Kodak's Digital Camera History

Timeline created by DemocratAndChronicle

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Event Date:	Event Title:	Event Description:
12/01/1975	Sasson builds first digital camera	Kodak engineer Steve Sasson builds the world's first digital camera. It takes black and white photos at a resolution of 10,000 pixels (0.1 megapixels). The device was the size of a toaster, and took 23 seconds to record an image onto a digital cassette tape.
07/20/1976	Bryce Bayer develops color filter	Researcher Bryce Bayer receives a patent for his color filter pattern, It is used to capture color images, and has been a key component in almost every digital camera and camera phone made. The illustration at left shows a page from Bayer's lab notebook describing his innovation.
07/27/1987	First megapixel sensor developed	Kodak announces development of the world's first megapixel digital sensor small enough to function in a handheld camera. It
05/01/1991	Digital Camera System	Kodak releases the Digital Camera System for professional photographers. It combined a Nikon F-3 camera body with Kodak’s 1.3 megapixel sensor. Jim McGarvey invented the first digital SLR camera in 1987 (pictured) and helped Kodak dominate the DSLR market in the 1990s.
01/01/1992	DCS-200 released	The DCS-200 camera is released, aimed at professional photographers. An internal hard drive can hold up to 50 pictures at 1.5 megapixels.
01/01/1994	DCS-460 and NC2000 cameras	The NC2000 camera is developed by partnership between Kodak and the Associated Press. Intended for use by photojournalists, the camera used standard lenses and could take up to 700 pictures. It sells for $17,500. Another camera, the DCS-460 (pictured) is released later in the year.
01/01/1995	First consumer digital camera	Kodak releases the DC40 camera, its first digital camera for the consumer market. The point and shoot camera costs under $1000. Kodak also introduces the EOS-DCS for the professional market, made in cooperation with Canon.
01/01/1996	Pocket-sized cameras	The KODAK DC20 Digital Camera is released in June, the first in a series of pocket-sized digital cameras. The DC25, released later that year, was the first digital camera to use Compact Flash media for storage
01/01/1997	Kodak Digital Science	Kodak releases the DC120 Zoom Digital Camera (branded as "Kodak Digital Science"), the first point-and-shoot megapixel quality digital camera under $1,000.
10/29/1998	John Glenn in space	Astronaut John Glenn and the other members of the STS-95 crew used a Kodak DCS 460 digital camera to capture high-resolution images for real-time transmission back to Earth during their space flight.
01/01/2001	EasyShare	The Kodak EasyShare series is launched, a line of digital cameras and docking systems. The EasyShare LS420 (pictured) can produce sharp 8x10 prints thanks to its 2.1-megapixel resolution. It comes with a camera dock to connect to a PC.
01/01/2003	OLED advances	The company launches several digital cameras including the EasyShare LS633 zoom digital camera, the first digital camera to feature an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display, and the EasyShare DX6490 (pictured) for advanced amateur photographers.
01/01/2004	EasyShare ranked highest	Kodak's EasyShare cameras rank highest in customer satisfaction in the $200-$399 and $400-$599 price segments in the J.D. Power and Associates 2004 Digital Camera Satisfaction Study.
01/01/2005	New EasyShare cameras	Two new lines of cameras are introduced. The P-Series cameras offer advanced features for amateur photographers. The V-series cameras blend still and video photography, offering the ability to take print-quality still images from video, or record up to 80 continuous minutes of TV-quality videos with sound.
01/01/2006	Dual-lens digital cameras	Kodak introduces ther first dual-lens digital still camera, the V570 Zoom. That was followed by the V610 dual lens digital camera, the world’s smallest camera to feature a 10x optical zoom, and the V705 dual lens digital camera, the world’s smallest ultra-wide-angle optical zoom digital camera.
01/01/2008	HD video	Kodak introduces its first high-definition (HD)-enabled camera with their Zi6 Pocket Video Camera. The Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, released in 2009, offers full 1080p High Definition video capture.
01/01/2010	PlayTouch	Kodak's new PlayTouch camera lets users edit their pictures right on the camera and email them or upload them to popular sharing sites.
01/01/2012	Wireless enabled cameras	Kodak introduces cameras with built in wifi capabilities, including the EasyShare M750 (pictured) and the Playfull Dual Camera.