The ease of recording a scene at any time, anywhere, has made photography so common that we have incorporated this habit as something simple, however, it had a long way to go before it became so familiar, since the first photo was printed almost two centuries ago, humanity has been continuously improving this technology and discovering ways to make it easier to use and accessible. One of the main milestones in this trip has undoubtedly been the arrival of digital cameras. This invention allowed the popularization of photography, greatly increasing the amount of photos taken in the world, every second. And the trend is that, with this resource at hand, photography continues to impact how we record our history and even our relationships.
Like many technologies that make life easier for us today, the molds of digital photography as we know it were born from military research. At the end of the 20th century, when the United States and the Soviet Union were at the center of the Cold War, the space race between countries culminated in the need to transmit information over long distances through electronic means. Thanks to NASA’s efforts, the US spacecraft Mariner 4 was able in 1965 to record the surface of Mars using a completely new method, equipped with a television camera. (Mavica) that essentially froze the images, the probe captured 22 black-and-white photos of the red planet at a resolution of 400 pixels and sent them to Earth for 4 days. Although it still has analog resources, this feat was incredible. step forward for the time being.
- However.
- The full independence of analogue resources would only be possible by incorporating circuits that transform cameras into small computers.
- Capable of capturing and storing information on electronic media.
- And the same year that the Mariner 4 mission was launched.
- In 1964.
- The First Steps were taken towards the first digital revolution in photography: RCA (American pioneer in the telecommunications sector) was working on developing a circuit for digital storage.
- His invention.
- The CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor).
- Was largely responsible for the transformation of cameras into portable devices.
- Capable of storing basic information such as date and time.
- This small circuit also inspired the creation of the CCD (Charged Coupled Device).
- Developed by Bell Labs in 1969.
- Which in turn led to significant improvements in the resolution of captured images.
- Found in today’s digital cameras.
- This invention has made progress not only in photography.
- But also in medical and hospital equipment and instruments for spatial observation.
However, the sale of cameras equipped with this technology still required some adjustments. In 1975, Kodak launched the first prototype digital camera, or what he called “portable electronic camera. Even far from current portability standards, the 4kg camera had revolutionary features: it recorded images in 23 seconds with a resolution equivalent to 0. 04 megapixels, which is impressive for the time, however, it was still necessary?View photos through a common TV, a challenge for commercial exploitation of the invention, as people used to save the photos in souvenir albums and exchange them in correspondence with their loved ones.
The first camera to be titled? Digital? He was born from an experiment conducted by the Canadian University of Calgary. Built in 1981 to photograph atmospheric phenomena, the Fairchild All-Sky Camera had CCD technology and captured images in a resolution of 100-100 pixels. However, the great advantage of the equipment was the Zilog Mcz1/25 coupled microcomputer, which processed the images purely digitally.
The great revolution really reached the masses only thanks to Sony, which in the same year made available the first “commercial digital camera”. Mavica had exorbitant prices for that time (about $12,000), but had a resolution of 0. 3 megapixels and an impressive storage capacity of up to 50 photos on 2-inch floppy disks, the so-called Mavipaks (from the brand itself).
With the expansion of the market, new companies have entered this gold rush, offering new cameras and new photographic accessories. For example, the latest mavica models (MVC-C1 and MVC-A10 Sound) released in the late 1980s already cost 30 times less than Sony’s Pioneering Camera, and still had improvements such as audio recording.
Despite advances, the use of analog cameras (using films) remained very common in the 1990s. To abandon once and for all the conventional and popular method of digital technology, it was necessary to make the product more attractive and convenient for consumers. Some challenges had to be overcome over the next two decades in order for this element to definitely become the most widely used method for recording moments.
In addition to improving the design of cameras (which were still heavy), was there a need to improve the quality of captured images?Still much smaller than conventional cameras. The storage medium also had to be smaller and cheaper, the first changes took time to get in this direction, only in 1997, thanks to Sony, was it possible to use 3. 5 floppy disks?(The same ones used on computers) to record photos, which makes the computer a little more compact.
However, Fujitsu has taken the big step: in addition to introducing increasingly robust models and useful billboards, the Japanese giant was the first to offer a camera with memory card storage. Although the decade ended with the popularization of CDS in digital cameras, the Fujix DS-1P, released in 1988, had the card storage feature that would dominate the market in the years to come.
The industry giants’ dispute has led to improved resources, sensors, lenses, zoom and better resolution are just some of the achievements motivated by the conflict between companies. eliminating the use of batteries (thanks to rechargeable batteries), standardization of small but large storage technologies and media.
Currently, anyone has a camera at their fingertips. Since the launch of the first mobile phone to take pictures (Sanyo SCP-5300) in 2002, the number of clicks worldwide has increased dramatically. With the advent of mobile photography, the records achieved since then. The advent of digital technology has increased by more than 600%. To give you an idea, we went from 86 billion images captured in 2000 (99% of them analog), to 400 billion photos taken in 2011 (of which only 1% are analog). In addition to influencing the news and how we interact virtually – with honorable mention of the selfie – the increasing quality of the cameras integrated with mobile phones has allowed the growth of lovers of this art, such practicality and increasingly modern devices lead us to wonder what the next revolution will be in this segment.
According to Nizar Escandar, of the specialized company eMania, “the trend is that more gadgets integrate this technology. Augmented reality devices will capture moving images and sequences much more comfortably than current GoPro cameras, for example. Smart glasses and contact lenses”. with digital capture capabilities will make this technology even more personal and natural. It sounds like a sci-fi movie script, but it’s a pure reality: two years ago, Google announced a project to develop smart contact lenses in partnership with pharmaceutical company Novartis.
However, professional photography will not go away. For those who think so many technologies can mis characterize the segment, the news indicates that industry giants continue to invest in high-performance cameras. Earlier this year, Fujifilm and Panasonic announced the development of a technology that proposes to replace the silicone used. on current sensors with an organic photoelectric converter, which would increase the light capture area, which would give images up to 100 times higher quality than the best existing cameras. The technology, still under review, is expected to be available for commercial use in the near future.