http://www.engadget.com/2005/09/11/after-inventing-first-digicam-kodak-still-recovering-from/ Engadget Comments for After inventing first digicam, Kodak still recovering from late-entry to market http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2005/09/11/after-inventing-first-digicam-kodak-still-recovering-from/http://www.engadget.com/2005/09/11/after-inventing-first-digicam-kodak-still-recovering-from/Dec 19th 2005 2:37AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/09/11/after-inventing-first-digicam-kodak-still-recovering-from/http://www.engadget.com/2005/09/11/after-inventing-first-digicam-kodak-still-recovering-from/]]>Dec 19th 2005 2:37AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/09/11/after-inventing-first-digicam-kodak-still-recovering-from/http://www.engadget.com/2005/09/11/after-inventing-first-digicam-kodak-still-recovering-from/
I had a Kodak DC40 camera in 1995 or 1996. VGA resolution, around $700 or so, serial output, no LCD, no zoom. Expensive, sure, but it was about as consumer level as you could get.

At the time, Kodak also made high end modifications of Nikon and Canon cameras. Kodak didn't ignore digital, they just didn't do that well at it for awhile.]]>Dec 19th 2005 2:37AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/09/11/after-inventing-first-digicam-kodak-still-recovering-from/http://www.engadget.com/2005/09/11/after-inventing-first-digicam-kodak-still-recovering-from/Dec 19th 2005 2:37AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/09/11/after-inventing-first-digicam-kodak-still-recovering-from/http://www.engadget.com/2005/09/11/after-inventing-first-digicam-kodak-still-recovering-from/
gopi - I noticed the same thing - this will most certainly be a correction in tomorrow's USA Today]]>Dec 19th 2005 2:37AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/09/11/after-inventing-first-digicam-kodak-still-recovering-from/http://www.engadget.com/2005/09/11/after-inventing-first-digicam-kodak-still-recovering-from/Dec 19th 2005 2:37AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/09/11/after-inventing-first-digicam-kodak-still-recovering-from/http://www.engadget.com/2005/09/11/after-inventing-first-digicam-kodak-still-recovering-from/Dec 19th 2005 2:37AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/09/11/after-inventing-first-digicam-kodak-still-recovering-from/http://www.engadget.com/2005/09/11/after-inventing-first-digicam-kodak-still-recovering-from/Dec 19th 2005 2:37AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/09/11/after-inventing-first-digicam-kodak-still-recovering-from/http://www.engadget.com/2005/09/11/after-inventing-first-digicam-kodak-still-recovering-from/Dec 19th 2005 2:37AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/09/11/after-inventing-first-digicam-kodak-still-recovering-from/http://www.engadget.com/2005/09/11/after-inventing-first-digicam-kodak-still-recovering-from/Dec 19th 2005 2:37AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/09/11/after-inventing-first-digicam-kodak-still-recovering-from/http://www.engadget.com/2005/09/11/after-inventing-first-digicam-kodak-still-recovering-from/Dec 19th 2005 2:37AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/09/11/after-inventing-first-digicam-kodak-still-recovering-from/http://www.engadget.com/2005/09/11/after-inventing-first-digicam-kodak-still-recovering-from/
hey, engadget.. if you're gonna rip off stuff from other websites, can you at least make sure the stuff written on there is correct?]]>Dec 19th 2005 2:37AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/09/11/after-inventing-first-digicam-kodak-still-recovering-from/http://www.engadget.com/2005/09/11/after-inventing-first-digicam-kodak-still-recovering-from/
Tell me more.]]>Dec 19th 2005 2:37AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/09/11/after-inventing-first-digicam-kodak-still-recovering-from/http://www.engadget.com/2005/09/11/after-inventing-first-digicam-kodak-still-recovering-from/Dec 19th 2005 2:37AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/09/11/after-inventing-first-digicam-kodak-still-recovering-from/http://www.engadget.com/2005/09/11/after-inventing-first-digicam-kodak-still-recovering-from/
Anyway, i dont really think that was the point of engadget posting this article, i mean, look at the size of that camera! Its huge! But strangely its retroly beutiful. I wish i could see a photo from it]]>Dec 19th 2005 2:37AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/09/11/after-inventing-first-digicam-kodak-still-recovering-from/http://www.engadget.com/2005/09/11/after-inventing-first-digicam-kodak-still-recovering-from/Dec 19th 2005 2:37AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/09/11/after-inventing-first-digicam-kodak-still-recovering-from/http://www.engadget.com/2005/09/11/after-inventing-first-digicam-kodak-still-recovering-from/
That being said, I was mulling over a similar situation last week:

I'm guilty (as I'm sure lots of others are) of assuming that a particular technology will never exist or never be small enough to fit in a laptop or never become cheap enough to be come ubiquitous.

Example: DVD writers were introduced as $1000 devices that could write single-sided discs slowly. In a few years, they have turned into $35 devices that can write double-layer discs extremely fast. They have also shrunk enough to be stuck inside of a sub-notebook. In fact, they have shrunk enough to fit inside a tiny video camera.

With an analogy like that, it can be applied to pretty much anything. As long as the market wants a particular technology it can be made better, cheaper, faster, and smaller.

I don't blame the Kodak execs for shunning this technology. In 1975 there wasn't ANY of the tech we take for granted today. You couldn't take your 1 gig SD card out of your camera, put it in your USB 2.0 media reader, import the 5 megapixel images to your 3 gigahertz computer, edit them and then print them out on your photo quality 6 color inkjet printer. You had a 2 mhz Altair with 256 bytes of ram that you had to put together yourself!

Given the state of computer technology back then - where you generally had to code your own OS just to use your computer - there's almost no way to be forward thinking enough to say, "We should back this tech because we'll be come filthy rich!" They were probably thinking, "We make a shitload of money selling paper, processing film and chemicals, lets torpedo this and stick to what we know because that makes bucks."

I was just as amazed when CD burners came out and were shrunk down to fit inside a laptop and how a digital camera could be so small as to fit inside a cell phone. Although I always thought that 640k wasn't enough for anyone.]]>Dec 19th 2005 2:37AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/09/11/after-inventing-first-digicam-kodak-still-recovering-from/http://www.engadget.com/2005/09/11/after-inventing-first-digicam-kodak-still-recovering-from/
One after noon I got jumped by a more brawn than brains type whom thought I'd been shooting pictures of his bikini clad girlfriend. He wanted my film and was confused when I patiently explained I had no film. As I explained how the camera worked I "slipped up" and told him one down side was I had to get the pictures out before the batteries went dead (a lie) and he then promptly demanded my batteries. He triumphantly returned to his girlfriend with the 4 AA batteries and later that day I was viewing a couple choice shots... :-)

The image sensor, image processor and image compression format were all Kodak, and there were several prominently placed Kodak logos involved with the device. When Kodak introduced their own camera the next year (DC40) Apple exited the market.

I also had one of the first gen Apple Quicktakes and used it during 1993 to snap pix. It also was based on a Kodak sensor, processor and file compression but its 640x480 high rez mode wasn't err very 640x480-ish...]]>Dec 19th 2005 2:37AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/09/11/after-inventing-first-digicam-kodak-still-recovering-from/http://www.engadget.com/2005/09/11/after-inventing-first-digicam-kodak-still-recovering-from/Dec 19th 2005 2:37AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/09/11/after-inventing-first-digicam-kodak-still-recovering-from/http://www.engadget.com/2005/09/11/after-inventing-first-digicam-kodak-still-recovering-from/Dec 19th 2005 2:37AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/09/11/after-inventing-first-digicam-kodak-still-recovering-from/http://www.engadget.com/2005/09/11/after-inventing-first-digicam-kodak-still-recovering-from/Dec 19th 2005 2:37AM