Very Early Digital Photography

[jhd]

I recently remembered an example of really early digital photography; probably the first example that I ever saw.

 

It was around 1979, and there was a temporary kiosk at our local Mall. The attendant there took low-resolution, black and white portrait photographs, which were then printed onto calendars, etc. It seemingly only lasted a short time; I only remember seeing it once. 

 

I have no recollection of the hardware used (and I would have been too young to understand/care, anyway); I assume that it was something custom rather than off-the-shelf. I just remember being impressed with the technology. Sadly, the printed calendar is long-gone. 

 

Did anyone else ever encounter this (or a similar service)?   

[ClausB]

There were magazine articles about making a digital camera from a decapped RAM chip (ceramic chip with metal cap removed) that was photo sensitive.

[DanBoris]

I definitly remember these kiosks! Here is a picture of me from back in 1982 at my Atari 800 with one of the computer printed pictures of me on the wall. 

Edited April 6, 2020 by DanBoris

[DanBoris]

11 hours ago, ClausB said:

There were magazine articles about making a digital camera from a decapped RAM chip (ceramic chip with metal cap removed) that was photo sensitive.

Yeah, a dynamic RAM cell actually behaves a lot like a pixel in a modern CCD, so they were used in early video camera. There was a camera that used this technique demoed at last years VCF east. You can see it in this video...

 

https://youtu.be/krSurGeloEo?t=182

[Keatah]

I remember going to MSI in Chicago in the 70's and they had a camera set up that took your pic, and printed it 80-column ASCII text. ASCII art today.. And it was like $45. So I got one. Still have it.

 

[Ed in SoDak]

I remember those too. A bit later, you could get a coffee mug, a T-shirt and other shit, er, treasured hi-tech keepsakes made while you wait.

 

When I read the thread title, I thought of the tethered "baseball" digicam I bought when we first started our website. Getting anything useable was a challenge with its 640x480 resolution, but it also made videos on a timer. I chopped the cord and lengthened it, ran the camera out to a tree over a robin's nest, using a sour cream tub as a rain cover. It started recording at daybreak, taking a single image every few minutes, or you could monitor the nest live if you wished. It was our favorite pasttime that spring keeping tabs on the baby robins. I'm still using one of the pics on our website. For $100, it was alright till we spent a lot more on fixing the problem.

 

My first "scanner" was a dual-purpose fax machine that would send the same "great-quality" fax image over to my Mac, or I could print same quality to it from the Mac. Talk about a waste of $500! At least we did get some use from the fax over the years. It requires a pre-PPC Mac to even use it to scan or print, but the fax part is fortunately stand-alone as well.

[Ed in SoDak]

On 4/5/2020 at 6:13 PM, DanBoris said:

Here is a picture of me from back in 1982 at my Atari 800 with one of the computer printed pictures of me on the wall. 

Dude! Get a taller chair!

[wierd_w]

I have a very old early-generation digital camera from the 90s floating around.  Limited to 640x480, and needs BRIGHT light to take pictures.

 

Polaroid brand.

[+OLD CS1]

On 4/5/2020 at 8:13 PM, DanBoris said:

I definitly remember these kiosks! Here is a picture of me from back in 1982 at my Atari 800 with one of the computer printed pictures of me on the wall. 

 

I noticed a copy of my favorite magazine of the time off to your left, there.

 

Back in the 90s I worked at a local retail computer store.  The boss picked up an early digital camera, 640x480 resolution, in a form-factor more like a graphing calculator.  A "Pix" something or other.  I cannot recall the brand OTTOMH.  ISTR it used serial to transfer the photos to a computer.  Man, such a long time since I have thought about that, but I do still have many of the photos I took with it.

 

Just five years prior I did an internship at a military contractor.  On my first day while I was in the lobby waiting for my mentor†, I picked up a magazine which had on its cover this big splash about the coming age of digital photography.  The article detailed how these new arrays of (NMOS, I think?) cells could detect several levels of brightness, enough to snap a grey-scale photograph, and within a few years they were expecting the be able to detect color.

 

† Mr. Jolly, if you happen to be in this crowd, I would enjoy the opportunity to say hello.

[Gamemoose]

Back when I was 4 or so, my parents and I got a family photo at a booth somewhere at a flea market or fair or something. The photo was printed out on a tank top, in dot-matrix style, that I wore. I *think* I still have it-the question is where (and hopefully not at the ex's). 

 

That tech back then was like magic to a kid. 

[zzip]

On 4/6/2020 at 10:45 PM, Keatah said:

I remember going to MSI in Chicago in the 70's and they had a camera set up that took your pic, and printed it 80-column ASCII text. ASCII art today.. And it was like $45. So I got one. Still have it.

 

I remember the girl who was my baby-sitter in the 70s used to bring home ASCII art she printed at school on that green-and-white tractor fed computer paper that used to be common

[jhd]

19 hours ago, Gamemoose said:

Back when I was 4 or so, my parents and I got a family photo at a booth somewhere at a flea market or fair or something. The photo was printed out on a tank top, in dot-matrix style, that I wore. 

 

If you happen to find it, please post a picture. There are not too many surviving examples of that technology.