?
  • Video Friday: A Journey Down Memory Lane
  • Video: Shopping For Shoes!?
  • Samsung: “Blu-ray has 5 years left”
  • Buy Your Own Raving Rabbids!
  • Sex Pistols, Motorhead & MC5 Re-Record Songs for Guitar Hero
  • Best. Quote. Ever!
  • Download An Album Made On Korg’s DS-10 Synth
  • No More DLC for Crackdown, The World Sheds a Tear
  • Halo 3 ‘Mythic’ Expansion Brings New Achievements, Maps
  • Miniscule Everun Note Gives Asus’s EeePC A Run For Its Money
  • Pirates Vs. Ninjas Dodgeball Out Today - Two Other Games Too!
  • Oh No You Didn’t!
  • Video: Handheld Multi-Console Hack

Recent Comments

  • Games that Time Forgot: Hi-Octane (PC/PSX/Saturn)
    • Axel Night: It seemed most things Bullfrog touched oozed gold. This and Streets of SimCity (by Maxis, of course) were probably…
  • Square Enix: the Electronic Arts of the East?
    • SmellyGeekBoy: Also, EA ruined Burnout.
    • SmellyGeekBoy: Bullfrog also made Hi-Octane. Whether you consider that to be a good thing or a bad thing is up to…
  • Best. Quote. Ever!
    • SmellyGeekBoy: I think his point was that he'd rather kids were playing music games than violent games.
    • Rafael: Pretentious Idiot Musician. It take dozens (sometimes over a hundred) artists and programmers months or years to create a single game.…
    • SmellyGeekBoy: I hate it when that happens.
  • Samsung: "Blu-ray has 5 years left"
    • Tigervamp: I also prefer having a physical item to sit on a shelf. I just feel that once downloadable content takes over…
    • J Watkins: I prefer having a physical package, not a download. I like packaging, but also the downloaded versions are often…
  • Halo 3 'Mythic' Expansion Brings New Achievements, Maps
    • SmellyGeekBoy: Yep, the "Mythic" skull nonetheless. I'm guessing that they ran out of dificulty levels to name their DLC after (after…
    • arkoner: From what I understand, mythic difficulty is already in the game. There's a skull that increases the difficulty of…

« Chair Made From Old PS2’s Goes On Sale September 10th Oh No You Didn’t! »