1986
CANON
RC-701 STILL VIDEO CAMERA - 1986.
Canon
was the first to market a still video camera, the professional model
RC-701
(one source states that the 1981 Sony Mavica was marketed, but this has
not been independently verified as of yet). The RC-701 was aimed
mainly at the press market. It had four dedicated interchangeable
lenses and also offered an adapter for 35mm lenses. Price of the
RC (RC stood for Realtime
Camera)
with an 11-66mm f/1.2 lens was about $3,000. The complete RC-701
system consisting of the camera, a player/recorder, a printer, a
laminator,
and a unit for phone transmission cost about $27,000. The CCD was
6.6mm x 8.8mm with 780 pixels horizontally. This was equal to about 300
horizontal
and 320 vertical lines on a TV monitor. The RC-701 had a swing-up
mirror similar to a conventional SLR and had shutter speeds of 1/8 to
1/2000
second. It could capture 1, 2, 5, or 10 frames per second.
Additional lenses included a 6mm f/1.6, comparable to a 24mm wide angle
35-mm lens, and a 50-150mm telephoto zoom. Both lenses were for
the
RC-701 only and could not be used on other cameras. Popular
Photography,
July 1986, p62.
http://www.canon.com/camera-museum/history/canon_story/f_index.html
CANON RR-551 STILL VIDEO PLAYER/RECORDER - 1986. The player/recorder in the complete Canon system mentioned above was the RR-551, the world's first still video player/recorder to be marketed. The RR-551 shown above, in excellent condition, was purchased on eBay with manual, remote, floppies and several manufacturer's brochures for $25.
1.4MP
CCD - 1986. Kodak develops a 1.4
million
pixel CCD. Modern Photography, September 1986, p28.
FIRST COMMERCIAL DIGITAL CAMERA - 1986. MegaVision introduced a high-resolution 2000-line tube camera system called the Tessera, the very first digital camera to be used in commercial photographic applications.
www.mega-vision.com/about/about.htm
NEWTEK Digi-View - 1986. In 1986 the NewTek Digi-View,
built to run on the Amiga platform,
was the first inexpensive video digitizer designed for home computers. It was developed to take advantage of the Amiga 1000's advanced video capabilities.
Digi-View was also the first personal computer digitizer to capture
4096-color,
photo quality images. Soon afterward, NewTek followed
with DigiPaint, which provided video painting capabilities within the
computer
system. It was developed to take advantage of the Amiga 1000's
advanced video
capabilities and was plugged into the Amiga's parallel printer port. A
video cable
then lead from the digitizer to either a B&W video camera with a
color
wheel attached, or to an external color splitter box. The DigiView took
3
passes to digitize a frame, and each pass was done by filtering through
one of
3 primary colors: red, green, and blue. This meant that the image being
digitized had be still or paused. The digitizer generally captured at
320x200
pixels with up to 4096 colors, but was capable of 640x200 pixels if the
system
had sufficient memory. Once all three captures were done, the
Newtek software
then merged them into a single color capture. Thanks to Patrick
Murphy for providing information
concering the Digi-View.
Examples
of photos captured with the Newtek Digi-View and the Digi-View
digitizer .
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Ken_North/c_graph.htm
NIKON
SVC (Still Video Camera) PROTOTYPE - 1986.
This camera was built around a 2/3-inch CCD of 300 000 pixels. It
allowed the analog recording of 25 or 50 images on a small floppy disk
of two inches, the same one as used by the Canon Ion to be marketed in
1988. The body of the SVC was designed similar to that of the
Nikon
F801 film camera which was marketed two years later, Two lenses
were
intended for the SVC, a 6mm f/1.6 and a 10 to 40mm f/1.4. The
Nikon
SVC was shown at Photokina '85. Click on image to see enlarged
view.
http://membres.lycos.fr/ncf/N2BE2.html
SONY
MAVICA MVC-A7AF - 1986. The A7AF was
a still video camera which recorded images onto two-inch floppy disks
(MP-50) and the first to provide audo annotation.
One disk could hold up to 50 images in Field mode or 25 images in Frame
mode. The Field mode recorded on a single track of the disk while
the Frame mode required two tracks, but provided better quality
images.
While recording in Field mode ISO rating was 160, and 80 for Frame
mode.
The A7AF could also record 9.6 seconds of audio to accompany each image
by use of an additional recording track. Images were registered
by
a 2/3-inch charge coupled device (CCD) of 380,000 pixels. The
lens
was a 6X zoom, 12-72mm, f/1.4-1.7, with macro capability. The
lens
could be focused manually or automatically and had a focal plane
shutter
with speeds of 1/15 to 1/1000 second. The viewfinder was
TTL
(through-the-lens) with an adjustment for individual eyesight.
The
A7AF specifications included auto white balance, EV adjustment of + or
-2 in 0.5 EV steps, shutter priority and AE modes, self-timer, remote
control
option (RM-S7), date indicator, and shoe for an optional flash
(MFL-30).
Other options included an NP-4000 battery pack which could record
approximately
50 disks per charge, a DCC-2600A car battery cord, an MVR-A770 still
video
recorder/player, and a variety of optional microphones to supplement
the
built-in microphone. Normal operation was by six L40 (LR6)
alkaline
batteries and a button lithium battery (CR2025). Supplied
accessories
were an eyepiece cover, lens hood, shoulder strap, and the CR2025
button
lithium battery. Unusual features of the A7AF included a
recording
head contamination indicator and a moisture condensation indicator. The
A7AF was for recording only and playback required use of the Sony
MVR-A770
still video recorder/player shown below. Information concerning the A7AF is
from
an operating manual kindly provided by Mr. Charley Mack of Park West,
Chicago.
Also see Understanding Electronic Photography, John J. Larish,
1990,
p19 and Digital Photography, Mikkel Aaland, 1992,
p15.
Click on the image above for enlarged view.
Sony MVR-A770 still video recorder/player
SONY ProMavica
MVC-2000 - 1986. The MVC-2000 still video
camera had a 13X zoom lens and was available only in NTSC. It was a one-CCD
camera of 2/3-inch and 380K pixels. 48mm to 288mm f/1.4 zoom lens.
Shutter 1/15 to 1/1000. MSRP $3,395. The camera shown above is the extremely rare MVC-2000 PF, or proofing version. In the past, Sony often hand built prototypes of upcoming cameras and distributed them to a few individuals for testing prior to commencing full production. Those prototypes had the PF designation added to the normal model number.
Shown with the MVC-2000 PF is the
Panasonic AG-ES100 still video player and Mavipac MD-50 mini floppy discs. Images
recorded on the mini discs could be viewed on a TV through use of the still
video player. Basic Digital Photography, Norman Breslow, 1991, p79.
http://www.drtomorrow.com/lessons/lessons1/03.html
1986