1994

1. Left above, first test shot taken by the Mike Collette 140MP 4x5 scanning back. The Conservatory, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, 15 January 1994. Prototype BetterLight Scanning Camera. 6000x7520 pixels. 12-bit Trilinear Array.

2. Right above, Mike Collette, president of BetterLight Inc.

3. Mike Collette (left), with Stephen Johnson, photographer. 4. Right above, contemporary scanning back

THE DAY FILM DIED – JANUARY 15, 1994.  Stephen Johnson is an internationally recognized digital photography pioneer and his photographs are in many collections and museums throughout the world. Johnson was part of the digital revolution from its earliest days, working with Leaf Systems, Foveon, Kodak, Apple, Epson, Hewlett-Packard and Adobe Systems as those companies designed and developed early model electronic and digital photography equipment and imaging programs. In January of 1994, Mike Collette, formerly of Leaf Systems, had constructed a 140 MB digital scanning back for 4x5 cameras and asked Johnson if he would like to try it. The two went to Golden Gate Park and Coit Tower in San Francisco and took photos of that same area with a film back and then with Collette's digital scanning back. Johnson described the experience thusly: "I took a loop to the film, then zoomed in on the digital file. The difference was hard to believe. That photograph completely floored me. January 15, 1994 was the last day I took film seriously as a recording medium. For me, this was the death of a film; it was not a material I could stomach using ever again. From that point on, when I had the choice between film or high-end digital, I was going to pick digital without any doubt whatsoever." Stephen Johnson, On Digital Photography, O'reilly Media, Inc. Sebastopol, California, 2006, page 44.

BetterLight 4x5 scannning backs now come in sizes up to 384 megapixels. Interestingly, film supporters continued to hotly champion the superiority of film over digital well past the turn of the century, and some still do today.

http://www.betterlight.com/history.html

AP/KODAK NC2000 AND NC2000E - 1994.   First professional digital camera marketed specifically for photojournalists. Associated Press announces marketing of digital SLR cameras for photojournalists based on the Nikon N90 and N90s.  1024 x 1280 (1012  X 1268 usable) pixel CCD.  ISO 200 - 1600.  Shutter 1/8000 to 30 seconds.   The Vancouver Sun converted to all digital photography in May of 1995.  The paper became the world's first to convert from a film-based photo-production system to an all-digital camera based photo-production system using AP's NC 2000 camera. The staff realized that it was a tool that would revolutionize the newspaper and wire service industry, and a tool photojournalists had to master.  Original MSRP $17,950 ($16,950 for AP members).

http://www.naa.org/Presstime/9710/digphoto.html

CONNECTIX QUICKCAM – 1994. An inexpensive, black-and-white digital video camera that became one of the best-selling Mac accessories of all time. For $99 (street price) the buyer received a fully digital video camera which used a charge-coupled device (CCD) array to capture grayscale video and still images up to 320 x 240 pixels. Because the camera worked with a PowerBook or a notebook PC, it was possible to capture digital images and video virtually anywhere. QuickCam's small size and weight, along with its positioning flexibility (it could be tripod-mounted, used on its supplied stand or hand-held) made it a favorite.

http://www.writeside.com/reviews/review18.php

EPSON DESKTOP COLOR INKJET PRINTER, MJ-700V2C – 1994.  The first 'photo quality' desktop inkjet printer.  At 720 by 720 dots per inch, it offered double the resolution of other color printers of the time.
http://www.epson.com.sg/aboutus/hallmark_products.shtml

HASSELBLAD DIGITAL CAMERA DESIGN - 1994.  UMEA University Institute of Design in Collaboration with Hasselblad Electronic Photography.  Degree Project by Stina Nilimaa who graduated in 1995.  http://www.dh.umu.se/

FUJI DS-505, DS-515 (Nikon E2, E2S) - 1994.  The Fuji DS-505/DS-515 and Nikon E2/E2s digital cameras were PC card (ATA) equipped SLRs that were compatible with a wide range of interchangeable Nikon lenses and accessories.  2/3-inch, 1280 x 1000 pixel CCD.   ISO 800, 1600.  Shutter 1/8 to 1/2000 second.  Digital Photography, David Busch, 1995, p51.  http://apphotnum.free.fr/N2BE10.html

KODAK DCS 420, DCS 420c, DCS 420m, DCS 420ir  - 1994.  Based on Nikon N90X.   1524 x 1012 pixel images.  Image storage on removable PC cards, Type III 12 bits/color.  14 mm x 9.3 imager magnified focal length of the lens 2.5X.  SCSI interface.  ISO-equivalent settings of 100 to 400 for color model, 200 to 800 for monochrome model.  Burst rate of 2 images/second for 5 images, enabling 5 images in just over 2 seconds from camera to capture.  MSRP $11,000.
http://apphotnum.free.fr/N2BE10.html

NIKON E2, E2S (Fuji DS-505, DS-515) - 1994. See Fuji DS-505 and DS-515 above. "First digital SLR's to not have a 'crop factor' and are still the only 35mm-family ones to do it with a smaller than fullframe sensor." Andrew K. Bressen

http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/companies/nikon/htmls/models/digitalSLRs/E2NE2Ns/

NIKON ZOOM 700 QD - 1994. The first 35mm camera with an image stabilization feature (vibration reduction) was the Nikon Zoom 700VR QD 35mm film compact camera released in 1994. It used two types of sensors in its lenses to detect movement to identify the direction and scale of shaking at the time of exposure. The result was used to drive a compensatory optical system using a linear motor to reduce the movement of the image in real time.

http://www.nikonimaging.com/global/technology/scene/16/index.htm

 
OLYMPUS DELTIS VC-1100 - 1994.  The VC-1100 was the world's first digital camera with built-in transmission capabilities.  Photojournalists and other photographers could connect a modem to the VC-1100 and upload digital photos over cellular and analog phone lines.   The camera, which had a built-in zoom lens and an image-capture resolution of 768 by 576 pixels, stored images on PCMCIA cards.  Its color LCD viewfinder let you preview photos on location.  Shutter 1/8 to 1/1000 second.  Lens 54mm and 108mm.   The VC-1100's transmitter enabled pictures to be sent over phone lines or a cellular network to a second camera or personal computer.  The Deltis transmitted at the rate of one frame every one to six minutes, depending on the picture quality required.  The 21-ounce camera, a battery pack, and memory card cost about $4000.  The VC-1000 did not have transmission capability and was around $300 cheaper.

http://www1.harenet.ne.jp/~hiharada/plink/pl42/pl4205.htm

 
COMPACTFLASH MEMORY CARD - 1994.   This was the first compact flash memory card available on the market, introduced by SanDisk  Corporation in October 1994, it originally held 2-24  MB of data.  The CompactFlash (CF) card is the most common memory card available with a 50-pin interface.   CF cards contain a chip to control the process of information transfer.  CompactFlash was SanDisk's first product based on the company's 32Mbit technology.  CompactFlash cards are constructed with flash technology, a nonvolatile storage design that can retain data indefinitely without use of a battery.  They are solid state, meaning they contain no moving parts.
http://www.ict-international.com/prod05a/sprod05a.htm
 

 
SMARTMEDIA MEMORY CARD - 1994.  The key difference between a SmartMedia card and a CompactFlash card is that the controller chip is in the camera rather than in the card.   Digital Photography Answers, Dave Johnson, 1999, p278.

1994