Who Invented Digital Cameras? The Evolution of a “Dominant Design” “Digital Camera” US Patent 3,719,922 Kodak DC210 Camera Filed 1971 1997 Ken Parulski ‘79 aKAP Innovation, LLC Topics • Virtual Tour of George Eastman Museum • Where “Mr. Smith” lived • Short History of Imaging Innovations • Including contributions from MIT • Evolution of a “Dominant Design” • Winning the marketplace” 2 Mr. Smith’s House https://www.eastman.org/360-historic-mansion-tour 3 “Mr. Smith” and MIT • “Mr. Smith” donated $2.5 Million to build MIT’s campus. • Eastman gave over $20 Million in total to MIT. • “I have a great deal of confidence in the material you turn out at your institution” – From: Institute Archives and Special Collections, MIT Libraries Mr. Eastman to Prof. Drown of MIT’s Chemistry Dept. 4 George Eastman Museum Technology Collection Virtual Tour - https://goo.gl/maps/CXX9qDt7JemuASss5 5 Technology Collection Access Guided tour of vault with Todd Gustavson, Technology Curator https://youtu.be/jw8s6dPFyB8 Search over 300,00 objects, including significant photographs and cameras https://www.eastman.org/ collections-online 6 Technology Collection Examples Giroux daguerreotype Kodak Professional camera “kit” - 1839 DCS 520 Digital SLR Camera - 1998 7 Questions so far? https://www.eastman.org/ 360-historic-mansion-tour 8 Topics • Virtual Tour of George Eastman Museum • Where “Mr. Smith” lived. • Short History of Imaging Innovations • Including contributions from MIT • Evolution of a “Dominant Design” • Winning the “allegiance of the marketplace” 9 1860s – Image Transmission Giovanni • “Pantelegraph” transmitted drawings Caselli over existing telegraph lines • First commercial fax system • Image was drawn on a tin plate using insulating ink. • Pendulums in transmitter and receiver were synchronized • Electric current in the receiver’s stylus darkened the paper, which was treated with potassium ferricyanide. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantelegraph Images from Wikipedia 10 1890s - Mass Market Photography • Flexible photographic film • Replaced glass plates George • Manufactured using Eastman continuous roll coating • Simple “Kodak” cameras • Low cost and easy to use • Built with standardized parts Kodak “Brownie” Camera • Complete ecosystem • Kodak developed film & printed photos • “You push the button and we do the rest” George Easman, A Biography by Elizabeth Brayer George Eastman Museum collections 11 1928 – Electronic image scanning Philo Farnsworth “Father of Television” • “Image Dissector” tube in camera reads image • Photoconductor absorbs light & emits electrons • Electron beam is deflected • Beam current provides image signal • TV signal is transmitted “over the airwaves” Photo from San Francisco • Cathode Ray tube in receiver displays image Chronicle, Sept 1928 • Beam deflection is synced to camera scanning The Last Lone Inventor • Beam current causes phosphor to emit light by Evan Schwartz 12 1940s – Electronic Flash • Invented by Prof. Hal Edgerton of MIT • http://100photos.time.com/photos/harold- edgerton-milk-drop • Flash design • Glass flash tube is filled with Xenon gas • Battery charges a “flash capacitor” “Milk drop Coronet” Hal Edgerton, 1957 • “Trigger switch” causes gas to be excited • Energy in flash capacitor discharges rapidly (1/1,000 sec or faster) From “Electronic Flash, Strobe”, H.E. Edgerton, MIT Press, 1979 13 1940s – Digital “information” MIT Prof. Claude Shannon • Claude Shannon’s MIT thesis – MSEE thesis submitted in 1937 – Applied Boolean algebra to digital circuits – Basis of modern digital circuit designs • Created “Information Theory” – 1948 Bell Labs paper “A Mathematical Theory of Communication” – Information (e.g. images) treated as “bits” From “The Bit Player” on – Defined the limits to transmitting bits over Amazon Prime Video a noisy channel • Ideas apply to digital photography – How image processors are designed – How images are compressed & transmitted 14 1973 – AP Laserphoto • System was designed by MIT Prof. Bill Schreiber Prof. Bill Schreiber at MIT • Lasers scan & print photos which are transmitted via wire • Part of the Associated Press “Electronic Darkroom” – Pictures are “stored in computers, edited on video screens and transmitted at Photo from AP Wirephoto, April 22, 1973 high speeds” “Fundamentals of Electronic Imaging Systems”, W.F. Schreiber, Springer-Verlag 15 Solid State Image Sensors • “CCDs” invented at Bell Labs Fairchild MV-100 – 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics to Smith & Boyle Monochrome CCD Video • Commercialized by Fairchild in 1973 Camera 1973 – 100 x 100 pixel “Interline” CCD array – Pixels had 40 x 30 micron spacing • Image detection – Incident photons absorbed & generate electron-hole pairs – Electrons are collected into charge packets in “potential wells” at photo sites • CCD Image readout – Lines of charge shifted from vertical registers to horizontal readout register – Each charge packet is converted to analog output voltage Fairchild CCD201 Data Sheet 16 Color Sensors & Cameras • Kodak’s top contribution to digital photography • Invented by Peter Dillon in 1974 – Al Brault invented fabrication process • Mosaic pattern of color filters overlaid on monochrome image sensor Peter Dillon and Al Brault 2019 Emmy Awards – Single sensor captures color images – Camera “de-mosaic” processing produces color images • This Kodak technology is used in – Digital cameras World’s first single-sensor – Smartphone cameras color camera – Webcams – Digital cinema cameras – Auto back-up cameras – Endoscopes – Drone cameras 17 Bayer Color Pattern • Invented by Bryce Bayer of Kodak • Green checkerboard provides sharp luminance image • “Bayer Pattern” is used almost exclusively today for color sensors Data from Processed Color Sensor Color Image 18 Camera Image Processing Algorithms Sensor Lens ADC De-mosaic & Noise Optical pre-filter & IR Reduction blocking filter White Color Edge JPEG Stored Balance Correction Enhancement Compression Image After De- After White After Color Mosaicing Balancing Correction Sharpening 19 Questions so far? http://100photos.time.com/photos /harold-edgerton-milk-drop 20 Topics • Virtual Tour of George Eastman Museum • Where “Mr. Smith” lived • Short History of Imaging Innovations • Including contributions from MIT • Evolution of a “Dominant Design” • Winning the “allegiance of the marketplace” 21 Dominant Designs The “world’s first” design is often not the best design so the design evolves until it “wins in the marketplace” First two-wheel bike Intermediate “Dominant Design” “A Bike” Designs “THE bike” 1860s Front wheel pedals “Draisine” Invented in 1817 by Pedals drive rear wheel Baron Karl von Drais Equal sized wheels Derailleur gears No pedals Front and rear brakes No brakes Lightweight metals Adjustable seat Wooden frame 1870s High wheel bikes Fixed seat From Wikipedia History_of_the_bicycle 22 1975 - 1st “Handheld” Digital Still Camera • Kodak Prototype built from 1975-1977 – US Patent 4,131,919 “Electronic Still Camera” – Camera was first publicized in Sept. 2000 • Fairchild CCD201 image sensor – 100 x 100 pixels (0.01 Megapixels!) – Monochrome (No color!) • “Portable”, battery operated – 16 AA batteries • 3x Zoom lens (from XL55 movie camera) Steve Sasson with Camera – Optical viewfinder (no LCD display) • Digital conversion & recording – 4-bit A/D converter – 6.1 Kbyte DRAM Buffer – Magnetic tape (No memory cards!) – 20 secs to store each photo, 30 photos per tape • Separate tape playback unit for TV TV playback unit – No video output, no PC interface, no JPEG format 23 1971 - MIT’s “Astronomical Photometer Digitizer” • Dr. Thomas McCord (MIT) and Dr. James Westphal (Cal Tech) • 256 x 256 pixel “silicon diode array” cooled with dry ice • Recorded digital images onto magnetic tape • Published in Applied Optics, March 1972 – U.S. Patent 3,951,552 “Photometer-Digitizer System” Telescope Image Sensor A/D Digital image of Jupiter Magnetic tape 24 Earliest Patent on a “Digital Camera”? • Filed on June 24,1971 by Louis Lopes, Jr and Owen Thomas – Issued as U.S. Patent 3,719,922, titled “Digital Camera” • Acoustic sensor array takes digital “photos” of underwater objects Image of object Acoustic sensor array OBJECT 25 1981 – Sony Mavica Demonstration • World’s 1st demonstration of an electronic still camera – Special 2” magnetic disk, analog recording, limited quality – Lead to “Still Video Floppy” (SVF) Standard in 1985 • Analog NTSC video interface was limiting – Needed specialized player, transmitter, etc. – Very poor image quality (sub-VGA) • Cool technology, bad product! – First marketed by Canon in 1986 – Very expensive, very poor sales Photo from Sony Press Release, 1981 26 Sony Video-based photography system – 1980s Complete System with Camera, Viewer, Printer and Transmitter “Mavica” used TV standards and TV displays Figure from ICCE Digest of Technical Papers, June 1982 27 Kodak Digital Photography System – 1990s Store View & Edit Picture Sources Internet Computer Print • Computers are the “center” of digital photography • Computers can store, copy, edit, display & share digital photos • Digital photos can be any size or quality level • Worldwide standards possible (versus regional video standards) 28 1986 - Comparing film & digital photography • Developed methods to compare & improve • Sharpness & Limiting resolution • Sensitivity & Noise • Tone & Color reproduction Jon Saulsgiver – 1st Color Megapixel “camera” - 1986 Print from Film Print from Kodak M1 CCD 29 Kodak Professional D-SLR cameras • World’s first Digital SLR cameras • Hawkeye camera sold