When did digital date stamping start?

<p>On the old 90s or so Point and Shoot cameras, you had the digital datestamp, you know, that yellow/orange date stamp usually in the bottom right corner, like in my picture here:<br /><img src="http://s15.postimg.org/fowdn9xvf/December_1990_8.jpg" alt="" /></p>

<p>My question is, when was that digital date stamp invented? My parents photos before 1990, the only way of determining the date is if they noted it on the back of the photo, or if the place where they had it printed printed the month and year in ink on the back. Did digital datestamps exist before 1990 and my parents just had poorer cameras before then?</p>

<p>While I cannot give you a definitive date, these go back into the 70's at least. With the release of the Canon A Series cameras (especially the AE-1 in 1976/77), one of the accessories released as part of A Series was the Data Back A.</p>

<p>I sure there were others, so you search needs to go back that far .</p>

<p>Ed</p>

<p>Canon also made a data back for the original F-1s, but I'm not sure when they started making them</p>

<p>Somewhere in the latter 1970's+/- the Nikon F2 had a "Nikon F2 Data" add on that did imprinting if I recall. It was rare and pricey, not a consumer oriented thing.</p>

<p>https://www.cameraquest.com/nf2data.htm</p>

<p>Jim</p>

<p>I know there were data backs available for the Minolta XD series cameras, appearing in the late 1970's, and a couple of different ones for the X series appearing in the 1980's. I don't know of any before the XD, but it's possible Minolta beat Nikon by a hair on this one, as I think the first F2 data backs only worked together with bulk film magazines.</p>

<p>Matthew, I never saw one save for websites now; if you peak at cameraquest the data back works with a motor drive and apparently doesn't need a bulk film back?<br>

Also some info at the mir site for Nikons too. ...</p>

<p>http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/hardwares/classics/nikonf2/f2/variants/f2data/index1.htm</p>

<p>I was too much of an impoverished pollywog back then to have seen this yummy stuff :o)</p>

<p>Jim ... the gear luster</p>

<p>http://www.nicovandijk.net/backs.htm</p>

<p>says that the MF-10 for the Nikon F2-DATA was one of the first data backs.</p>

<p>https://books.google.com/books?id=u4rXBqSmjPAC&pg=PA298&lpg=PA298&dq=nikon+%22mf-10%22+introduced&source=bl&ots=q1ad5xt5iw&sig=j744NWmrtDMCEqVSCsIYCYXNfCI&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjEj_H5lZDLAhXEPD4KHce9DYQQ6AEIOzAF#v=onepage&q=nikon%20%22mf-10%22%20introduced&f=false</p>

<p>says 1981 for the MF-12 data back for the Nikon FM and FE, which should be after the MF-10.</p>

<p>The MF-10 uses some kind of flash unit, the MF-12 an LED array, as you might expect from the usual point and shoot cameras. The MF-11 is the bulk film version of the MF-10.</p>

<p>More here on the Nikon MF-10 :<br>

http://mir.com.my/rb/photography/hardwares/classics/nikonf2/f2/variants/f2data/index.htm<br>

Just as a non-digital aside, in 1914 Kodak developed Autographic film where the user could manually enscribe information on the the edge of the film with a special stylus. <br>

https://sites.google.com/site/fromthefocalplanetoinfinity/kodakno1autographicjunior<br>

Kodak sold autographic backs for non-autographic cameras so you could convert your Kodak if you wanted. Autographic film was required. This had a film of carbon paper betwen the backing and the film. it was discontinued in 1932. </p>

<p> </p>

<p>I had in 1968, and still have, an Autographic 1A. I bought a roll of VP116 for it in 1968, and another in 1976. The stylus was gone before I got it (from my grandfather), and of course no autographic film. I have many of my old negatives, but not those. The only ones I ever developed with an apron based film tank.</p>

<p>As I understand it, after you use the stylus, it lets light through to the film in the pattern that you draw, between frames.</p>

1977's Canon Datelux must be one of the first. This...

 

http://www.canon.com/c-museum/en/product/film98.html

<p>In the 90s, and possibly the 80s, even some P&S cameras offered date stamping as a feature. I had a no-name camera that was nothing special but could do this. Date stamping could be turned on and off, because not everybody appreciates having a date stamped right across all of their photos. At any rate, having a date stamp is by no means a sign of a quality camera.</p>

<p>Also, he says, coming late to the party, Before digital per se, there were mirror devices for date stamping. Long before that, there were sign boards and clapboards with date and other information on them.<br>

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The Canodate E from 1970.

How many cameras have the less obnoxious form of date stamping, where the date can be printed on the negative between frames rather than within them? The Nikon MF-28 back for the F5 supports this, but sadly the MF-29 I bought as a spare back for the F100 (when I couldn't find a plain one) does not.

In 1914 Kodak introduced its Autographic system that allowed you to take notes directly on the film, including the date.