How Steve Sasson Invented the Digital Camera

https://petapixel.com/how-steve-sasson-invented-the-digital-camera/

by bookofjoe • 4 years ago

50 13 4 years ago

timonoko• 4 years ago

Kodak DC20 was de facto first digital pocket camera 1996. It was Sasson's camera implemented the very moment it was technically and economically feasible.

It was not better than frames from video, but much smaller than Sony Handycam. As a selfie-camera it was quite reasonable: https://photos.app.goo.gl/sbG9uneEHakBMMSu5

ChrisMarshallNY• 4 years ago

I remember running into some Kodak digital camera engineers at a FlashPix[0] conference, last century.

Every single one of them was complaining about how their budget and work was being strangled by the film people.

I knew, at that point, that Kodak was "dead man walking."

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FlashPix

causi• 4 years ago

The article glosses over the fact that Sasson was not the one to create and use a CCD to capture an image. That was Gil Amelio, Michael Francis Tompsett and George Smith in April 1970, five years earlier. Sasson was the man behind the first commercial digital camera.

doh• 4 years ago

Wait, the same Gil Amelio that ran Apple? Need to read more on him. What an amazing tidbit.

camhenlin• 4 years ago

Yes, check out the bottom of his wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gil_Amelio

mrwh2• 4 years ago

I'm genuinely curious here: is first mover advantage real? I can think of plenty of examples where the second mouse got the cheese, so to speak (digital cameras being one; search another; electric cars another, etc etc). Where has being the first, as opposed to the cheapest or best, really mattered?

jeffbee• 4 years ago

Kodak was the first mover and they totally dominated the digital photography business for the first decade of its existence. There's this misinformed folk meme that somehow they didn't know what they had on their hands, but there's no evidence that I can see of that.

Kodak shipped a 1.3-megapixel camera 34 years ago! They had literally zero competitors for the first 11 years of the market. They owned all the patents and everyone had to license them.

jcynix• 4 years ago

And Kodak built the first two versions of Apple's QuickTake digicam:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_QuickTake

I still have some grainy images taken with either a 100 or 150 model somewhere in my archives.

But somehow Kodak managed to become the DEC of digital photography.

mrwh2• 4 years ago

Yep! Being the first mover doesn't seem to have helped Kodak much. They spent what must have been huge amounts on r&d - all to ultimately destroy their film cash cow, and be taken over by electronics firms.

LaundroMat• 4 years ago

Where can I find more on this? I'm very interested in the true story behind Kodak and digital.

smm11• 4 years ago

Kodak could have owned digital photography, and Canon could have been Apple.

VW could crush Chevy and Ford if they just tried.

thehappypm• 4 years ago

How so? By lying to regulators ?

dboreham• 4 years ago

Also James Clark Maxwell.

How Steve Sasson Invented the Digital Camera

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