1990
ADOBE
PHOTOSHOP 1.0 - 1990. Adobe Systems
first version of PhotoShop released, the second image manipulation
program
available for Macintosh computers.
http://www.storyphoto.com/multimedia/multimedia_photoshop.html
CANON RV-311 - 1990. One of several still video players of the era produced to utilize the still video mini-disks that were used to record images by still video (analog) cameras such as the Sony MVC-5000 and others.
CHINON
S-2000 – 1990. 2 X, 10-20mm
f/2.7-3.8
zoom lens. Multi-infrared autofocus. Shutter 1/45 to 1/500
second. ½-inch 380K pixel CCD. "Hi-band Still Video
on Floppy," Popular Photography, May 1980, p56.
DYCAM MODEL 1 / Logitech FotoMan - 1990. Dycam Model 1 (dark grey) and the Fotoman (white) B&W digicams were the first completely digital consumer camera sold in the United States (both made by Dycam). They stored 32 compressed images on internal 1MB RAM. 1/3-inch, 376 x 240 pixel CCD at 256 gray levels. TIFF or PICT 2 format. 8mm fixed-focus lens. Shutter 1/30 to 1/1000 second. Built-in flash. They operated similarly to the Canon XapShot except that they included the digitizing hardware in the camera itself. The camera was attached to a PC to transfer images (photos by Jef Raskin). There was ony one button on the camera, the shutter button. To turn the flash on it was necessary to connet the camera to a computer and use the program that came with the camera. To turn the flash off it was necessary to reconnect the camera to a computer. MSRP $995. Digital Photography, Mikkel Aaland, 1992, p21. Popular Photography. December 1991. p111.
The photo on the right shows approximately what a good quality Dycam 1 photo might look like on a computer at full size (100%), 376 x 240 pixels (.09MP). Doubling the size of the photo to 752 x 480 pixels will cause obvious pixelization of the image. The actual size of a 376 x 240 pixel photo when printed on a typical inkjet printer would be about 3/4 inch in width and 1 1/4 inches in height, or about the size of the image on the far right.
1990:
HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE. The Hubble's
workhorse instrument is the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) and captured
most of the most famous Hubble pictures. It observes just about everything,
recording extremely sharp images of faraway objects in relatively broad views.
Its 48 filters allow scientists to study precise wavelengths of light and to
sense a range of wavelengths from ultraviolet to near-infrared light.
WFPC2 doesn't use film to record its images. Instead, four postage stamp-sized
pieces of high-tech Charge-Coupled Devices (CCDs) collect information from stars
and galaxies to make photographs. These detectors are very sensitive to
the extremely faint light of distant galaxies. They can see 
objects that are a billion times
fainter than the naked eye can see. Less sensitive CCDs are now in some
videocassette recorders and all of the new digital cameras. CCDs are electronic
circuits composed of light-sensitive picture elements (pixels). Each of
the four Hubble CCDs contains 640,000 pixels. The light collected by each
pixel is translated into a number. These numbers (all 2,560,000 of them)
are sent to ground-based computers, which convert them into an image. NASA
The
Eagle Nebula as Photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope
Click
on image for enlarged view.
Equipment
layout within the Hubble Wide Field and Planetary Camera (WFPC) Number
2. Click on image to see full-page view.
Hubble
in Space
Click
on image to see enlarged view
KODAK STILL VIDEO CAMERA - 1990. Shown publicly at Photokina in 1990, it may have been a ruse to confuse competition as to Kodak's digital status. The digital DCS-100 below was shown privately at the same Photokina. The SV camera shown above was a Nikon F3 with a still video back. The system utilized a Winchester power supply carried by a shoulder strap. Kodak stated that they intended to market the camera in 1991 at an MSRP of $25,000. Photo on the right shows a 1.3MP CCD attached to the Nikon F3 back. The camera created quite a public stir, especially among photo journalists who were supposed to be the intended market (Popular Photography referred to it as a "bombshell").
Popular Photography, January 1991, page 56.
KODAK DCS-100 SLR DIGITAL CAMERA - 1990.
The designation DCS-100 was not Kodak's official designation, but came about as the result of a magazine article and the name stuck. This system was a commercial version of the 1987-1989 Kodak DSLRs. Shown
privately at Photokina ’90 with a price of $30,000. Marketed in
1991.
1.3MP CCD (1024 x 1280 pixels). Based on the Nikon F3 body.
ISO 100. Nikkor interchangeable lens mount. Manual
focus.
Shutter 8 seconds to 1/2000 second. Optical reflex
viewfinder,
hot shoe, self-timer, internal 200MB memory. Two versions -
B&W
and Color. Fitted into a large plastic suitcase, the system
consisted
of a 200MB external hard disk drive with batteries, a control panel,
mono
display, and cables, with a total weight of 55lb. Click on image
to see enlarged view. The item on the bottom far right is the Kodak Professional Digital Back of that same year. The history of Kodak DCS cameras from 1987-2004 is available at the James Garvey site listed below. Mr. Garvey was lead engineer for many Kodak cameras during that time period.
http://jemcgarvey.com
http://www.epi-centre.com/reports/9306cs.html
http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/companies/Kodak/index.htm
KODAK
PHOTO CD SYSTEM - 1990. The
Photo
CD process converts negatives or slides to CD images. When
introduced
the Kodak Photo CD system recorded up to 100 images on a single
CD.
Each image was recorded at five different resolutions. Pixel
Photography,
Robert McMahan, 1993, p11
OLYMPUS
VC-102 – 1990. The V-102 was an
upgrade
of the V-100. Hi-band, 10-27mm f/2.8 zoom, passive auto-focus
with
low-light illumination. ½-inch 360K pixel CCD.
Shutter
1/30 to 1/2000 second. Popular Photography. May
1990.
p56.
OLYMPUS
IC CARD CAMERA - 1990. Prototype
digital camera camera with solid-state storage. Camera used data
compression
to store 29 or 52 images on a flash card about the size of a credit
card.
Recorded in field mode only.
Popular
Photography. May 1990. p57.
PENTAX
EI-C70 - 1990. Still video
camera.
3X 8mm to 24mm, f.2.8-5.6 zoom, with active infrared
auto-focusing.
Shutter 1/8 to 1/1000 second. Popular Photography, May
1980,
p56.
SAMSUNG
SNAC - 1990. The SNAC (Samsung
New
Age
Camera)
was a Hi-band still video camera. Fixed-focus 15mm f/2.8
lens.
300K MOS sensor. 50 images per disk. Popular
Photography,
May
1990, p56.
SJSU NUA
356 - 1990. Still video camera.
San Jose State University student project. Kyle Swen designed the camera
with the supervision of Tomasz Migurski. It was designed as a future concept, not for manufacture. The premise of the design was to introduce
a camera that stored images electronically rather than the use of standard film.
The images are stored on a 3.5" floppy disk that can then be downloaded electronically
to various formats. Click on image for several enlarged views. http://id.sjsu.edu/
SONY CVP-G500
- 1990. Still video image capture device
and printer combined into one unit. Popular Photography, June 1991,
p20.
SONY
HYPERHAD - 1990. HAD (Hole
Accumulated
Diode ) sensor. A light-focusing microlens (shown at left)
positioned
over each pixel gathers, concentrates and focuses incoming light toward
the photo sensor's active imaging area. Light sensitivity is
increased
by one f/stop. Digital Photography: Pictures of Tomorrow,
John J. Larish, 1992, p23.
TOSHIBA
MC200 - 1990. Memory card
camera.
2/3-inch, 400,000 pixel CCD. 18MB card, 6 high resolution images.
3X 9mm to 27mm f/2.0 lens. Shutter 1/32 to 1/512 second.
Built-in
flash, auto-focus. Popular Photography,
December 1991, p111.
YASHICA
SAMURAI V-70 - 1990.
Hi-band still video camera. ½-inch, 390K pixel CCD, 3X
9-27mm
zoom f/1.4 lens, auto-focus through the lens. Popular
Photography,
May
1980, p56.
1990
