History and Advancement of Digital Photography Technology

Introduction: Digital Photography and Its Origins

This paper provides a concise review of the history of digital photography and the advancement of its technology. Film photography emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and moving pictures followed shortly thereafter. Several decades later, the first attempts at digital photography were made by the mid-20th century. Photography in general is the progeny of painting, and digital photography is part of that same artistic lineage. The advent of digital photography reflects a shift in attitude and goals during the period of its invention; not only does the technology from that era persist, but the forward-thinking spirit of the time continues to infuse and inspire digital photography today, and will surely do so into the future.

The history of digital photography is a relatively short one — approximately six decades. Yet it overlaps with the histories of motion pictures, visual art, art history, media, and digital technology, among others. Like many modern technologies, digital photography and the digital camera share a developmental trajectory with other forms of modern technology: the relevant innovations were first used for military and intelligence purposes before undergoing further iterations and being released in forms accessible to the general consumer.

The Space Race Era and Early Digital Imaging

The beginning of digital photography can be traced to the 1950s, a point in American culture when there was considerable attention and imagination directed toward the future. During this period, many experiments and research studies attempted to turn science fiction into scientific reality. Digital photography is a product of that forward-thinking era.

Like many modern technologies, digital photography can trace its beginnings to the Space Race, when the United States and the Soviet Union competed for supremacy in outer space and raced to be the first country to put a man on the moon. This period, from 1957 to 1975, saw an unparalleled advancement in technology, including the early development of digital cameras and digital photography (PPT, 2012). Digital imaging also found another government application during this time: spy satellites. Government use of digital technology helped advance the science of digital imaging; however, the private sector also made significant contributions. Texas Instruments patented a filmless electronic camera in 1972, the first company to do so (Info Border, 2011).

Key Innovations of the 1960s and 1970s

In the early history of digital photography, the consumer was not a priority. Within two decades of research and development in the field, Kodak was among the first companies to make innovations that carried forward into the 1980s. Though some aspects of the process have changed over time, many of the core technologies that first made digital photography possible remain present in digital photographic products today.

A prime example is the charge-coupled device (CCD). George Smith and Willard Boyle of Bell Laboratories developed the CCD and demonstrated it on October 17, 1969. This CCD image sensor is the heart of digital camera development because it is the solid-state device that converts light into electrical signals. This major breakthrough provided the key piece of technology needed to begin the digital photography revolution. CCD image sensors are still widely used today, and are additionally present in video cameras, including consumer and some professional models (PPT, 2012).

The 1970s continued to prove important in the history of digital photography. The technology was by this point nearly twenty years old, and Kodak engineered key advances that were ground-breaking at the time and are now commonplace. In 1975, Eastman Kodak engineer Steven Sasson patented a prototype digital camera using the recently invented Fairchild CCD image sensor and a lens from a Kodak movie camera. This camera was approximately the size of a large toaster and weighed almost nine pounds. The black-and-white digital image was stored on a cassette tape, and in order to view the images, Kodak engineers had to develop a special screen. The camera was able to capture a 0.01-megapixel image (10,000 pixels) and took 23 seconds to record an image to the tape (PPT, 2012).

A camera of that size, weight, and capability would be unacceptable to most consumers of the 21st century, but in the 1970s a portable camera was just as exciting as a portable cassette player and headphones. This prototype would inspire engineers around the world. Another Kodak employee who influenced the history of digital photography was Bryce Bayer, who also made a significant invention in 1975. Bayer invented the Bayer Color Filter Array, which enabled a single CCD or CMOS image sensor to capture color images. Without this filter, capturing color images would have required three separate sensors attached to a color beam splitter — an arrangement that would be both large and expensive. Bayer Color Filter Arrays are used in almost every digital camera manufactured today (PPT, 2012).

This is yet another example of how technology changes while in some ways remaining the same. Some of the guiding principles and technologies that changed the world decades ago continue to exert influence and make their presence felt in the 21st-century information age, which is particularly characterized by the proliferation, use, and integration of digital technologies — one of which is digital photography.