History of infrared photography
Development of digital cameras
Steve Sasson, an engineer at Eastman Kodak, invented the first digital camera in 1975. The camera captured 0.1 megapixel pictures in black-and-white, saving them on a digital cassette tape. Not only did the camera produce low quality pictures, but it also weighed around 4kg and took 23 seconds to record photographs. For that reason it was useless to most people.
Nowadays, both professionals and non-professionals alike mainly use digital SLRs for the purpose of photography. In the past ten years, there has been a lot of development in the SLR market. In January 2000, Fujifilm released the FinePix S1 Pro – the first DSLR aimed at non-professional users – featuring a 3.1 megapixel sensor and an ISO range of 320-1600. The camera cost around $3,995USD. Compared to even the most basic current digital SLRs nowadays, this was an extremely high price to pay for now-standard features.
As uptake became more popular, the prices of digital SLRs began to go down. Canon launched the EOS 300D in 2003. At $999USD, it was much more affordable to most buyers, and also had a 6.3 megapixel sensor.
With the plethora of cameras currently on the market, the modern-day camera buyer is spoiled for choice. Along with full size SLRs, systems such as the Panasonic G1 allow for a full range of SLR features in a smaller camera body.
Most importantly, digital has made it much easier for people to capture infrared photographs. You can learn more about methods of Digital Infrared Photography in Chapter 4 – Digital Infrared Photography.
