30th Anniversary of the Digital Camera

marks the 30th anniversary of the one of the hottest consumer electronic products in the world today – the digital camera. In 1975, the world’s first digital photograph was taken at a Kodak lab in Rochester, NY, USA, in an event that preceded the Compact Disc, the Personal Computer and the Internet. In 1974 Steven Sasson, an engineer at Kodak’s Applied Electronics Research Centre, was tasked with devising an “electronic handheld still camera”. The following year his first working prototype – weighing 8.5 pounds, powered by 16 AA batteries and recording images on a cassette – took the first ever digital still camera photograph. That’s Steve, the world’s first digital camera and the world’s first ever digital photograph at right.

“When I took the first digital image in 1975, I had no idea of the impact it would have on the world of photography,” enthuses Sasson, who still works for Kodak today. “Kodak’s flair for fostering innovation allowed us to continue developing our vision of digital imaging, which has come to fruition through the advent of the PC and the Internet. Kodak has continued to push the limits of the technology, ensuring that we stay at the cutting edge of photographic innovation.”

Sasson predicted the digital revolution more than 15 years ahead of time. He knew that digital imaging would be huge, but not until technology in the computer environment had caught up. Now that has happened, digital imaging has revolutionised photography. Digital cameras’ instant results have generated mass consumer appeal to the degree that digital images are now used in everyday communications at home and at work. In 2004, the 74 million digital cameras sold worldwide outstripped film camera sales for the first time. Forty billion digital snapshots will be taken in 2005.

Kodak’s 125th anniversary year is also a year of digital milestones. In addition to the 30th anniversary of the world’s first digital camera prototype and announcement of the world’s first wireless camera, the company is also celebrating its 15th year in digital document scanners, and the 10th anniversary of the first Kodak-branded consumer digital camera.

http://www.gizmag.com/go/4717/

The SANYO VPC-CA6 weatherproof digital movie camera

We’ve always thought it was kinda dumb that cameras should be so averse to water – they are, after all, there to capture special moments and some of those moments occur while it’s raining. So it’s partly with disbelief that we are writing up a digital movie camera with weatherproof functionality as being all that special, though a lack of such functionality elsewhere does make this camera special. Shouldn’t they all be weatherproof? Shouldn’t all cameras be portable and durable? If you think this should be standard fare, as we do, then Sanyo’s newly launched VPC-CA6 weatherproof digital movie camera is designed for you – presumably a user with an active lifestyle that involves water recreational activities. The hardwearing splash-proof VPC-CA6 body offers carefree video recording by the pool, camping, at the beach or on the water, allowing users to capture their treasured moments with wet hands. The camera’s compact ergonomic design enables one handed usage, which can prove useful.

Featuring MPEG-4 digital recording for DVD movie quality, with high resolution of 6.0 megapixels, the SANYO VPC-CA6 captures high quality images producing professional looking footage of holidays, sporting events and family events.

The SANYO VPC-CA6 features a 5x optical and 12x digital zoom. The optical zoom magnifies the image using a real multifocal-length lens ensuring the finest picture quality even when using the zoom function.

For a professional final result, the SANYO VPC-CA6 weatherproof includes an editing function for quick and easy editing directly from the camera, as well as USB storage support, and a PC movie editing kit. Video clips and images can be played back or recorded through the DVD recorder connection, or viewed through the TV connection.

The SANYO VPC-CA6 can also be used as a still digital camera and video camera simultaneously. By simply pressing the shutter button users can capture still images while recording video.

Fast paced lifestyles can lead to easy-to-miss situations; however the SANYO VPC-CA6 has a rapid start-up time of 1.3 seconds, so memorable moments can be quickly captured.

The SANYO VPC-CA6 also features a digital stereo and noise reduction function for clear and accurate sounds and a digital image stabiliser to correct unintentional camera shake.

For a limited time, the SANYO VPC-CA6 weatherproof movie camera will include a bonus 1GB SD memory card, giving extra space to store precious memories. Users can take pictures anywhere and anytime and keep them saved on the card, which is great for holidays when downloading images and movies might not be an option.

http://www.gizmag.com/go/6602/