Digital camera turns 30, Kodak Could Have Ruled

[Suhit Gupta]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9261340/' target='_blank'>http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9261340/</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Steven Sasson knew right away in December 1975 that his 8-pound, toaster-size contraption, which captured a black-and-white image on a digital cassette tape at a resolution of .01 megapixels, "was a little bit revolutionary." When anyone asked, the Eastman Kodak Co. engineer ventured that it would become a commercial reality in 15 to 20 years. It would be a quarter century, though, before Kodak began to capitalize on Sasson's breakthrough: the first digital camera. In the meantime, the company that pioneered mass-market photography was busily amassing more than 1,000 digital-imaging patents. Today, almost all digital cameras rely on those inventions. But Kodak's transition to a new world of photography was hindered by a reluctance to phase out celluloid film, its 20th-century gravy train."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/050909_digcam1_vmed_4p.widec.jpg" /><br /><br />It is interesting to see that Kodak had actually invented the first digital camera 30 years ago; however, it is not until recently that the digital camera has become so popular. It would have been interesting to see what would have happened if Kodak had attempted to mass produce this technology years ago. It could have ruled the camera market.