203 Amr Galal An analytical study on the modern history of digital photography Dr. Amr Mohamed Galal Lecturer in Faculty of mass Communication, MISR International University (MIU) Abstract: Keywords: Since its emergence more than thirty years ago, digital photography has undergone Digital Photography rapid transformations and developments. Digital technology has produced Image Sensor (CCD-CMOS) generations of personal computers, which turned all forms of technology into a digital one. Photography received a large share in this development in the making Image Storage (Digital of cameras, sensitive surfaces, image storage, image transfer, and image quality and Memory) clarity. This technology also allowed the photographer to record all his visuals with Playback System a high efficiency that keeps abreast of the age’s requirements and methods of communication. The final form of digital technology was not reached all of a Bayer Color Filter sudden; this development – in spite of its fast pace – has been subject to many LCD display pillars, all of which have contributed to reaching the modern traditional digital Digital Viewfinder. shape of the camera and granted the photographer capabilities he can use to produce images that fulfill their task. Reaching this end before digital technology was quite difficult and required several procedures to process sensitive film and paper material and many chemical processes. Nowadays, this process is done by pushing a few buttons. This research sheds light on these main foundations for the stages of digital development according to their chronological order, along with presenting scientists or production companies that have their own research laboratories which develop and enhance their products. Paper received 11th February 2016, accepted 26th March 2016 , published 1st of April 2016 developing the digital photography. To put a Introduction vision for the digital photography future. Since the emergence of digital technology the Introduction: technological development passed through several Digital photography has proven to be one of the historical stages like the sensitive surface industry most world-changing technological breakthroughs and the lenses and the storage media and methods of the late 20th century. But the quest to capture of trading image and the image strength and and transmit images via electrons began nearly quality as well as the camera industry. two centuries ago. Just a few years after The problem in this research is summed up in the Frenchman Nicéphore Niépce produced the first main question, what are the basics which used in fixed photographic image in 1826 or 1827, another this development? And what is its history? And invention long distance digital telecommunication what is the impact of this on the camera industry arrived. And not long after Samuel F.B. Morse and according to the photographer requirements? What Alfred Vail developed a viable electric telegraph is the future vision of this development? and a binary code for conveying messages, Objectives inventors began to explore sending and recording The research aims at documenting digital images via dots and dashes. photography’s most significant stages of This brief history of digital photography begins by development, which any researcher should be well looking at the first 40 years of our digital aware of in order to benefit from the potential photography time-line. which this development paved the way for. 1- Before digital cameras: The research also aims to develop a future vision The history of digital photography begins in 1957. is based on a scientific basis to understand what That year, the first digital image was produced on will be the innovations in digital imaging a computer. Russell Kirsch for the United States technologies that meet the needs of photographers National Bureau of Standards created a rotating requirements for the design of digital photo which drum that allowed images to be scanned. Using keep pace with the developments derived from this this device, he scanned a 5 centimeter by 5 research. centimeter shot of his son into the computer. Research Methodology: This time period from 1957-1975 saw an The researcher follows the historically analytical unparalleled advancement in technology, research method through illustrating the key including the beginning development of digital foundations that played an effective role in This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License An analytical study on the modern history of digital photography 204 cameras and digital photography. imaging. These early years of digital technology 2- The first decade: development saw tremendous advancements in 1975: Eastman Kodak engineer Steven Sasson technology and marked the beginning of the patented a prototype digital camera using the relatively short history of digital photography. recently invented Fairchild CCD image sensor and In this research about the history of digital a lens from a Kodak movie camera. photography time line we will highlight some of Steven Sasson invented the first digital camera these early milestones in digital photography at Eastman Kodak in 1975. It weighed 8 pounds history. (3.6 kg) and had only 0.01megapixels. The image 1961: Eugene F. Lally was an was recorded onto a cassette tape and this process American aerospace engineer. He worked in the took 23 seconds. His camera took images in black- early 1960s on U.S. interplanetary space and-white. As he set out on this project of the programs. Beside his space programs he was also electronic camera, what he envisioned for the an inventor and developed non-space products future was a camera without mechanical moving with his own company Dynamic Development parts. Co. which he founded in the early 1960s. He began working on a way to use a mosaic photo sensor to capture digital images. And laterally he became an active amateur photographer. 1969: Was very important in the history of digital photography because George Smith and Willard Boyle of Bell Laboratories developed the CCD (charge-coupled-device) and demonstrated it on October 17, 1969. they share the 2009Nobel Prize in Physics for "the invention of an imaging semiconductor circuit the CCD sensor, which has become an electronic eye Fig (2) Prototype-Digital-Camera1. in almost all areas of photography. This CCD image sensor is the heart the digital camera development because it is the solid-state device that converts light into electric signals. This major breakthrough in 1969 provided the key piece of technology to begin the digital photography revolution. CCD image sensors are still widely used today. While today’s CCD image sensors Fig (3) Prototype Digital Camera Playback often have 12-14 megapixels the first one in 1969 system. was only 100 x 100 pixels. From 1969 to 1978 1975: Bell Laboratories demonstrated the first CCD technology continued to be developed and in CCD video camera with enough resolution to use 1978 Bell Laboratories successfully created an for broadcast television. The CCD technology first image sensor with 500 x 500 pixel array. developed by Bell Labs is found in all kinds of digital imaging devices today, including High- Definition television and video cameras. Other common technology that use CCD imagers are: web cameras, medical scopes, fax machines, copy machines, image scanners, digital cameras and bar code readers. Fig (1) Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, New Jersey. 1972: Willis Adcock patented a filmless camera however the technology was still not available to make it a viable concept. 1973: Fairchild Imaging produced the first commercial CCD imager. This 10,000 pixel sensor (100 x 100 pixels) would become the foundation Fig (4) New Steve Kelly photo of Sasson with for the rapidly developing world of digital Camera1. International Design Journal, Volume 6, Issue 2 205 Amr Galal 1981: The first true working digital camera was built by the University of Calgary Canada ASI Science Team. Their All Sky camera was designed to photograph auroras and used one of the 100 x 100 pixel Fairchild CCD image sensors. 1981: Sony demonstrates the Sony Mavica – the world’s first digital electronic still camera. Digital photography and television images are related to the same technology, so this camera recorded images into a mini disk and then put them into a Fig (5) Bell Lab's Willard Boyle & George video reader. Images could be displayed to a Smith with the CCD. television monitor or color printer. This early 1975: Another milestone in the history of digital electronic camera had a resolution of 720,000 photography was when Bryce Bayer invented the pixels (.72 megapixels) and was able to store up to Bayer Color Filter Array that enabled a single 50 images on a single 2.0” video floppy disk. CCD or CMOS image sensor to capture color images. Without this filter capturing color images would require three separate sensors attached to a color beam splitter which would be both large and expensive. A Bayer filter mosaic is a color filter array (CFA) for arranging RGB color filters on a square grid of photo sensors. Its particular arrangement of color filters is used in most single-chip digital image sensors used in digital cameras, camcorders, and scanners to create a color image. The filter pattern is 50% green, 25% red and 25% blue, hence is Fig (8) Sony Mavica (1981), the first still video also called RGBG , GRGB ,or RGGB camera in history. Bayer Color Filter Arrays are used in almost every 1981: Pentax ME-F was launched and becomes digital camera made today. the first autofocus 35mm SLR. It uses in body 1977: The Konica C35 AF (nicknamed "Jasupin") focus sensor coupled with a motorized lens, is a milestone camera in that it was the world's brighter finder screen first point and shot autofocus camera. different finder magnification. The focusing assistance mechanism had a selector lever with three positions, high aperture lens, small aperture lens, off.