How Digital Photography Began

The history of digital photography is synonymous with two scientists, George Smith and Willard Boyle who invented the charge coupled device (CCD) on 17 October 1969. The CCD forms a better part of all digital camera since it carries the sensors. Boyle and Smith intended to use the CCD in a variety of applications involving computer semiconductor memory. But they found themselves with what became the basis of the history of digital photography.

Boyle and Smith’s invention was also aimed at designing a solid-state digital camera that would be used in recording video applications. They spent only two hours to outline a plan of the elementary design of the CCD, explain its operation method, and state its applications. The following year (1970), Boyle and Smith incorporated the CCD into the world’s first video camera.

By 1975, the CCD was in use in applications involving video broadcast. Later, the CCD was progressively integrated in digital still cameras and this was a milestone achieved. When the CCD technology became widespread, Sony Corporation released the Magnetic Video Camera (abbreviated Mavica camera). The camera used the CCD to record and store video on a compressed floppy disk. The camera was only relevant for capturing of freeze frames for digital video clips.

In the year 1986, Kodak developed the first full featured digital still camera. The camera was considered the most advanced at the time since it had a high resolution of 1,400,000 pixels and could produce fine 5 by 7 inch images. Later advancements involved modification of the camera to produce the Nikon F3 digital camera, an initiative between Nikon and Kodak. The camera was highly advanced and had features of characteristic of fine digital photography with an inclination towards dedicated photojournalists.

Digital Photography has become a very wide field today with a lot of opportunities different kinds of style. There are photo journalists who use digital photography regularly, and there are others such as portrait photographer, street photographer and more. If the field interests you, after reading it’s rich history, then take sometime to focus on any one of the fields.