Nov 30, 2010
The original digital camera and its non-photographer inventor
From a Washington Post story about digital camera inventor, Steve Sasson:
On a recent morning, Sasson… showed off his 35-year-old creation. It’s about the size of a toaster. It could be used to perform biceps curls, but holds only about .01 megapixel.…
“Nobody really knew what we were working on in that lab,” Sasson says. “It’s not that we were trying to be secretive, it’s just that nobody cared. ‘Why would anyone want to look at images on a screen? What’s the point of an electronic photo album?’”.…
Sasson compares himself to a guy who invented a really good pen, which wouldn’t necessarily make that guy a good writer. All of this is to say that the guy who invented the digital camera doesn’t really know anything about photography.
(via)
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If only he had used an 8-track for data storage.
The size of a toaster?! I just THOUGHT my digital camera was unwieldy.
Oh man, I saw my grandfather’s first digital camera at his house the other day and it F R E A K E D M E O U T! Huge galumphing monstrous beast with a floppy disk for a memory card. He asked if I wanted it, I said no. I’m not enough of a hipster to find that cool. Or maybe it’s just not old enough to be considered “vintage” and thus appeal to my inner hipster. Sort of like the New Kids/Backstreet Boys performance on the AMA’s.
No, wait. I take that back. I don’t think any amount of time will make that cool again.
Hahaha. Next time I’m lugging around my 4-lb telephoto, I won’t feel so bad!