What role does the history of cameras play in the development of photography?

Historical Records of the Development of Digital Cameras

2005.07.28 1 1:27:08

The camera has been developed for nearly 200 years since it was invented by the French in 1839. In these 200 years, the camera has experienced the trinity from black and white to color, from simple optical mechanical structure to optical mechanical electronics, from traditional silver salt film to digital memory as a recording medium today. Laughing at the floating clouds obscures the eyes, and the sea changes suddenly. The appearance of digital cameras officially marks the leap-forward development of the camera industry into a brand-new digital era, and people's image life has been completely changed.

Since Bauer and Smith of Bell Institute announced the invention of "CCD" on 1969 and 10 on June 7th, this photosensitive element has been further improved and has been widely used today. The latest improved versions, such as 4-color CCD and super CCD, are constantly emerging, and the number of pixels has already exceeded 10 million pixels, but the imaging effect has also reached perfection.

After more than ten years of continuous development, DC industry has gone out of the initial stage, with more mature design and increasingly powerful operation functions, and with the further reduction of manufacturing costs, the development of such products has shown signs of unlimited development.

Generally speaking, the development process of DC industry for more than ten years has been adhering to the development vein of "higher, faster, stronger and more humane". It is with the unremitting efforts of manufacturers that today's digital camera market will become so prosperous and beautiful. While enjoying the convenience brought by technology, people can't help but think of the bumpy road that digital cameras took at the beginning of their birth. Some classic models that have had a great impact on this industry are still unforgettable.

Cambrian Explosion

A lot of life suddenly appeared in CAMBRIAN, and the whole earth became colorful and full of vitality overnight. Archaeologists haven't given a clear answer yet. The 1980s is no different from the Cambrian of digital camera industry. In less than ten years, digital cameras quickly got rid of infancy and gradually learned to stumble. Although the resolution was still very low at that time, the participation of many manufacturers made the industry full of vitality.

Sony ma bika- the world's first electronic camera without photographic film

In June, 1973, 1 1, Sony officially started the research of "electronic eye" CCD. On the basis of continuous technical accumulation, the world's first electronic camera-still image "Mapika" was launched in June of 438+098 1. The camera uses 10 mm× 12 mm CCD chip, and the resolution is only 570× 490 (279,000) pixels, which is the first time to convert optical signals into electrical signals for transmission.

Then, Panasonic, Copa, Fuji, Canon, Nikon and other companies also started the research and development of electronic cameras, and launched their own prototype electronic cameras at 1984- 1986, and the explosion of life began.

Sony MYC-A7AF-Digital camera has a purely physical operation mode for the first time.

The second camera is also made by Sony, which is a milestone in the development history of DC industry. It can be seen that the company's market position today is by no means "a wave of fame". 1986, Sony released MYC-A7AF, which made the digital camera have a purely physical operation mode for the first time. It can record still images on a 2-inch optical disc, and the pixel resolution has been extended to 380,000 pixels. Casio vs-101-the first CMOS sensor electronic camera

1987, Casio first sold VS-10/electronic cameras using CMOS photosensitive devices in the market. Although the resolution can only reach 280 thousand pixels, it is of great significance to DC industry.

As far as today is concerned, the dispute between the orthodox CMOS and CCD of digital camera photosensitive devices has long been settled. In addition to being widely used in Canon's high-end cameras today, other manufacturers regard CCD as the leading direction of their products. It is true that CMOS has the advantages of full format and low energy consumption, which is really attractive, but the shortcomings of low dynamic range can not help but make people "stay away from it."

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

In order to get the shooting effect close to the traditional camera, improving the pixel resolution of CCD is the most fundamental solution. However, in the early days of the birth of digital cameras, it was difficult to talk about a higher level with pixels. In recent years, manufacturers have been struggling at the level of 300,000 pixels. It was not until 1988 that Canon introduced the RC-760 with 600,000 pixels.

This electronic camera uses a 2/3 inch 600,000-pixel CCD, which looks a little dull today, but it is the machine with the highest pixel in that era, and the price is more expensive than a car today.

Cretaceous-Dinosaur Fierce

After a long evolution, life finally gave birth to a more advanced life form in the Cretaceous, and the world suddenly became lively. The continuous technical accumulation in the 1980s finally ushered in the real prosperity of the digital camera industry in the 1990s. Since then, the digital camera has established its basic survival mode.

Kodak DCS100-Established the universal mode of digital camera for the first time in the world.

1990, Kodak introduced the DCS 100 electronic camera, and established the general model of digital camera for the first time in the world. Since then, this model has become the industry standard.

For professional photographers, if the new machine has a familiar fuselage and control mode, it will undoubtedly become easier to use. In order to cater to this consumer psychology, Kodak applied the well-known Nikon F3 fuselage to DCS 100. Except for the focus screen and film winding motor, the internal functions are the same as F3, and it is compatible with most Nikon lenses, which is really intimate.

This digital SLR uses a CCD of 20.5 x 16.4mm,10.4 million pixels, and the optical magnification is10.8 times. However, due to the technical level at that time, it is not equipped with a built-in memory, so it can only be used with a bulky external storage unit (DSU). Similar to today's camera base, DSU is powered by battery, with 200MB of built-in memory, which can store 150 uncompressed RAW photos.

Compared with the current machine, the framing method is also very primitive. Photographers can use the optical viewfinder on the camera or the 4-inch LCD screen on the DSU. Although it was inconvenient, it was already very high-end at that time. The price of this machine at that time was equivalent to 225,000 RMB today, which was really outrageous.

After the success of DCS 100, Kodak introduced the DCS200, the follow-up model of DCS 100, in 192. It finally got rid of the burden of DSU, and the memory was placed inside the fuselage, so it became very comfortable to take it out for shooting.

Nikon/Fuji E2/E2s—— Digital SLR jointly developed by Nikon and Fuji

Whether Kodak or Canon, in the early product design, the film body of the original traditional camera was adopted. Although this can make professional photographers feel the affinity of products, it is inevitable that more products will make people feel boring. 1995, Nikon and Fuji jointly launched a newly designed E2/E2s, which no longer copied the old traditional fuselage and adopted an integrated design style, giving people a refreshing feeling easily.

The resolution of this digital SLR is only 6.5438+0.3 million pixels, which is far from the 6 million pixels owned by Kodak DCS460 at the same time. The most special feature of E2/E2s is that it adopts the latest ROS optical system developed by Nikon, and 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 the effective aperture is seriously reduced, which greatly affects the imaging quality.