What are the camera type trends?

A brief description of the development trend of digital cameras

A historical record of the development process of digital cameras

2005.07.2811:27:08

The history of cameras Since its invention by the French in 1839, it has gone through nearly 200 years of development. In these 200 years, cameras have evolved from black and white to color, from purely optical and mechanical structures to the trinity of optics, mechanics, and electronics, and from traditional silver salt film to today's use of digital memory as the recording medium. Smiling at the floating clouds that obscure your eyes, the vast sea turns into mulberry fields in an instant. The emergence of digital cameras officially marks the leapfrog development of the camera industry into a new digital era, and people's imaging life has also been completely changed.

Since Ball and Smith of Bell Research Institute in the United States announced the invention of "CCD" (charge-coupled device) on October 17, 1969, this photosensitive element has been further improved and finally obtained today. widely used. The latest improved versions such as 4-color CCD and SUPERCCD are constantly emerging. The number of pixels has already exceeded 10 million pixels, and the imaging effect has also reached perfection.

After more than ten years of continuous development, the DC industry has long outgrown its infancy. The appearance design has become more mature and the operating functions have become increasingly powerful. With the further reduction of manufacturing costs, the development of this type of products has It shows signs of unlimited development.

Overall, the development history of the DC industry for more than ten years has been adhering to the development context of "higher, faster, stronger, and more humane". It is precisely because of the unremitting efforts of manufacturers. , today's digital camera market will become so prosperous and beautiful. While people enjoy the convenience brought by technology, they can't help but think about the bumpy road that digital cameras went through at the beginning of their birth. Some classic models that had a major impact on this industry are still unforgettable.

The 1980s was nothing short of the Cambrian era of the digital camera industry. In less than ten years, digital cameras quickly outgrew their infancy and gradually learned to hobble, although the resolution at that time was still very low. , but the participation of many manufacturers has gradually made this industry full of vitality.

Sony MABIKA - the world's first electronic camera that does not use photosensitive film

In November 1973, Sony officially began research on the "electronic eye" CCD , based on continuous technology accumulation, it launched the world's first electronic camera without photosensitive film in 1981 - the static video "MABIKA". The camera uses a 10mm × 12mm CCD sheet with a resolution of only 570 × 490 (279,000) pixels. It is the first time that optical signals are changed to electronic signal transmission.

Following this, companies such as Panasonic, COPAL, Fuji, Canon, and Nikon also began the development of electronic cameras, and successively launched their own prototype electronic cameras from 1984 to 1986. That's when the outbreak began.

Sony MYC-A7AF - for the first time, a digital camera has a purely physical operation method

The second camera, which is a milestone in the history of DC industry development, is also made by Sony. It can be seen that the market position the company has achieved today is by no means a "wasted reputation". In 1986, Sony released the MYC-A7AF, which for the first time gave a digital camera a purely physical operation method, capable of recording still images on a 2-inch disc, and the pixel resolution has been expanded to 380,000 pixels. Casio VS-101 - the first CMOS sensor electronic camera

In 1987, Casio first launched the VS-101 electronic camera using a CMOS sensor on the market, although the resolution could only reach 280,000 pixels. , but this is of great significance to the DC industry.

As of today, the competition between CMOS and CCD in the orthodoxy of digital camera photosensitive devices has long been settled. In addition to being widely used in today's Canon high-end cameras, CMOS has been widely used by other manufacturers. CCD has become the leading direction of its products. It is undeniable that the advantages of CMOS such as full-frame and low energy consumption are indeed very attractive, but the shortcomings of low dynamic range have to make people stay away from it.

Canon RC-760-----the first 600,000-pixel model

In order to obtain shooting effects close to those of traditional cameras, it is fundamental to increase the CCD pixel resolution solution, but in the early days of digital cameras, it was not easy to improve on pixels. For several years, manufacturers have been struggling at the 300,000-pixel level. It was not until 1988 that Canon launched the 600,000-pixel model RC-760.

This electronic camera uses a 2/3-inch 600,000-pixel CCD. Its appearance may seem dull today, but it was the machine with the highest pixels at that time, and its price was less than a small car today. expensive.

The continuous accumulation of technology in the 1980s finally ushered in the real prosperity of the digital camera industry in the 1990s. Since then, digital cameras have established their basic survival model.

Kodak DCS100 - established the general model of digital cameras in the world for the first time

In 1990, Kodak launched the DCS100 electronic camera, establishing the general model of digital cameras in the world for the first time , since then, this model has become the industry standard.

For professional photographers, if a new machine has a body and control mode they are familiar with, it will undoubtedly become easier to get started. In order to cater to this consumer psychology, Kodak used the well-known Nikon F3 body for the DCS100. Except for the focusing screen and film winding motor, all internal functions were the same as the F3 and were compatible with most Nikon lenses are really well thought out.

This digital SLR uses a 20.5x16.4mm CCD with 1.4 million pixels and an optical zoom factor of 1.8X. However, due to the technical level at the time, it was not equipped with built-in memory and could only be used together with a bulky external device. Set storage unit (DSU) is used. The DSU is similar to today's camera base. It uses batteries as driving energy and has a built-in 200MB memory that can store 150 uncompressed RAW photos.

The viewfinder mode is also very primitive compared to today’s machines. The photographer can use the optical viewfinder on the camera or the 4-inch LCD screen on the DSU to view the view. Although it is not convenient, it was still very popular at the time. Very high-end. The price of this machine at that time was equivalent to 225,000 yuan today, which was really ridiculously expensive.

After the success of the DCS100, Kodak launched the follow-up model of the DCS100, the DCS200, in 1992. It finally got rid of the burden of the DSU, and the memory was placed inside the fuselage, so that it could be taken with you when shooting. It became very comfortable.

Nikon/Fuji E2/E2s - a digital SLR jointly produced by Nikon and Fujifilm

Both Kodak and Canon used the original traditional camera design in their early product designs. Film bodies, although this can make professional photographers feel the affinity of the product, but too many products will inevitably make people feel boring. In 1995, the two giants Nikon and Fujifilm jointly launched the newly designed E2/E2s. It no longer copied the old traditional body and adopted an integrated design style, which easily gave people a refreshing feeling.

The resolution of this digital SLR is only 1.3 million pixels, which is very different from the 6 million pixels of the contemporary Kodak DCS460. The most special thing about E2/E2s is that it uses Nikon's newly developed ROS optical system, which projects light onto a CCD with an area smaller than 35mm film through a set of optical elements. On this basis, the angle of view of the lens can remain unchanged, but is limited to the effective The aperture is severely reduced, and the image quality is greatly affected.

The integrated design makes the appearance of this machine simpler, but the complexity of the internal structure inevitably causes the appearance volume to expand, and the total weight also shows signs of being out of control. This machine accumulated a lot of experience for Nikon's digital SLR research and development. Four years after its launch, Nikon launched the epoch-making D1, and the Cretaceous era of the digital camera industry was completely ended.

Nikon D1 - Nikon's first self-developed digital SLR

In June 1999, Nikon finally launched the company's first self-developed digital SLR-D1. The price of Kodak DCS series cameras has created a new era of civilian use of digital SLRs.

The body used in this digital SLR is modified based on the traditional camera F5, and it still maintains a very attractive and professional temperament. It has a built-in 2.74 million pixel CCD, an ISO sensitivity of 200-1600, and uses CF card/IBM microhard drive as storage media. It supports three file formats: JPEG, TIFF, and RAW. It costs US$5,580, which is still expensive today. .

Canon EOS1D - Canon's digital single-shot myth

For a long time, while competing for pixel resolution, manufacturers have also been competing in shooting speed. In order to completely surpass the myth created by Nikon D1, Canon launched the EOS1D specifically for fast shooting in September 2001, which completely surpassed Nikon D1 in terms of speed and technical indicators and became a new generation legend in the DC industry.

This digital SLR has a resolution of 4 million pixels, an ISO sensitivity of 100-1600, and also uses CF cards/IBM microhard drives as storage media. The price is around US$7,000.

Olympus E-1——A masterpiece of 4/3 system

Just like the early notebook manufacturers, in order to create the greatest trouble for their opponents to catch up, digital SLR manufacturers When designing products, we must deliberately avoid compatibility with competitors' products. In this way, digital camera components of any brand cannot be used universally. After the components are damaged, users can only purchase products of the same brand to replace them. Manufacturers gain from this. To maximize profits.

Today's notebooks have long been compatible with each other. This can be said to be a manifestation of the increasing openness of computer manufacturers, while the changes in the digital camera industry are also quietly proceeding.

In December 2003, Olympus released the E-1 using the "4/3 system" jointly developed with Kodak and Fujifilm.

The 4/3 system stipulates the area of ??the CCD photosensitive device, the distance between the CCD and the lens, and the diameter of the lens. Therefore, any digital SLR using this system can easily achieve mutual compatibility of lenses. , which was absolutely unimaginable in previous products.

E-1 uses a 5-megapixel CCD, an ISO sensitivity range of 100-800, uses CF cards as storage media, and supports JPEG, RAW, and TIFF file formats. The price at the time of release was as high as 16,000 yuan.

Canon EOS300D - the digital SLR king of the generation of civilians

The digital SLR is powerful and the shooting quality is beautiful, but the high price is the biggest reason why it cannot reach the common people. obstacle. In order to successfully complete the popularization process of digital SLRs, manufacturers are always trying their best to find ways to reduce costs. It is due to their unremitting efforts that a number of reasonably priced civilian digital SLRs have finally surfaced, and the Canon E0S300D is undoubtedly It can be regarded as a pioneer in this process.

In August 2003, Canon launched the EOS300D with a plastic body, which integrated the CMOS sensor commonly used in the predecessor EOS-10D and sold for less than $1,000 for the first time, thus completely changing the digital camera market. the original competitive landscape.

This camera uses a 6.3-megapixel CCD, an ISO sensitivity of 100-1600, and uses a CF card as the storage medium. The exterior design uses silver, gray, and black colors, and the overall feeling is pretty good.

Written at the end

The evolution of life will never stop, but the development of the DC industry will never end. Under the premise that pixel resolution is constantly rising, today's digital camera manufacturers no longer regard this indicator as the only means to improve product competitiveness, making their products more usable, easier to use, more humane and friendly. This has long become their latest knowledge in product design.

Will tomorrow's digital camera market bring us more surprises like it did in the 1990s? Let's wait and see.

SLR cameras are developing towards mirrorless direct reflex cameras, with weight reduced and performance remaining unchanged or increasing with technological advancement. SLR cameras have many functions that cannot be replaced by mobile phones, such as interchangeable lenses, far and near shooting, continuous shooting, interval shooting, light and dark shooting, superimposed shooting, etc. From film, SLR without film, to mirrorless direct reflex, as technology progresses and gradually improves, functions and fidelity can only continue to increase, weight continues to decrease, and shooting becomes easier. This is the trend. Technology is advancing and no one can stop it.

Camera classification and selection

With the development of the camera industry and the update of related technologies, the image quality and picture performance provided by cameras have reached a very excellent level. Although the camera capabilities of mobile phones are now good, after all, taking pictures is only an ancillary function of them. And due to the limitations of the body size, the camera capabilities of mobile phones have a certain upper limit. Therefore, in order to meet the growing demand for taking pictures, I bought one. A camera is essential. In general, current cameras can be divided into six categories, and mirrorless cameras will become a major trend in the future.

1. SLR camera

For people who love taking pictures, SLR cameras should be a frequently heard category. It has a lens, which plays the role of framing and imaging. When framing, the light enters the lens and then reflects to the pentaprism, and then is refracted by the pentaprism, and finally the picture seen in the viewfinder is obtained. The lens of an SLR camera can be replaced, it has a reflector structure, its body is large and heavy, its portability is poor, its wide-angle effect is poor, and its telephoto effect is excellent.

2. Large/full-frame camera

Large-format camera can be said to be the simplest camera structure. It can take pictures with one lens, a piece of leather cavity, and a piece of film. It has It has the advantages of large imaging area and excellent image quality. However, due to its complicated operation and inconvenience, not many people use it. Full-frame refers to traditional 35mm film. Its imaging area is 36x24mm, and it has the advantages of high pixels, excellent blurring capabilities, and excellent noise reduction.

3. Double-lens reflex camera

Twin-lens reflex camera is a dual-lens mirror viewfinder camera. It has two linked lenses of the same focal length. The upper lens is used for viewfinder and focus. , while the lower lens has an aperture shutter mechanism for imaging and exposure. In the past, this type of camera was widely used by journalists and other people, but due to its inherent shortcomings such as parallax and lens limitations, it is now rarely used.

4. Mirrorless camera

Mirrorless camera is a micro single-lens electronic camera. From its name, we can know that it is compact and portable. It has interchangeable lenses, is not equipped with a reflector, and has an electronic viewfinder. Thanks to its compact and exquisite appearance, ultra-high portability and good image quality, mirrorless cameras have become the best choice for many people when traveling and browsing the streets. select.

5. Card camera

As the name suggests, the body size of a card camera is like a card. It can be easily put into a pocket and has excellent portability that other types of cameras do not have. .

However, with the increasing photography capabilities of smartphones, people's demand for compact cameras has almost disappeared. After all, no one wants to carry another compact camera when they can do things that can be done with just a mobile phone.

6. Mirrorless camera

The excellent ultra-high-speed continuous shooting of mirrorless cameras is far inferior to other types of cameras. It eliminates the reflector of traditional SLR cameras during exposure. There are shortcomings such as vibration, delay caused by up and down movement, and long waiting time for the viewfinder display. The body is thin and light, the structure is simple, the continuous shooting performance far exceeds that of a SLR, and the operation is friendly, and the experience is excellent.