If early digital is now "cool", how cool is this?

[JDMvW]

Kodak 560 (1998~)

window snap (full spectrum)

Edited February 9, 2023 by JDMvW

[JDMvW]

infrared spectrum (anti-aliasing filter out, R72 filter)

Edited February 9, 2023 by JDMvW

[JDMvW]

!00% crop, Telephoto (Canon EF 100-400mm mk i at 400mm (handheld). With the 1.3X “crop factor” that is a equivalent of a 520mm lens on a 35mm camera)

Edited February 9, 2023 by JDMvW

[JDMvW]

When first sold, price was something like $38,000!

[Mark Keefer]

It's a Kodak. 🙂 the images looks good.

[ajkocu]

On 2/9/2023 at 1:59 PM, JDMvW said:

When first sold, price was something like $38,000!

I was just wondering about that. I do recall seeing prices of digital cameras in a Helix catalog and I had to rub my eyes to make sure I was seeing correctly!

[glen_h]

There was no economy of scale, at the numbers they were making.

The Nikon D1X was $5350 when it came out.

Last year, I bought one for $40.

And enough resolution for many uses.

 

If you make and sell enough of them, you can get the price down.

If you can get the price down, you can sell enough of them.

[Mark Keefer]

On 2/9/2023 at 11:59 AM, JDMvW said:

When first sold, price was something like $38,000!

That is insane. 🤪 That is about $70,000 in today's dollars. It better take nice photos. It was cutting edge tech for the 1990s I suppose. And I think the R5 is over priced. I was still shooting film back then and not nearly as much shooting back then. 24 shots per roll. It was a different era for sure., JDM how many old cameras are in your museum. You are the photography historian of PN. 😉

Edited March 1, 2023 by Mark Keefer

[JDMvW]

14 hours ago, Mark Keefer said:

how many old cameras are in your museum

With one damned thing after another, I haven't updated the catalog spreadsheet for a couple of years, but it's something like 150, not counting a passel of point and shoots.

[Mark Keefer]

So that has a 6.1 megapixel  CCD sensor. From reading CCD sensors were less susceptible to noise than CMOS sensors. Wonder how it stacks up against todays CMOS sensors. That would make a good article, JDM. 🤔 

[glen_h]

20 hours ago, Mark Keefer said:

That is insane. 🤪 That is about $70,000 in today's dollars. It better take nice photos. It was cutting edge tech for the 1990s I suppose. And I think the R5 is over priced. I was still shooting film back then and not nearly as much shooting back then. 24 shots per roll. It was a different era for sure., JDM how many old cameras are in your museum. You are the photography historian of PN. 😉

As far as I know, a big market was newspaper photography.

If you are trying to get a paper out by deadline, and your film isn't processed yet, how much does that cost?

 

Maybe it last 6 years, or about 2000 days.  $70,000/2000 is about $35/day. 

 

In the early days, computer memory was about $1/bit.  But those computers led to the developlment

of today's computers.  Maybe $0.0000001/bit.

 

Now, the interesting question is, how fast did Kodak, or others, a the time think that

prices would go down?  As fast as computer memory prices?

[John Seaman]

A while back I did a thread on the Kodak NC2000e, a $15,000 DSLR dating from 1995:

It was only 1.3MP but had clearly been very heavily used, for press purposes - it was developed by Kodak in co-operation with Associated Press.

Edited March 2, 2023 by John Seaman

[rodeo_joe1]

16 hours ago, Mark Keefer said:

From reading CCD sensors were less susceptible to noise than CMOS sensors.

Not sure where that information comes from. - Maybe from old Leaf or other MF digital purveyors, desperate to make their 'MF' (not!) very slightly bigger CCD sensors look attractive in the face of competition from much cheaper full-frame CMOS sensors and cameras.

Whatever, the practical fact is that most CCD sensors were stretched to defeat noise at 400 ISO, with 1600 ISO being barely acceptable. Modern CMOS sensors eat 1600 ISO for breakfast, dinner and supper without breaking a sweat. 

I remember accidentally leaving the ISO at 1600 on my D800 and not noticing for a whole day. And that was in the fairly early days of CMOS sensors. Now so-called 'backside illuminated' (snigger) CMOS sensors have upped the ante further by improving the fill-factor - the ratio of light-capturing area to that of interconnect and other non light-sensitive ancillary circuit components. 

CCD is definitely yesterday's technology, but it helped get us where we are now. 

Edited March 2, 2023 by rodeo_joe1