1 00:00:04,440 --> 00:00:12,360 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Hey there, 2 00:00:12,360 --> 00:00:15,440 Speaker 1: and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. 3 00:00:15,440 --> 00:00:18,720 Speaker 1: I'm an executive producer with iHeart Podcasts. And how the 4 00:00:18,760 --> 00:00:23,239 Speaker 1: tech are you? So? These days, just about everyone has 5 00:00:23,280 --> 00:00:27,080 Speaker 1: a digital camera on them pretty much all the time, right, 6 00:00:27,120 --> 00:00:32,040 Speaker 1: because smartphones have become all things to all people, digital camera, phone, computer, 7 00:00:32,520 --> 00:00:36,080 Speaker 1: media player, video game device, et cetera. And you know, 8 00:00:36,159 --> 00:00:38,520 Speaker 1: of course, there are folks out there who still use 9 00:00:38,680 --> 00:00:44,080 Speaker 1: standalone digital cameras. They're photographers, they're vloggers, their cinematographers, tons 10 00:00:44,080 --> 00:00:46,559 Speaker 1: of other folks. But it's interesting to me because young 11 00:00:46,600 --> 00:00:50,480 Speaker 1: people don't know a world that didn't have digital cameras. 12 00:00:51,080 --> 00:00:53,319 Speaker 1: For those of us of a certain age, we can 13 00:00:53,400 --> 00:00:56,400 Speaker 1: remember a time when digital cameras were really rare or 14 00:00:56,640 --> 00:01:00,200 Speaker 1: not even a thing at all. We remember using film cameras. Right. 15 00:01:00,280 --> 00:01:02,320 Speaker 1: You would take a photo and you would have no 16 00:01:02,440 --> 00:01:05,240 Speaker 1: idea how it came out until after you developed that 17 00:01:05,280 --> 00:01:07,920 Speaker 1: film somewhere, and that could be weeks or months or 18 00:01:07,920 --> 00:01:11,520 Speaker 1: even longer later. If you're like me, you might misplace 19 00:01:11,600 --> 00:01:14,120 Speaker 1: that canister of film. It might be years before you 20 00:01:14,120 --> 00:01:16,440 Speaker 1: see that picture, and then you'd say, oh, it was 21 00:01:16,440 --> 00:01:19,600 Speaker 1: out of focus. Now, like all inventions, it can actually 22 00:01:19,640 --> 00:01:23,120 Speaker 1: be tricky to figure out where to start. When we're 23 00:01:23,160 --> 00:01:26,240 Speaker 1: talking about digital cameras, which is what we're really focusing 24 00:01:26,319 --> 00:01:29,200 Speaker 1: on today. I wanted to think about where did we 25 00:01:29,280 --> 00:01:32,040 Speaker 1: come from with digital cameras, and I figure one good 26 00:01:32,040 --> 00:01:35,199 Speaker 1: place to start for digital cameras is eighteen thirty nine. 27 00:01:35,640 --> 00:01:38,160 Speaker 1: And yeah, that's pretty early. You're not going to find 28 00:01:38,440 --> 00:01:41,720 Speaker 1: a Fujifilm or a Canon or a Nikon camera in 29 00:01:41,800 --> 00:01:45,800 Speaker 1: eighteen thirty nine. In fact, you know when you figure 30 00:01:45,800 --> 00:01:48,240 Speaker 1: that the history of film traces itself back to around 31 00:01:48,280 --> 00:01:51,400 Speaker 1: eighteen sixteen, eighteen thirty nine is a pretty early date 32 00:01:51,400 --> 00:01:54,360 Speaker 1: for digital cameras. Really, what I want to talk about 33 00:01:54,400 --> 00:01:57,920 Speaker 1: is discovery that is key to digital cameras. The actual 34 00:01:57,920 --> 00:02:00,520 Speaker 1: photography part will come along much later. But it was 35 00:02:00,520 --> 00:02:04,320 Speaker 1: in eighteen thirty nine when a teenage smarty pants named 36 00:02:04,560 --> 00:02:09,119 Speaker 1: Edmund Beckerel created a peculiar device. He took an acidic 37 00:02:09,200 --> 00:02:13,079 Speaker 1: solution and he added silver chloride to it, and then 38 00:02:13,120 --> 00:02:17,519 Speaker 1: he connected electrodes that were made of platinum to this mixture, 39 00:02:18,080 --> 00:02:20,480 Speaker 1: and he exposed the whole thing to light, and he 40 00:02:20,560 --> 00:02:24,240 Speaker 1: observed that when light hit the solution there was a 41 00:02:24,320 --> 00:02:28,960 Speaker 1: change in voltage, an electrical current would flow through the electrodes. 42 00:02:29,360 --> 00:02:33,040 Speaker 1: He had discovered the photovoltaic effect, which is the effect 43 00:02:33,080 --> 00:02:37,320 Speaker 1: of certain materials that change light energy into electrical energy, 44 00:02:37,960 --> 00:02:40,520 Speaker 1: the same thing that's the basis for stuff like solar panels. 45 00:02:40,600 --> 00:02:43,800 Speaker 1: Right now, we're going to jump ahead more than a century, 46 00:02:44,360 --> 00:02:49,160 Speaker 1: but that discovery would be key for digital cameras. And 47 00:02:49,200 --> 00:02:51,280 Speaker 1: we can give a quick nod to folks at Bell 48 00:02:51,400 --> 00:02:54,840 Speaker 1: Laboratories in nineteen forty seven who use semiconductors to invent 49 00:02:54,919 --> 00:02:59,720 Speaker 1: the point contact transistor. Semiconductors that will remind you are 50 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:04,240 Speaker 1: materials that under certain circumstances act as a conductor of 51 00:03:04,280 --> 00:03:08,880 Speaker 1: electricity and other circumstances act as an insulator. Well, we're 52 00:03:08,880 --> 00:03:10,400 Speaker 1: going to actually move all the way up to the 53 00:03:10,480 --> 00:03:13,760 Speaker 1: nineteen sixties and the golden age of the space race. 54 00:03:14,320 --> 00:03:17,680 Speaker 1: So one of the many brilliant people working on behalf 55 00:03:17,720 --> 00:03:21,560 Speaker 1: of the United States during the space Race was Eugene F. Lali. 56 00:03:21,960 --> 00:03:24,600 Speaker 1: He had been interested in photography ever since his childhood. 57 00:03:24,600 --> 00:03:28,440 Speaker 1: He even developed pund non intended, a method to reduce 58 00:03:28,680 --> 00:03:31,160 Speaker 1: red eye in color photos, when he was a teenager 59 00:03:31,400 --> 00:03:34,280 Speaker 1: using a Strobe light After he graduated college with a 60 00:03:34,280 --> 00:03:36,680 Speaker 1: degree in electrical engineering, he got a job working in 61 00:03:36,720 --> 00:03:41,720 Speaker 1: the aerospace industry and his focus, which again pund non intended, 62 00:03:42,040 --> 00:03:47,160 Speaker 1: was on interplanetary space exploration. He worked on proposals for 63 00:03:47,320 --> 00:03:50,920 Speaker 1: spacecraft design. He proposed features that would make it possible 64 00:03:50,960 --> 00:03:55,480 Speaker 1: for humans to journey to other planets or moons and such. Now, 65 00:03:55,560 --> 00:03:58,600 Speaker 1: one of the many challenges of space travel is navigation. 66 00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:01,760 Speaker 1: There are lots of challenge with space travel, for example, 67 00:04:02,280 --> 00:04:05,560 Speaker 1: keeping space from killing you, but navigation is definitely one 68 00:04:05,600 --> 00:04:07,920 Speaker 1: of them, and just knowing where you are in relation 69 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:10,560 Speaker 1: to everything else can be a bit of a challenge. 70 00:04:10,760 --> 00:04:14,160 Speaker 1: There aren't many landmarks out in space, and the road 71 00:04:14,200 --> 00:04:18,160 Speaker 1: signage is absolutely terrible. So Llli proposed a system that 72 00:04:18,200 --> 00:04:22,240 Speaker 1: would analyze light from celestial bodies to determine where spacecraft 73 00:04:22,400 --> 00:04:26,599 Speaker 1: was relative to everything else, essentially saying, oh, I recognize 74 00:04:26,640 --> 00:04:30,320 Speaker 1: this configuration and based upon the positioning that means you 75 00:04:30,520 --> 00:04:33,120 Speaker 1: have to be here. You can think of it almost 76 00:04:33,120 --> 00:04:35,520 Speaker 1: like a star map. And he put together a scientific 77 00:04:35,560 --> 00:04:38,520 Speaker 1: paper on the subject, and he titled it Mosaic Guidance 78 00:04:38,560 --> 00:04:41,640 Speaker 1: for Interplanetary Travel, and he presented his work at the 79 00:04:41,720 --> 00:04:45,680 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty one convention of the American Rocket Society. Now, 80 00:04:45,760 --> 00:04:50,440 Speaker 1: Lali's proposal was to create a special kind of ship, 81 00:04:50,760 --> 00:04:56,760 Speaker 1: a mosaic of photo detectors or photodiodes or photo sites, 82 00:04:56,800 --> 00:04:58,479 Speaker 1: you can think of it as any of those terms. 83 00:04:58,839 --> 00:05:01,919 Speaker 1: So these would collect light, they would then convert that 84 00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:05,000 Speaker 1: light to an electrical current, and then a computer system 85 00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:07,479 Speaker 1: would analyze the current coming from all these different photo 86 00:05:07,520 --> 00:05:10,880 Speaker 1: detectors to make sense of it all. And essentially Lolly 87 00:05:11,000 --> 00:05:13,480 Speaker 1: was describing a type of photosensor that you would find 88 00:05:13,520 --> 00:05:17,679 Speaker 1: in digital cameras. Now, his idea was ahead of its time. 89 00:05:17,960 --> 00:05:21,039 Speaker 1: It was solid as far as the concept goes, but 90 00:05:21,160 --> 00:05:23,479 Speaker 1: it would take several years before anyone was ready to 91 00:05:23,520 --> 00:05:26,039 Speaker 1: try and make something similar to what he described in 92 00:05:26,040 --> 00:05:30,000 Speaker 1: his paper. But it was absolutely on point. In fact, 93 00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:31,880 Speaker 1: it would take a little more than a decade before 94 00:05:31,920 --> 00:05:35,480 Speaker 1: someone else built upon Lolly's idea as far as digital 95 00:05:35,560 --> 00:05:40,039 Speaker 1: cameras are concerned. An engineer with Texas Instruments named Willis 96 00:05:40,080 --> 00:05:42,880 Speaker 1: Adcock filed a patent in nineteen seventy two for a 97 00:05:42,920 --> 00:05:46,920 Speaker 1: filmless camera, or, as the patent called it, an quote 98 00:05:47,200 --> 00:05:51,839 Speaker 1: electronic photography system end quote. Now. Adcock's patent described the 99 00:05:51,839 --> 00:05:56,400 Speaker 1: invention as again quote, a completely electronic system for recording 100 00:05:56,440 --> 00:06:01,520 Speaker 1: and subsequently displaying still life pictures include an optical electronic 101 00:06:01,560 --> 00:06:07,640 Speaker 1: transducer for generating electronic signals responsive to an optical image. Now, 102 00:06:07,680 --> 00:06:10,200 Speaker 1: in case you're not familiar with the term transducer, this 103 00:06:10,240 --> 00:06:12,760 Speaker 1: refers to any sort of device that converts one form 104 00:06:12,760 --> 00:06:15,479 Speaker 1: of energy to a different form of energy, So in 105 00:06:15,520 --> 00:06:19,960 Speaker 1: this case, the device would convert light energy into electrical energy. Now, 106 00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:22,880 Speaker 1: keep in mind the nineteen seventy two pre dates the 107 00:06:22,920 --> 00:06:26,440 Speaker 1: era of personal computers, so Adcock's description of his invention 108 00:06:26,839 --> 00:06:31,039 Speaker 1: references television sets as the display system for his invention. 109 00:06:31,400 --> 00:06:35,400 Speaker 1: He explains in the patent that the electronic photographic device 110 00:06:35,600 --> 00:06:38,920 Speaker 1: would sidestep the need for film, which also means there's 111 00:06:38,920 --> 00:06:42,640 Speaker 1: no need to develop whatever medium you're using to capture 112 00:06:42,680 --> 00:06:45,680 Speaker 1: the image. In this case, you know it's electrical currents, 113 00:06:45,720 --> 00:06:50,480 Speaker 1: not a physical film. Adcock puts forward that this would 114 00:06:50,480 --> 00:06:53,560 Speaker 1: mean his invention would be less expensive and more efficient 115 00:06:53,839 --> 00:06:57,440 Speaker 1: than film cameras, which is hard to argue. Right though, 116 00:06:57,440 --> 00:06:59,080 Speaker 1: it is a bit odd to think of just using 117 00:06:59,120 --> 00:07:02,640 Speaker 1: your television set to view your photos. So Adcock's version 118 00:07:02,960 --> 00:07:05,680 Speaker 1: also didn't make it to the consumer market. But folks 119 00:07:05,800 --> 00:07:09,000 Speaker 1: around this time started to experiment with early test designs 120 00:07:09,080 --> 00:07:12,960 Speaker 1: for digital cameras, and one such person was Steve Sassin. 121 00:07:13,480 --> 00:07:16,160 Speaker 1: He had joined Eastman Kodak as an engineer in nineteen 122 00:07:16,200 --> 00:07:20,240 Speaker 1: seventy three and put together a prototype digital camera. So 123 00:07:20,360 --> 00:07:23,640 Speaker 1: the sensor he used fell into the category of CCD, 124 00:07:23,800 --> 00:07:27,440 Speaker 1: which stands for charge coupled device. These were first invented 125 00:07:27,480 --> 00:07:31,000 Speaker 1: back in nineteen sixty nine, and it's the CCD's job 126 00:07:31,040 --> 00:07:33,800 Speaker 1: to capture light, to convert that light to an electrical charge, 127 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:36,520 Speaker 1: and to send that as data to the camera's processor. 128 00:07:36,760 --> 00:07:38,800 Speaker 1: But it actually has to go through a few more steps. 129 00:07:39,280 --> 00:07:42,120 Speaker 1: Has to go through an analog to digital converter first, 130 00:07:42,120 --> 00:07:45,840 Speaker 1: because electrical charge is an analog signal, right, It's continuous, 131 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:49,520 Speaker 1: it's not made up of binary steps. So you have 132 00:07:49,600 --> 00:07:52,600 Speaker 1: to convert that analog signal to a digital one in 133 00:07:52,720 --> 00:07:55,680 Speaker 1: order to process it with a computer processor. It does 134 00:07:55,720 --> 00:07:57,920 Speaker 1: get way more complicated than why I just described, but 135 00:07:57,960 --> 00:08:01,120 Speaker 1: you get the general idea. Now. The way CCD works 136 00:08:01,200 --> 00:08:05,520 Speaker 1: is that the charge created by the chip depends entirely 137 00:08:05,560 --> 00:08:08,240 Speaker 1: on the intensity of light that's hitting a specific part 138 00:08:08,280 --> 00:08:11,480 Speaker 1: of the CCD. So the order of operations is that 139 00:08:11,560 --> 00:08:14,120 Speaker 1: when you push the button on a camera in order 140 00:08:14,160 --> 00:08:17,280 Speaker 1: to take an image, a shutter opens up for a moment. Now, 141 00:08:17,320 --> 00:08:20,800 Speaker 1: the shutter otherwise blocks light coming in from the optics 142 00:08:20,800 --> 00:08:23,840 Speaker 1: of the camera the lenses that are designed to focus 143 00:08:23,920 --> 00:08:26,640 Speaker 1: light so that it hits the CCD when the shutter 144 00:08:26,720 --> 00:08:30,640 Speaker 1: is open, So light comes in, it's focused by the lenses, 145 00:08:31,000 --> 00:08:33,680 Speaker 1: it's passed through the gap created by the shutter opening. 146 00:08:33,679 --> 00:08:35,880 Speaker 1: This is also known as the aperture. By the way, 147 00:08:35,880 --> 00:08:38,640 Speaker 1: you can actually set the aperture to different values in 148 00:08:38,760 --> 00:08:42,600 Speaker 1: order to allow more or less light through. So the aperture, 149 00:08:42,600 --> 00:08:46,120 Speaker 1: along with the shutter speed, will adjust the exposure of 150 00:08:46,160 --> 00:08:49,360 Speaker 1: your image and then the light will hit the CCD. 151 00:08:49,480 --> 00:08:52,720 Speaker 1: So a CCD, if you were to get a microscope 152 00:08:52,760 --> 00:08:54,199 Speaker 1: out and take a look at it, it would look like 153 00:08:54,240 --> 00:08:57,440 Speaker 1: a little grid of squares, and each square in that 154 00:08:57,520 --> 00:09:01,720 Speaker 1: grid is a photovoltaic component that can transform light energy 155 00:09:01,760 --> 00:09:04,959 Speaker 1: into an electrical current. It is a photo site or photodiode. 156 00:09:05,360 --> 00:09:08,840 Speaker 1: One thing I didn't know about CCDs before this episode 157 00:09:09,120 --> 00:09:12,000 Speaker 1: is how they are wired, or rather how they aren't 158 00:09:12,040 --> 00:09:15,280 Speaker 1: wired in a way. So you might think, as I did, 159 00:09:15,920 --> 00:09:20,280 Speaker 1: that each individual square is wired to transfer the electrical 160 00:09:20,360 --> 00:09:24,640 Speaker 1: current it generates to a processor, you know, through a pathway. 161 00:09:24,840 --> 00:09:28,000 Speaker 1: But that's not the case. And the reason for that 162 00:09:28,240 --> 00:09:31,760 Speaker 1: is because if you did do it that way, you 163 00:09:31,760 --> 00:09:34,920 Speaker 1: would potentially ruin the image you were trying to take. 164 00:09:35,280 --> 00:09:38,560 Speaker 1: And this is because of leakage, that is electrical leakage. 165 00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:43,560 Speaker 1: So the densely packed tiny wires would leak electrical charge 166 00:09:43,600 --> 00:09:45,840 Speaker 1: and your finalized image would have flaws in it, like 167 00:09:45,880 --> 00:09:49,120 Speaker 1: streaks or striations. Now I wasn't familiar with that issue, 168 00:09:49,200 --> 00:09:51,800 Speaker 1: so big thanks to an eleven year old YouTube video 169 00:09:51,880 --> 00:09:55,600 Speaker 1: from engineer Guy for pointing it out. Now, interestingly, this 170 00:09:55,840 --> 00:10:00,480 Speaker 1: does contrast it with a different kind of image sensor, 171 00:10:00,520 --> 00:10:03,160 Speaker 1: which actually predates the CCD, But we'll get to that. 172 00:10:03,640 --> 00:10:08,760 Speaker 1: So if you're not wiring these individual squares so that 173 00:10:08,800 --> 00:10:11,760 Speaker 1: they each go to a processor, how does this work? 174 00:10:11,880 --> 00:10:16,000 Speaker 1: How can a CCD transfer charge so that it can 175 00:10:16,040 --> 00:10:19,880 Speaker 1: be processed well? As engineer Guy explains, a CCD is 176 00:10:19,920 --> 00:10:23,440 Speaker 1: made of silicon, and in the manufacturing process, engineers add 177 00:10:23,559 --> 00:10:27,240 Speaker 1: insulating sections to divide up the silicon into rows. So 178 00:10:27,280 --> 00:10:32,240 Speaker 1: you have these dividing lines that separate each row from 179 00:10:32,280 --> 00:10:36,480 Speaker 1: one another, and because it's insulated, the charge cannot pass 180 00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:41,680 Speaker 1: across this gap. Now, to create columns, engineers would add 181 00:10:41,679 --> 00:10:46,680 Speaker 1: strips of metal, typically aluminum, so each square is insulated 182 00:10:46,679 --> 00:10:50,280 Speaker 1: from its neighbors in channel stops. That's what's called And 183 00:10:50,440 --> 00:10:54,360 Speaker 1: when light hits this array of squares or photo sites, 184 00:10:55,200 --> 00:10:58,680 Speaker 1: each of these squares builds up an electrical charge relative 185 00:10:58,720 --> 00:11:01,400 Speaker 1: to the intensity of light that hit it. So if 186 00:11:01,440 --> 00:11:03,680 Speaker 1: one square was hit with more intense light, it's going 187 00:11:03,760 --> 00:11:06,680 Speaker 1: to have a different charge than that one that just 188 00:11:06,720 --> 00:11:09,880 Speaker 1: got a tiny bit of light. But collectively, all of 189 00:11:09,920 --> 00:11:14,040 Speaker 1: these squares capture an image in the form of an 190 00:11:14,120 --> 00:11:17,040 Speaker 1: electrical charge at this point. But to transfer that charge 191 00:11:17,040 --> 00:11:20,280 Speaker 1: and turn it into data, the CCD shifts the image 192 00:11:20,320 --> 00:11:23,559 Speaker 1: across the strips of alumnum or whatever other metal might 193 00:11:23,600 --> 00:11:25,840 Speaker 1: have been used. So it's kind of like the image 194 00:11:25,880 --> 00:11:30,360 Speaker 1: is moving row by row across the CCD To transfer 195 00:11:30,440 --> 00:11:33,280 Speaker 1: to the camera's memory. You get a row of charges 196 00:11:33,720 --> 00:11:37,600 Speaker 1: that gets transferred through an analog to digital converter and 197 00:11:37,640 --> 00:11:40,120 Speaker 1: goes to the processor, and the next row moves in, 198 00:11:40,559 --> 00:11:44,240 Speaker 1: so it's like bottom row is gone, next row comes down. 199 00:11:44,480 --> 00:11:47,439 Speaker 1: Sort of thing, not necessarily bottom, but you get the idea. 200 00:11:47,600 --> 00:11:49,920 Speaker 1: But it reminds me of how in the bad old 201 00:11:49,960 --> 00:11:51,920 Speaker 1: days of dial up internet, you would go to a 202 00:11:51,960 --> 00:11:54,520 Speaker 1: web page and if it had images on it, you 203 00:11:54,520 --> 00:11:57,360 Speaker 1: would watch as the image would load one row of 204 00:11:57,400 --> 00:12:00,000 Speaker 1: pixels at a time. It's kind of like that, except 205 00:12:00,080 --> 00:12:03,120 Speaker 1: in this case we're talking about shifting charges off a 206 00:12:03,200 --> 00:12:06,480 Speaker 1: grid of photosites and into memory one row at a time. Also, 207 00:12:06,520 --> 00:12:10,200 Speaker 1: the electrical signal again passes through an amplifier, so it's 208 00:12:10,200 --> 00:12:12,600 Speaker 1: an analog. It goes through an amplifier than an analog 209 00:12:12,640 --> 00:12:14,960 Speaker 1: to digital converter, and this is in order to have 210 00:12:14,960 --> 00:12:18,199 Speaker 1: a signal strong enough to be able to actually scan. Now, 211 00:12:18,240 --> 00:12:21,880 Speaker 1: remember a pixel is a point of light, so each 212 00:12:21,920 --> 00:12:26,480 Speaker 1: of these photosites is corresponding to a pixel in the image. 213 00:12:26,679 --> 00:12:29,320 Speaker 1: So a digital image consists of lots of these little 214 00:12:29,360 --> 00:12:33,440 Speaker 1: points of light, and collectively they represent the overall picture. 215 00:12:34,120 --> 00:12:37,880 Speaker 1: The more densely packed you have pixels of light, and 216 00:12:37,920 --> 00:12:41,800 Speaker 1: the more pixels that are there, generally speaking, the smoother 217 00:12:41,960 --> 00:12:44,920 Speaker 1: the picture is. If you have fewer pixels, it's going 218 00:12:44,960 --> 00:12:47,480 Speaker 1: to be a clunky picture. And I always describe this 219 00:12:47,559 --> 00:12:50,559 Speaker 1: as imagine you've got a collection of wooden blocks and 220 00:12:50,600 --> 00:12:53,959 Speaker 1: they're of different colors, and you're instructed to make an 221 00:12:54,080 --> 00:12:57,080 Speaker 1: image of a let's say it's a flower using these 222 00:12:57,480 --> 00:13:01,400 Speaker 1: wooden blocks. And let's say that the woodenlo are you know, 223 00:13:01,720 --> 00:13:05,280 Speaker 1: an inch to a side, and you've got you know, 224 00:13:05,640 --> 00:13:07,520 Speaker 1: enough to be able to make a picture, well an 225 00:13:07,559 --> 00:13:09,000 Speaker 1: inch to a side, it's probably going to be a 226 00:13:09,040 --> 00:13:15,520 Speaker 1: pretty clunky looking flower, unless you're building so that you're 227 00:13:15,600 --> 00:13:18,640 Speaker 1: taking an image from like twenty stories up or something. 228 00:13:19,080 --> 00:13:22,240 Speaker 1: So then let's say that you were given blocks that 229 00:13:22,280 --> 00:13:24,360 Speaker 1: were half an inch to a side, and you've got 230 00:13:24,760 --> 00:13:27,280 Speaker 1: more blocks now to build an image of a flower. Well, 231 00:13:27,280 --> 00:13:28,960 Speaker 1: that flower is probably going to look a little less 232 00:13:29,000 --> 00:13:31,960 Speaker 1: blocky than the first one, let's say a quarter inch 233 00:13:32,000 --> 00:13:33,720 Speaker 1: to a side, and so on and so on. As 234 00:13:33,760 --> 00:13:36,320 Speaker 1: the pixels get smaller and you're able to pack them 235 00:13:36,320 --> 00:13:40,640 Speaker 1: more densely together, the resulting image you get is of 236 00:13:41,000 --> 00:13:43,880 Speaker 1: a higher resolution. In order to make that happen, these 237 00:13:43,880 --> 00:13:47,040 Speaker 1: CCDs have to have a grid of photo sites that 238 00:13:47,080 --> 00:13:51,240 Speaker 1: are corresponding to all those pixels, so keep that in mind. 239 00:13:51,840 --> 00:13:53,520 Speaker 1: By the way, the CCD, like I said, is not 240 00:13:53,559 --> 00:13:56,120 Speaker 1: the only type of sensor for digital photography. The other 241 00:13:56,200 --> 00:14:00,400 Speaker 1: major type is called a complementary metal oxide semiconduct And 242 00:14:00,400 --> 00:14:03,320 Speaker 1: in this context, complementary doesn't mean the sensor says, hey, 243 00:14:03,320 --> 00:14:06,480 Speaker 1: you're looking sharp. Let's take a photo. The initialism for 244 00:14:06,679 --> 00:14:11,400 Speaker 1: this phrase is ce moss CMOS, and when we come 245 00:14:11,520 --> 00:14:15,520 Speaker 1: back we'll talk more about how a sea moss works 246 00:14:15,520 --> 00:14:20,360 Speaker 1: and how it is fundamentally different from CCD. We'll also 247 00:14:20,920 --> 00:14:25,480 Speaker 1: mention again that SEAMS predates CCD. But before we get 248 00:14:25,520 --> 00:14:27,640 Speaker 1: into all that, let's take a quick break to think 249 00:14:27,680 --> 00:14:39,440 Speaker 1: our sponsors. Okay, we're back and we're going to talk 250 00:14:39,440 --> 00:14:42,920 Speaker 1: about ce MOS. So, like a CCD, a SEAMS sensor 251 00:14:42,960 --> 00:14:46,560 Speaker 1: converts you know, photons of light into an electrical charge, 252 00:14:46,560 --> 00:14:51,200 Speaker 1: But unlike a CCD, each photodiode or pixel in a 253 00:14:51,240 --> 00:14:55,000 Speaker 1: sea moss sensor has its own amplifier, so these are 254 00:14:55,280 --> 00:14:59,560 Speaker 1: individually wired, whereas CCDs aren't. So rather than scanning the 255 00:15:00,080 --> 00:15:02,160 Speaker 1: charge just one row at a time, a SEAMAS sensor 256 00:15:02,200 --> 00:15:05,720 Speaker 1: sends an amplified signal from each photo site to an 257 00:15:05,720 --> 00:15:09,240 Speaker 1: analog to digital converter. Now this means that SEMAS sensors 258 00:15:09,480 --> 00:15:14,160 Speaker 1: create more noise than CCD sensors visual noise right, That 259 00:15:14,280 --> 00:15:17,320 Speaker 1: means you can get some artifacts due to electrical leakage. 260 00:15:17,520 --> 00:15:20,960 Speaker 1: Even so, SEMAS sensors are really prominent in embedded vision 261 00:15:21,000 --> 00:15:24,600 Speaker 1: applications in fact, they've overtaken CCDs. Now. One reason for 262 00:15:24,680 --> 00:15:28,440 Speaker 1: that is that SEMAS sensors draw less power than CCDs, 263 00:15:28,920 --> 00:15:32,680 Speaker 1: so you can extend battery life for example, which is 264 00:15:32,840 --> 00:15:34,600 Speaker 1: you know, that's a big deal, or you can make 265 00:15:34,640 --> 00:15:38,160 Speaker 1: it a smaller battery. Either way, right, you can either say, well, 266 00:15:38,200 --> 00:15:39,960 Speaker 1: i can use a smaller battery because I'm not drawing 267 00:15:40,000 --> 00:15:42,880 Speaker 1: as much power, so I can have just as much charge, 268 00:15:43,160 --> 00:15:45,400 Speaker 1: but I can reduce the weight of the overall unit. 269 00:15:45,440 --> 00:15:47,360 Speaker 1: If we're talking about a headset, that's a big deal, 270 00:15:47,600 --> 00:15:49,240 Speaker 1: right if you're going to be wearing that for hours. 271 00:15:49,800 --> 00:15:52,120 Speaker 1: Or conversely, you could say, well, we're going to keep 272 00:15:52,160 --> 00:15:54,280 Speaker 1: the battery the same size, but now we'll be able 273 00:15:54,320 --> 00:15:56,920 Speaker 1: to power the device longer than we could if we 274 00:15:56,920 --> 00:15:59,920 Speaker 1: were to use a CCD sensor. SEMAS sensors are also 275 00:16:00,240 --> 00:16:03,280 Speaker 1: far less expensive than CCDs, so that make them makes 276 00:16:03,320 --> 00:16:05,400 Speaker 1: them a really attractive option when you're trying to keep 277 00:16:05,440 --> 00:16:08,440 Speaker 1: product prices under control, unless you're Apple, in which case 278 00:16:08,440 --> 00:16:10,280 Speaker 1: you just crank that number up as high or even 279 00:16:10,360 --> 00:16:13,920 Speaker 1: higher than the market will allow. Anyway, for the early 280 00:16:14,000 --> 00:16:17,440 Speaker 1: days of digital cameras, CCDs were really where it was at. 281 00:16:17,640 --> 00:16:20,760 Speaker 1: It would take years of work to mitigate the issues 282 00:16:20,760 --> 00:16:23,640 Speaker 1: with noise reduction in seams technology for those sensors to 283 00:16:23,640 --> 00:16:26,640 Speaker 1: really catch up and then take the lead. So a 284 00:16:26,680 --> 00:16:28,320 Speaker 1: lot of the rest of this episode is really going 285 00:16:28,360 --> 00:16:31,240 Speaker 1: to be about devices that used CCD sensors. Just know 286 00:16:31,320 --> 00:16:36,960 Speaker 1: that eventually Sea Moss took their place. Now back to Sassin, 287 00:16:37,360 --> 00:16:39,960 Speaker 1: right if you forgot. He's the guy I talked about 288 00:16:39,960 --> 00:16:42,280 Speaker 1: before the break. He's the one who built an early 289 00:16:42,400 --> 00:16:48,800 Speaker 1: prototype digital camera. So his boss, Gareth Lloyd, had suspected 290 00:16:48,840 --> 00:16:51,520 Speaker 1: that the charge coupled device or CCD might make a 291 00:16:51,600 --> 00:16:55,560 Speaker 1: practical use in photography, so he gave Sassin a dream assignment. 292 00:16:55,640 --> 00:16:57,920 Speaker 1: He said, you know, see what you can do with 293 00:16:58,120 --> 00:17:00,160 Speaker 1: this thing. See if you can make something out of it. 294 00:17:00,680 --> 00:17:03,880 Speaker 1: Because Sassin had a background in electrical engineering, and while 295 00:17:03,880 --> 00:17:06,240 Speaker 1: he was working for Kodak, people were worried that he 296 00:17:06,280 --> 00:17:10,640 Speaker 1: would get into trouble because he was apparently very curious 297 00:17:10,760 --> 00:17:13,360 Speaker 1: kind of guy, as in curious as in how does 298 00:17:13,400 --> 00:17:16,880 Speaker 1: this work? Not man? That guy is weird. So Sassin 299 00:17:17,160 --> 00:17:20,840 Speaker 1: has said that hardly anyone knew about his project, but 300 00:17:20,920 --> 00:17:24,679 Speaker 1: it wasn't because it was some sort of top secret project. Instead, 301 00:17:24,680 --> 00:17:27,320 Speaker 1: it was seen in such a small operation that no 302 00:17:27,359 --> 00:17:30,720 Speaker 1: one really knew it was going on, just you know. 303 00:17:30,920 --> 00:17:34,359 Speaker 1: Was also not a straight path from assignment to complete 304 00:17:34,359 --> 00:17:36,800 Speaker 1: a project. He said it was a lot of learning 305 00:17:36,840 --> 00:17:39,040 Speaker 1: and a lot of mistakes along the way, and that 306 00:17:39,359 --> 00:17:42,399 Speaker 1: often he questioned the wisdom of agreeing to do the 307 00:17:42,400 --> 00:17:45,919 Speaker 1: project in the first place. But in December nineteen seventy 308 00:17:45,960 --> 00:17:49,399 Speaker 1: five he had himself a prototype and his camera was 309 00:17:49,440 --> 00:17:52,680 Speaker 1: a bit of a Frankenstein's monster, so he had salvaged 310 00:17:52,680 --> 00:17:56,640 Speaker 1: a lens from a Super eight film camera. The circuitry 311 00:17:57,000 --> 00:18:01,000 Speaker 1: mixed analog and digital elements, or he had to include 312 00:18:01,000 --> 00:18:04,720 Speaker 1: an analog digital converter in this as well. The CCD 313 00:18:04,920 --> 00:18:08,000 Speaker 1: array was also part of this. Obviously, there was more 314 00:18:08,000 --> 00:18:10,960 Speaker 1: than a dozen nickel cadmium batteries to power the thing, 315 00:18:11,080 --> 00:18:15,000 Speaker 1: and it weighed nearly nine pounds, pretty hefty for a 316 00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:17,000 Speaker 1: digital camera. You would not want to carry one of 317 00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:21,639 Speaker 1: those around on casual outings. It had no mechanical shutter. 318 00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:25,119 Speaker 1: Assassin did incorporate an electronic shutter with a shutter speed 319 00:18:25,119 --> 00:18:27,720 Speaker 1: of one twentieth of a second, and he discovered that 320 00:18:27,760 --> 00:18:31,280 Speaker 1: the CCD was sensitive to infrared light and that this 321 00:18:31,320 --> 00:18:35,520 Speaker 1: would sometimes cause issues when he was taking images indoors, 322 00:18:35,960 --> 00:18:39,679 Speaker 1: so he also added an infrared filter to block IR out. 323 00:18:40,240 --> 00:18:42,920 Speaker 1: As for memory, while he decided to go straight to storage, 324 00:18:42,920 --> 00:18:46,359 Speaker 1: he used a tape assembly as in magnetic tape, so 325 00:18:46,680 --> 00:18:49,920 Speaker 1: it worked on a principle similar to audio cassettes or 326 00:18:50,000 --> 00:18:54,080 Speaker 1: VHS tapes or cam quarters old tape based camquarders. There 327 00:18:54,119 --> 00:18:56,720 Speaker 1: are pictures of this prototype online. You should check it 328 00:18:56,720 --> 00:18:59,680 Speaker 1: out if you are curious, because it really does look 329 00:18:59,800 --> 00:19:03,719 Speaker 1: like of Frankenstein's monster. It is an odd collection of parts. 330 00:19:04,200 --> 00:19:07,359 Speaker 1: The digital camera could capture images at a resolution of 331 00:19:07,480 --> 00:19:10,280 Speaker 1: one hundred pixels by one hundred pixels, so in my 332 00:19:10,720 --> 00:19:13,000 Speaker 1: example of using wooden blocks, it would be as if 333 00:19:13,040 --> 00:19:17,280 Speaker 1: you had, you know, ten thousand blocks in order to 334 00:19:17,320 --> 00:19:20,399 Speaker 1: make a picture, and it could be one hundred blocks 335 00:19:20,400 --> 00:19:23,439 Speaker 1: per side. So yeah, the full image would be approximately 336 00:19:23,480 --> 00:19:26,520 Speaker 1: ten thousand pixels. Much later we would talk about digital 337 00:19:26,560 --> 00:19:30,320 Speaker 1: camera resolution in terms of megapixels or millions of pixels. 338 00:19:30,320 --> 00:19:32,919 Speaker 1: So ten thousand pixels is a far cry from what 339 00:19:32,960 --> 00:19:35,760 Speaker 1: we would see with consumer digital cameras or the kind 340 00:19:35,760 --> 00:19:37,960 Speaker 1: that's even in your phone. But you know, it was 341 00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:40,919 Speaker 1: a start, and we'll get back to megapixels. As it 342 00:19:40,960 --> 00:19:43,440 Speaker 1: turns out when you hear a camera has a fifteen 343 00:19:43,480 --> 00:19:47,520 Speaker 1: megapixel sensor in it or whatever. That doesn't necessarily mean 344 00:19:47,600 --> 00:19:49,600 Speaker 1: that all those pixels are going to end up in 345 00:19:49,600 --> 00:19:52,359 Speaker 1: the final image. But we'll get back to that. So 346 00:19:52,520 --> 00:19:55,440 Speaker 1: Sassin showed off his work to his colleagues over at Kodak, 347 00:19:55,560 --> 00:19:58,639 Speaker 1: and he took photos with this very weird camera and 348 00:19:58,680 --> 00:20:00,919 Speaker 1: then he popped the tape out of the camera and 349 00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:03,600 Speaker 1: inserted it into a playback device that was connected to 350 00:20:03,640 --> 00:20:06,680 Speaker 1: a television, so again similar to something like a VCR. 351 00:20:07,040 --> 00:20:09,480 Speaker 1: He showed how the images would display on the TV 352 00:20:09,560 --> 00:20:12,879 Speaker 1: screen and his peers they thought it was interesting, but 353 00:20:12,960 --> 00:20:15,320 Speaker 1: they didn't really see a practical application. I mean, who 354 00:20:15,320 --> 00:20:17,280 Speaker 1: the heck would want to look at their photos on 355 00:20:17,320 --> 00:20:21,000 Speaker 1: their television? To them, it seemed impractical and unrealistic. Keep 356 00:20:21,040 --> 00:20:24,000 Speaker 1: in mind, this is still really before personal computers had 357 00:20:24,080 --> 00:20:28,040 Speaker 1: taken off, so Assassin's work was largely dismissed. It's also 358 00:20:28,280 --> 00:20:31,560 Speaker 1: worth pointing out that Kodak was very much in the 359 00:20:31,600 --> 00:20:35,119 Speaker 1: film business, so not only did film seem to be 360 00:20:35,200 --> 00:20:37,640 Speaker 1: the winning strategy at the time, it was the crux 361 00:20:37,760 --> 00:20:41,919 Speaker 1: of their entire enterprise. The company had an incentive to 362 00:20:42,000 --> 00:20:47,480 Speaker 1: dismiss digital photography because digital photography doesn't need film or 363 00:20:48,160 --> 00:20:51,000 Speaker 1: processing or development. You don't need any of that. It's 364 00:20:51,040 --> 00:20:54,960 Speaker 1: all the stuff that was the foundation of Kodak's business. 365 00:20:55,480 --> 00:20:59,120 Speaker 1: So you could argue that Kodak partly ignored digital photography 366 00:20:59,160 --> 00:21:03,119 Speaker 1: because it it was really inconvenient to its established business strategy. 367 00:21:03,520 --> 00:21:06,439 Speaker 1: I've heard similar arguments made against certain car companies and 368 00:21:06,520 --> 00:21:11,560 Speaker 1: their slow move to develop fully electric vehicles that because 369 00:21:11,760 --> 00:21:16,000 Speaker 1: that was inconvenient to their business strategy, they purposefully ignored 370 00:21:16,040 --> 00:21:20,400 Speaker 1: it and then got left behind. Anyway, while Sassin's invention 371 00:21:20,640 --> 00:21:23,320 Speaker 1: was neat, it was really ahead of its time. I mean, 372 00:21:23,359 --> 00:21:26,120 Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy five, we're just getting into the very 373 00:21:26,160 --> 00:21:28,880 Speaker 1: earliest days of personal computers, for goodness sakes, and at 374 00:21:28,880 --> 00:21:34,400 Speaker 1: that time really only nerdy hobbyists were into PCs. While 375 00:21:34,480 --> 00:21:37,840 Speaker 1: Kodak arguably made a big old whoopsie by not pursuing 376 00:21:37,880 --> 00:21:40,800 Speaker 1: digital photography earlier, you can hardly blame the company for 377 00:21:40,840 --> 00:21:43,159 Speaker 1: not embracing a tech that just didn't really have a 378 00:21:43,240 --> 00:21:46,680 Speaker 1: place in the industry just yet. Sassin would still work 379 00:21:46,720 --> 00:21:49,320 Speaker 1: on R and D with digital cameras, as did other 380 00:21:49,400 --> 00:21:52,520 Speaker 1: engineers around the world. One problem that needed solving was 381 00:21:52,560 --> 00:21:56,000 Speaker 1: how to capture color because the CCD could convert light 382 00:21:56,080 --> 00:21:58,840 Speaker 1: to electrical current, but there was no information about color 383 00:21:58,960 --> 00:22:01,000 Speaker 1: in that signal, so you would end up with a 384 00:22:01,040 --> 00:22:04,199 Speaker 1: black and white photograph. To get color, you would need 385 00:22:04,240 --> 00:22:07,639 Speaker 1: to add a filter of some sort and then program 386 00:22:07,640 --> 00:22:12,800 Speaker 1: a processor to interpret the charges coming through in order 387 00:22:12,840 --> 00:22:16,800 Speaker 1: to add color to the final image. So typically you 388 00:22:16,800 --> 00:22:20,399 Speaker 1: would do this with a mosaic of filters, and you 389 00:22:20,400 --> 00:22:24,560 Speaker 1: would have rows that often would alternate red and green 390 00:22:24,640 --> 00:22:26,720 Speaker 1: squares at the top row, and then the next row 391 00:22:26,760 --> 00:22:28,800 Speaker 1: would be blue and green squares, and then back to 392 00:22:28,840 --> 00:22:31,200 Speaker 1: red and green and so on, and so you would 393 00:22:31,200 --> 00:22:34,200 Speaker 1: just have this grid of little squares alternating between these colors, 394 00:22:34,240 --> 00:22:37,160 Speaker 1: and each filter would block light of its corresponding color 395 00:22:37,200 --> 00:22:40,800 Speaker 1: from passing through, so only light from other colors would 396 00:22:40,840 --> 00:22:43,840 Speaker 1: make it through that filter. So a blue filter blocks 397 00:22:43,880 --> 00:22:46,800 Speaker 1: blue light and a green filter blocks green light, et cetera. 398 00:22:47,119 --> 00:22:49,720 Speaker 1: Now this affects the intensity of the light that actually 399 00:22:49,800 --> 00:22:53,560 Speaker 1: reaches the CCD, and thus it affects the electrical charge. 400 00:22:53,680 --> 00:22:56,280 Speaker 1: As I said, you have to program the processor to 401 00:22:56,320 --> 00:22:59,199 Speaker 1: do this, but the processor can interpret these values and 402 00:22:59,240 --> 00:23:03,119 Speaker 1: apply that rotation to determine the color that each pixel 403 00:23:03,119 --> 00:23:06,880 Speaker 1: should show. This also involves some error correction. The processor 404 00:23:07,040 --> 00:23:10,159 Speaker 1: determines each pixel's color in part by comparing it to 405 00:23:10,359 --> 00:23:14,600 Speaker 1: neighboring pixels, which sounds weird, right, Like you're saying, what 406 00:23:14,800 --> 00:23:18,720 Speaker 1: color is pixel twelve? Well, let's look at pixels eleven 407 00:23:18,720 --> 00:23:22,040 Speaker 1: and thirteen, and let's also look above and below this pixel, 408 00:23:22,400 --> 00:23:24,760 Speaker 1: and all of that together will help us determine what 409 00:23:24,880 --> 00:23:26,919 Speaker 1: color it should be. But you got to think, well, 410 00:23:26,920 --> 00:23:28,639 Speaker 1: you have to do this to all the pixels all 411 00:23:28,760 --> 00:23:31,400 Speaker 1: the same time, right, It's not like you just magically 412 00:23:31,400 --> 00:23:34,919 Speaker 1: have determined one pixels color. So very interesting stuff. But 413 00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:37,560 Speaker 1: let's skip ahead to the nineteen eighties now. As I said, 414 00:23:37,640 --> 00:23:41,399 Speaker 1: numerous engineers worked on advancing digital camera technology, though at 415 00:23:41,400 --> 00:23:44,560 Speaker 1: this point there really weren't any digital cameras on the market. 416 00:23:44,800 --> 00:23:47,720 Speaker 1: A few sectors were making use of early digital cameras, 417 00:23:47,760 --> 00:23:49,720 Speaker 1: but this was like stuff like in you know, high 418 00:23:49,760 --> 00:23:54,440 Speaker 1: tech military applications and sometimes medical or scientific applications, but 419 00:23:54,440 --> 00:23:56,240 Speaker 1: it would take a lot more time to become a 420 00:23:56,320 --> 00:24:00,639 Speaker 1: practical consumer electronic device. Now up in the Great White North. 421 00:24:00,960 --> 00:24:03,600 Speaker 1: That's an affectionate term for Canada, in case you're not 422 00:24:03,600 --> 00:24:07,440 Speaker 1: familiar with that phrase. The University of Calgary's science team 423 00:24:07,800 --> 00:24:10,399 Speaker 1: designed a digital camera to take pictures of the sky 424 00:24:10,840 --> 00:24:14,080 Speaker 1: to catch the northern lights you know, auroras. In other words, 425 00:24:14,359 --> 00:24:17,240 Speaker 1: they used CCDs similar to what Sassin had used, the 426 00:24:17,560 --> 00:24:20,480 Speaker 1: old one hundred by one hundred pixel kind, and their 427 00:24:20,560 --> 00:24:25,119 Speaker 1: design was all digital. They didn't have analog circuits like 428 00:24:25,240 --> 00:24:28,639 Speaker 1: Sassin's design did, although they still had to you know, 429 00:24:28,840 --> 00:24:34,479 Speaker 1: convert stuff, because electrical current is still an analog signal. Ultimately, well, 430 00:24:34,520 --> 00:24:38,720 Speaker 1: in the mid nineteen eighties, the Japanese company Nikon created 431 00:24:38,960 --> 00:24:45,320 Speaker 1: the first digital single lens reflex camera or DSLR camera. However, 432 00:24:45,440 --> 00:24:48,840 Speaker 1: this prototype, called the Nikon SVC, which stood for still 433 00:24:49,080 --> 00:24:53,640 Speaker 1: video Camera, wasn't entirely digital. It used an analog format 434 00:24:53,680 --> 00:24:56,879 Speaker 1: for media storage. Still, Nikon's work would lead to an 435 00:24:56,920 --> 00:24:59,960 Speaker 1: incredibly popular form factor a few years down the road. 436 00:25:00,480 --> 00:25:02,439 Speaker 1: And you might owe, my Drew Giz wonder what a 437 00:25:02,560 --> 00:25:07,160 Speaker 1: digital single lens reflex camera even means. Now you've definitely 438 00:25:07,160 --> 00:25:09,480 Speaker 1: seen them, you might own one, you might use one 439 00:25:09,480 --> 00:25:13,320 Speaker 1: all the time, But what makes a DSLR camera? Well, 440 00:25:13,600 --> 00:25:16,399 Speaker 1: to answer that, it's good to first just focus on 441 00:25:16,440 --> 00:25:21,800 Speaker 1: the SLR part, because those cameras predated the digital kind. 442 00:25:21,840 --> 00:25:25,800 Speaker 1: We had film based ones, so a single lens reflex 443 00:25:25,880 --> 00:25:29,240 Speaker 1: camera uses a peculiar arrangement of mirrors so that the 444 00:25:29,240 --> 00:25:33,000 Speaker 1: photographer can see through the viewfinder and they're looking exactly 445 00:25:33,040 --> 00:25:35,359 Speaker 1: at what they're about to capture when they snap a photo. 446 00:25:35,880 --> 00:25:37,639 Speaker 1: I'll see if I can explain it here. It is 447 00:25:37,680 --> 00:25:42,199 Speaker 1: tricky without visual aids. But light comes inside the camera 448 00:25:42,359 --> 00:25:46,480 Speaker 1: through the lens right, so the lens focuses light into 449 00:25:46,520 --> 00:25:50,400 Speaker 1: the camera. Now, normally it would just aim this light 450 00:25:50,480 --> 00:25:53,760 Speaker 1: back toward the aperture, but in front of the aperture 451 00:25:54,119 --> 00:25:57,480 Speaker 1: is a mirror that's angled, so it reflects light upward 452 00:25:57,640 --> 00:26:01,040 Speaker 1: into the camera toward the viewfinder. Now, the light doesn't 453 00:26:01,040 --> 00:26:03,720 Speaker 1: go straight to the viewfinder. Instead, the light hits what's 454 00:26:03,760 --> 00:26:08,160 Speaker 1: called a penta mirror, and as the name implies, pina mirror, 455 00:26:08,400 --> 00:26:11,600 Speaker 1: it is a five sided mirror. This mirror bounces the 456 00:26:11,640 --> 00:26:13,960 Speaker 1: light around so that it can aim correctly for the 457 00:26:14,040 --> 00:26:17,600 Speaker 1: viewfinder as well as you know, not be all upside 458 00:26:17,640 --> 00:26:21,040 Speaker 1: down and reversed and everything. This allows the photographer to 459 00:26:21,080 --> 00:26:24,760 Speaker 1: see the scene as it is seen through the lens, 460 00:26:25,280 --> 00:26:27,600 Speaker 1: and that means that they have a clear idea of 461 00:26:27,600 --> 00:26:29,880 Speaker 1: what they're about to capture. Now, this is in contrast 462 00:26:29,920 --> 00:26:32,880 Speaker 1: to other kinds of cameras which might use a separate 463 00:26:32,920 --> 00:26:35,680 Speaker 1: set of optics just for the viewfinder, which means the 464 00:26:35,680 --> 00:26:38,919 Speaker 1: photographer is seeing the image through a different optical path 465 00:26:39,400 --> 00:26:41,840 Speaker 1: than what is going to hit the film, so you 466 00:26:41,440 --> 00:26:45,200 Speaker 1: can you can have some discrepancies there, But with this approach, 467 00:26:45,280 --> 00:26:49,120 Speaker 1: the SLR approach, you're looking at the exact same light 468 00:26:49,760 --> 00:26:52,920 Speaker 1: that is ultimately going to hit your medium, whether it's 469 00:26:53,240 --> 00:26:57,159 Speaker 1: film or a CCD or SEMAS. So snapping a photo 470 00:26:57,240 --> 00:27:00,040 Speaker 1: means that the first reflecting mirror, the one that it 471 00:27:00,280 --> 00:27:02,399 Speaker 1: captures the light from the lens and knocks it up 472 00:27:02,440 --> 00:27:04,600 Speaker 1: to the penta mirror. That mirror actually moves out of 473 00:27:04,640 --> 00:27:07,440 Speaker 1: the way as the shutter opens, and that lets light 474 00:27:07,640 --> 00:27:11,760 Speaker 1: pass beyond the mirror, go past the shutter, go through 475 00:27:11,800 --> 00:27:14,919 Speaker 1: the aperture, and then hit the exposed medium at the 476 00:27:15,080 --> 00:27:16,879 Speaker 1: end of the sequence. You know, at the end of 477 00:27:16,920 --> 00:27:19,600 Speaker 1: this moment, the mirror moves back in place and the 478 00:27:19,600 --> 00:27:22,679 Speaker 1: shutter closes of the film advances. So for just a second, 479 00:27:22,840 --> 00:27:25,800 Speaker 1: when you do snap that picture, you no longer have 480 00:27:26,080 --> 00:27:29,919 Speaker 1: a visual pathway through that optical lens through the viewfinder, 481 00:27:30,160 --> 00:27:33,840 Speaker 1: so your view is shut off for a moment. With 482 00:27:33,960 --> 00:27:37,120 Speaker 1: digital SLRs, like I said, the whole process is the same. 483 00:27:37,200 --> 00:27:40,000 Speaker 1: It's just instead of film, you're exposing a CCD or 484 00:27:40,040 --> 00:27:43,240 Speaker 1: C moss to light. But the basic concept is otherwise identical. 485 00:27:43,440 --> 00:27:45,560 Speaker 1: A series of mirrors provides the photographer a view of 486 00:27:45,560 --> 00:27:48,800 Speaker 1: what they're about to capture, and it's pretty darn neat all, right. 487 00:27:49,080 --> 00:27:52,000 Speaker 1: But we also had the phrase still video camera, right, 488 00:27:52,480 --> 00:27:55,560 Speaker 1: that was what Nikon was using an SVC, So what 489 00:27:55,680 --> 00:27:58,600 Speaker 1: the heck is that? Well, in the nineteen eighties, one 490 00:27:58,640 --> 00:28:01,800 Speaker 1: line of research that pre dates the consumer digital camera 491 00:28:02,080 --> 00:28:04,359 Speaker 1: was to capture still images as if they were a 492 00:28:04,520 --> 00:28:09,119 Speaker 1: single frame of video. So each still photo would be 493 00:28:09,160 --> 00:28:11,240 Speaker 1: a single frame in a video as if you were 494 00:28:11,240 --> 00:28:14,840 Speaker 1: shooting video itself. Those frames could be stored on magnetic tape, 495 00:28:14,960 --> 00:28:18,760 Speaker 1: similar to vhs. These were not digital cameras because they 496 00:28:18,760 --> 00:28:22,240 Speaker 1: stored information in analog format, and they didn't become popular 497 00:28:22,320 --> 00:28:26,159 Speaker 1: consumer products either. It was more like a developmental step 498 00:28:26,480 --> 00:28:31,360 Speaker 1: toward digital cameras. They bridged a gap between purely analog 499 00:28:31,520 --> 00:28:35,199 Speaker 1: and purely digital and film and digital. They had some 500 00:28:35,320 --> 00:28:38,480 Speaker 1: limited use in the late eighties and early nineties, primarily 501 00:28:38,520 --> 00:28:42,400 Speaker 1: in things like journalism, so they were being used in 502 00:28:42,520 --> 00:28:45,840 Speaker 1: various industries. They just weren't making their way to the 503 00:28:45,880 --> 00:28:49,520 Speaker 1: consumer market now. According to CNET, what should have been 504 00:28:49,560 --> 00:28:53,560 Speaker 1: the first handheld digital camera was the Fuji DS one P, 505 00:28:54,080 --> 00:28:56,680 Speaker 1: which was produced in nineteen eighty eight, and it would 506 00:28:56,680 --> 00:28:59,480 Speaker 1: store images in digital file formats and save to a 507 00:28:59,520 --> 00:29:03,120 Speaker 1: memory car holding sixteen whole megabytes of storage space. But 508 00:29:03,280 --> 00:29:07,200 Speaker 1: this camera never graduated into becoming an actual product. Instead, 509 00:29:07,240 --> 00:29:09,240 Speaker 1: the first digital camera sold in the US as a 510 00:29:09,280 --> 00:29:13,000 Speaker 1: consumer product was the Diecam Model one, also known as 511 00:29:13,080 --> 00:29:17,200 Speaker 1: the Logitech Photo Man in nineteen ninety. We'll talk more 512 00:29:17,240 --> 00:29:20,400 Speaker 1: about this early digital camera after we take a quick 513 00:29:20,480 --> 00:29:34,000 Speaker 1: break to thank our sponsors. So we're back and we're 514 00:29:34,000 --> 00:29:37,920 Speaker 1: talking about the Diecam Model one, the first digital camera 515 00:29:38,000 --> 00:29:40,120 Speaker 1: sold in the United States. Keep in mind there are 516 00:29:40,120 --> 00:29:42,040 Speaker 1: other cameras that were sold in other parts of the world, 517 00:29:42,120 --> 00:29:44,720 Speaker 1: but I'm based in the US, so there's the bias, 518 00:29:45,040 --> 00:29:47,480 Speaker 1: and I'm guessing there wasn't a ton of confidence behind 519 00:29:47,480 --> 00:29:50,920 Speaker 1: this new technology. According to the Digital Camera Museum, the 520 00:29:50,960 --> 00:29:54,800 Speaker 1: Diecam Model one shipped in quote unquote plane boxes and 521 00:29:54,920 --> 00:29:58,480 Speaker 1: that they typically have very small serial numbers. Like their 522 00:29:58,520 --> 00:30:01,840 Speaker 1: serial numbers are four days, digits and lengths, which indicates 523 00:30:01,840 --> 00:30:05,200 Speaker 1: a pretty small number of them were ever manufactured. Right, 524 00:30:05,280 --> 00:30:08,320 Speaker 1: If you think that limits you up to zero zero 525 00:30:08,480 --> 00:30:11,800 Speaker 1: zero zero to nine nine ninety nine, well that's ten 526 00:30:11,840 --> 00:30:14,240 Speaker 1: thousand units. That's not very many, and that's if you 527 00:30:14,360 --> 00:30:18,000 Speaker 1: use every single variation of the four digits for that 528 00:30:18,080 --> 00:30:22,160 Speaker 1: serial number. The manufacturer suggested retail price for the Diecam 529 00:30:22,200 --> 00:30:25,240 Speaker 1: Model one was a hefty nine hundred and ninety five dollars. 530 00:30:25,680 --> 00:30:27,520 Speaker 1: Now keep in mind this is nineteen ninety, so we 531 00:30:27,600 --> 00:30:30,000 Speaker 1: have to adjust for inflation. If we do that, then 532 00:30:30,040 --> 00:30:32,920 Speaker 1: that means the Diecam Model one would cost around twenty 533 00:30:33,040 --> 00:30:36,160 Speaker 1: four hundred dollars today. Not unheard of for digital cameras. 534 00:30:36,160 --> 00:30:37,880 Speaker 1: I mean, there are some out there that are much 535 00:30:37,920 --> 00:30:41,440 Speaker 1: more expensive, but yeah, pretty hefty price tag. This camera 536 00:30:41,480 --> 00:30:46,920 Speaker 1: had a massive whole single megabyte of storage space. That's 537 00:30:46,960 --> 00:30:49,320 Speaker 1: me being a little cheeky there. As for image resolution, 538 00:30:49,760 --> 00:30:51,600 Speaker 1: it was just three hundred and seventy two by two 539 00:30:51,720 --> 00:30:54,560 Speaker 1: hundred forty pixels, which if you multiply those together that 540 00:30:54,680 --> 00:30:57,880 Speaker 1: means total you get eighty nine two hundred eighty pixels. 541 00:30:58,160 --> 00:31:02,440 Speaker 1: So still nowhere closed to the megapixel range. Now, this 542 00:31:02,640 --> 00:31:04,920 Speaker 1: is a good time to talk about stuff like resolution 543 00:31:05,000 --> 00:31:08,000 Speaker 1: and megapixels. As I mentioned, earlier. Just because the device 544 00:31:08,120 --> 00:31:10,720 Speaker 1: might be marketed as having a certain number of megapixels 545 00:31:11,040 --> 00:31:14,040 Speaker 1: doesn't mean that every single pixel is actually used in 546 00:31:14,120 --> 00:31:17,840 Speaker 1: the final image that you capture. Some of those pixels 547 00:31:17,920 --> 00:31:20,920 Speaker 1: might be used for things like error correction and image 548 00:31:20,960 --> 00:31:24,160 Speaker 1: stabilization in the processing phase, so it leaves you with 549 00:31:24,240 --> 00:31:26,720 Speaker 1: fewer pixels to make up the actual image itself. So, 550 00:31:26,800 --> 00:31:31,160 Speaker 1: for example, according to Canon's website, the Canon PowerShot V 551 00:31:31,240 --> 00:31:36,840 Speaker 1: ten is marketed as a twenty point nine megapixel sensor camera. However, 552 00:31:37,240 --> 00:31:39,760 Speaker 1: if you're shooting video, you actually end up with a 553 00:31:39,840 --> 00:31:44,040 Speaker 1: thirteen point one megapixel resolution video, and if you're shooting 554 00:31:44,080 --> 00:31:47,040 Speaker 1: still images, then those images are going to have fifteen 555 00:31:47,080 --> 00:31:50,360 Speaker 1: point two megapixels. So while the camera has twenty point 556 00:31:50,480 --> 00:31:54,560 Speaker 1: nine megapixels on the sensor, none of those megapixels are 557 00:31:54,600 --> 00:31:57,760 Speaker 1: actually making it to the final images. I don't think 558 00:31:58,160 --> 00:32:00,360 Speaker 1: it's really as big a deal these days, but once 559 00:32:00,440 --> 00:32:03,800 Speaker 1: upon a time, megapixels was kind of shorthand for digital 560 00:32:03,840 --> 00:32:09,440 Speaker 1: camera quality, which was a bit misleading, and generally speaking, 561 00:32:09,520 --> 00:32:13,120 Speaker 1: people thought, Okay, a bigger number is better, right, that 562 00:32:13,240 --> 00:32:15,360 Speaker 1: just makes it easy. So that meant if you were 563 00:32:15,400 --> 00:32:18,360 Speaker 1: looking in the store and you had two different digital 564 00:32:18,440 --> 00:32:20,280 Speaker 1: camera boxes in front of you, and one of them 565 00:32:20,280 --> 00:32:22,959 Speaker 1: says it's a ten megapixel digital camera, and the other 566 00:32:23,000 --> 00:32:26,360 Speaker 1: one says it's a twelve megapixel camera. Well, clearly the 567 00:32:26,400 --> 00:32:29,640 Speaker 1: twelve megapixel has to be superior. Except it's not as 568 00:32:29,680 --> 00:32:32,840 Speaker 1: simple as that, because the megapixel thing really does just 569 00:32:32,920 --> 00:32:36,960 Speaker 1: describe resolution, and it's true that lower resolution images are 570 00:32:36,960 --> 00:32:41,920 Speaker 1: more blocky and not as smooth as higher resolution pictures, 571 00:32:42,160 --> 00:32:44,640 Speaker 1: So it does matter. Resolution does matter, But once you 572 00:32:44,680 --> 00:32:48,160 Speaker 1: get beyond a certain point, then you're not really likely 573 00:32:48,240 --> 00:32:51,640 Speaker 1: to notice a change in resolution unless you're taking an 574 00:32:51,640 --> 00:32:54,960 Speaker 1: image and then you're zooming into extreme levels, like you're 575 00:32:55,000 --> 00:32:59,000 Speaker 1: doing a massive digital zoom into the image, or if 576 00:32:59,000 --> 00:33:01,200 Speaker 1: you're taking that digital image and then you want to 577 00:33:01,240 --> 00:33:02,800 Speaker 1: print it out and you're going to blow it up 578 00:33:02,840 --> 00:33:05,760 Speaker 1: into like a banner or something, then you're going to 579 00:33:05,800 --> 00:33:09,040 Speaker 1: be able to notice a real difference in resolution. But 580 00:33:09,400 --> 00:33:11,960 Speaker 1: beyond that, you're probably not going to be able to 581 00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:17,040 Speaker 1: tell the difference between two different high resolution cameras. Other 582 00:33:17,320 --> 00:33:22,240 Speaker 1: features like color representation and contrast, which is the difference 583 00:33:22,280 --> 00:33:25,840 Speaker 1: between the brightest colors and the darkest colors, these things 584 00:33:25,880 --> 00:33:29,000 Speaker 1: can make a huge difference in image quality, so it's 585 00:33:29,040 --> 00:33:32,840 Speaker 1: not just resolution, and it's quite possible for a camera 586 00:33:33,040 --> 00:33:36,280 Speaker 1: that has a sensor with fewer photo sits on it 587 00:33:36,600 --> 00:33:39,800 Speaker 1: to still produce better images than one that has a 588 00:33:39,880 --> 00:33:43,520 Speaker 1: metric buttload of photo sits on its sensor. Anyway, in 589 00:33:43,560 --> 00:33:47,120 Speaker 1: parallel with the development of digital cameras came file formats 590 00:33:47,120 --> 00:33:51,080 Speaker 1: like JPEGs, and also you got photo editing software like 591 00:33:51,200 --> 00:33:54,720 Speaker 1: Photoshop or digital Darkroom, and so everything was kind of 592 00:33:54,760 --> 00:33:59,760 Speaker 1: converging toward digital cameras becoming a viable consumer product in 593 00:33:59,760 --> 00:34:03,120 Speaker 1: the early nineteen nineties, although most of them were still 594 00:34:03,160 --> 00:34:05,960 Speaker 1: wicked expensive, so a lot of folks like yours truly 595 00:34:06,040 --> 00:34:09,200 Speaker 1: stuck with film cameras for several more years. In nineteen 596 00:34:09,280 --> 00:34:12,560 Speaker 1: ninety four, Apple even got into the act. Apple released 597 00:34:12,680 --> 00:34:15,279 Speaker 1: a digital camera. You might not have known that that 598 00:34:15,320 --> 00:34:17,840 Speaker 1: Apple had a digital camera. Once upon a time, you 599 00:34:17,840 --> 00:34:22,000 Speaker 1: could buy an Apple branded digital camera and it wasn't 600 00:34:22,040 --> 00:34:24,280 Speaker 1: part of a phone. It was called the Apple Quick 601 00:34:24,320 --> 00:34:26,840 Speaker 1: Take one hundred at least the original was, and it 602 00:34:26,880 --> 00:34:29,080 Speaker 1: boasted a resolution of six hundred and forty by four 603 00:34:29,200 --> 00:34:33,440 Speaker 1: hundred eighty pixels. Now I did say Apple branded. I 604 00:34:33,560 --> 00:34:37,120 Speaker 1: did not say Apple built, because, as it turns out, 605 00:34:37,160 --> 00:34:41,600 Speaker 1: the Apple Quick Take one hundred was actually made by Kodak, 606 00:34:41,920 --> 00:34:44,680 Speaker 1: the company that had kind of slept on digital photography. 607 00:34:45,120 --> 00:34:47,919 Speaker 1: The two hundred, the Apple Quick Take two hundred would 608 00:34:47,920 --> 00:34:50,719 Speaker 1: actually be made by Fujifilm. So this was kind of 609 00:34:50,719 --> 00:34:53,799 Speaker 1: in a dark time for Apple. The company would be 610 00:34:54,239 --> 00:34:57,040 Speaker 1: in a rather slow decline until Steve Jobs would return 611 00:34:57,080 --> 00:34:59,239 Speaker 1: to the company in nineteen ninety seven and really shake 612 00:34:59,320 --> 00:35:00,960 Speaker 1: things up again. And it would actually take a few 613 00:35:01,000 --> 00:35:03,960 Speaker 1: years for Apple to find its footing. So you'd be 614 00:35:04,000 --> 00:35:06,640 Speaker 1: forgiven if you didn't know that Apple released a digital 615 00:35:06,680 --> 00:35:10,080 Speaker 1: camera back at this time, because the company was seen 616 00:35:10,160 --> 00:35:13,560 Speaker 1: as something of a joke in the industry. Scenet's Richard 617 00:35:13,600 --> 00:35:17,719 Speaker 1: Trenholm documents that in nineteen ninety four, Olympus produced a 618 00:35:17,840 --> 00:35:21,799 Speaker 1: camera called the Deltis VC eleven hundred, which you could 619 00:35:21,800 --> 00:35:24,800 Speaker 1: connect to a modem so you could actually send digital 620 00:35:24,840 --> 00:35:28,719 Speaker 1: photos online. That's pretty early for ninety four. I mean, 621 00:35:29,200 --> 00:35:32,640 Speaker 1: it's amazing, as Trenholm rits, quote, it took about six 622 00:35:32,760 --> 00:35:36,520 Speaker 1: minutes to transmit an image end quote Yahalza, and we're 623 00:35:36,560 --> 00:35:40,400 Speaker 1: still talking about relatively low resolution images here, because the 624 00:35:40,440 --> 00:35:42,720 Speaker 1: camera had a max resolution of seven hundred and sixty 625 00:35:42,760 --> 00:35:45,600 Speaker 1: eight by five hundred and seventy six pixels. As the 626 00:35:45,680 --> 00:35:49,120 Speaker 1: nineteen nineties went on, digital cameras would creep further into 627 00:35:49,200 --> 00:35:52,240 Speaker 1: the consumer marketplace, though for a lot of us, film 628 00:35:52,280 --> 00:35:54,400 Speaker 1: was still the way to go because digital cameras were 629 00:35:54,440 --> 00:35:58,160 Speaker 1: still pretty expensive. I would argue that the real seed 630 00:35:58,239 --> 00:36:01,440 Speaker 1: change would be when cameras found their way into cellular phones, 631 00:36:01,640 --> 00:36:04,520 Speaker 1: which happened at the close of the decade. So there 632 00:36:04,520 --> 00:36:06,600 Speaker 1: were cheaper digital cameras that would come out over the 633 00:36:06,640 --> 00:36:09,520 Speaker 1: nineteen nineties. I mean I even finally bought one late 634 00:36:09,560 --> 00:36:14,160 Speaker 1: in the nineties, but they were pretty primitive. They were 635 00:36:14,160 --> 00:36:19,240 Speaker 1: like point and shoot cameras. You could get professional grade 636 00:36:19,239 --> 00:36:22,600 Speaker 1: digital cameras, but they were much more expensive and very 637 00:36:22,600 --> 00:36:25,800 Speaker 1: few people were purchasing them. There were very few reasons 638 00:36:25,800 --> 00:36:27,799 Speaker 1: to do it. Like we're still talking at an era 639 00:36:27,840 --> 00:36:32,040 Speaker 1: where it's before social media, and only a few websites 640 00:36:32,080 --> 00:36:35,040 Speaker 1: were starting to offer things like digital storage for photographs, 641 00:36:35,080 --> 00:36:37,920 Speaker 1: So where were you going to display your digital images? 642 00:36:38,000 --> 00:36:40,920 Speaker 1: A lot of people didn't really jump on the bandwagon 643 00:36:40,960 --> 00:36:44,760 Speaker 1: because there really weren't ways to easily not just take 644 00:36:44,920 --> 00:36:49,560 Speaker 1: digital photos, but experience them. So things would start to 645 00:36:49,640 --> 00:36:52,320 Speaker 1: change in the late nineties and nineteen ninety nine, the 646 00:36:53,080 --> 00:36:57,120 Speaker 1: Kyo Serrah Visual Phone VP two ten came out in Japan. 647 00:36:57,719 --> 00:37:00,320 Speaker 1: It had a front facing camera and it was people 648 00:37:00,440 --> 00:37:03,040 Speaker 1: taking images at one hundred and ten thousand pixels and 649 00:37:03,080 --> 00:37:06,279 Speaker 1: it could hold up to twenty JPEG images. The phone 650 00:37:06,320 --> 00:37:09,560 Speaker 1: itself was in the candy bar style, complete with physical keys, 651 00:37:09,640 --> 00:37:12,920 Speaker 1: because this is way before touchscreen phones would become the norm, 652 00:37:13,280 --> 00:37:16,360 Speaker 1: and you could send the photos via email over Japan's 653 00:37:16,400 --> 00:37:19,560 Speaker 1: mobile phone network system. It was exclusive to Japan. As 654 00:37:19,560 --> 00:37:21,359 Speaker 1: far as I can tell, it retailed for around three 655 00:37:21,440 --> 00:37:23,920 Speaker 1: hundred and twenty five dollars in nineteen ninety nine. If 656 00:37:23,920 --> 00:37:25,960 Speaker 1: we adjust for inflation, that's like six hundred and ten 657 00:37:26,000 --> 00:37:29,319 Speaker 1: bucks for today. Not bad, I mean smartphones are much 658 00:37:29,320 --> 00:37:31,959 Speaker 1: more expensive today. But obviously it would take some time 659 00:37:32,000 --> 00:37:35,640 Speaker 1: for handset manufacturers to start including digital camera sensors and 660 00:37:35,719 --> 00:37:38,160 Speaker 1: lenses in mobile phones as kind of a standard option. 661 00:37:38,640 --> 00:37:40,839 Speaker 1: But really the dye had been cast, and as we 662 00:37:41,040 --> 00:37:45,000 Speaker 1: edged toward the era of the consumer smartphone and the 663 00:37:45,040 --> 00:37:47,920 Speaker 1: debut of the Apple iPhone, the writing would be on 664 00:37:47,960 --> 00:37:51,400 Speaker 1: the wall for digital cameras. Like again, they haven't disappeared 665 00:37:51,520 --> 00:37:54,439 Speaker 1: and you can still find them, but the smartphone would 666 00:37:54,480 --> 00:37:56,719 Speaker 1: mean that fewer people would really invest in getting a 667 00:37:56,760 --> 00:38:00,000 Speaker 1: digital camera, just as fewer people invest in a standard 668 00:38:00,440 --> 00:38:03,600 Speaker 1: mobile media player, because our phones can do all of that. Right. 669 00:38:04,080 --> 00:38:06,680 Speaker 1: We can largely thank Apple for this, because the iPhone 670 00:38:06,719 --> 00:38:10,200 Speaker 1: really did usher in that age, and honestly, I think 671 00:38:10,200 --> 00:38:13,400 Speaker 1: it's pretty cool. I still think that, you know, digital 672 00:38:13,440 --> 00:38:17,040 Speaker 1: cameras are awesome, and standalone ones are amazing. It's just 673 00:38:17,120 --> 00:38:20,279 Speaker 1: that I think most people don't need one. They can 674 00:38:20,400 --> 00:38:23,360 Speaker 1: use just their phone to do all that stuff. Maybe 675 00:38:23,400 --> 00:38:26,239 Speaker 1: if you're into things like vlogging, or maybe you're a 676 00:38:26,280 --> 00:38:29,520 Speaker 1: Twitch streamer or something like that, or you're a photographer, 677 00:38:30,000 --> 00:38:35,080 Speaker 1: then obviously digital cameras still have a very viable place 678 00:38:35,120 --> 00:38:36,680 Speaker 1: in your day to day life, but for the rest 679 00:38:36,680 --> 00:38:39,680 Speaker 1: of us not as much. But that's just a quick 680 00:38:39,760 --> 00:38:43,480 Speaker 1: rundown on the early history of digital cameras. There's obviously 681 00:38:43,480 --> 00:38:45,000 Speaker 1: a lot more to it than that. I could do 682 00:38:45,040 --> 00:38:48,160 Speaker 1: a full episode just about the still video camera technology 683 00:38:48,160 --> 00:38:49,800 Speaker 1: and how it played a part in journalism at the 684 00:38:49,880 --> 00:38:52,000 Speaker 1: end of the nineteen eighties. And again, some of y'all 685 00:38:52,000 --> 00:38:54,239 Speaker 1: out there might have a few digital cameras that you use, 686 00:38:54,320 --> 00:38:57,239 Speaker 1: particularly if you do any vlogging or Twitch streaming or 687 00:38:57,239 --> 00:39:00,440 Speaker 1: anything like that. But I just wanted to kind of 688 00:39:00,640 --> 00:39:04,960 Speaker 1: look back and reflect, as it were. If it's a DSLR, 689 00:39:05,280 --> 00:39:08,919 Speaker 1: you're literally reflecting. But yeah, I wanted to think back 690 00:39:09,080 --> 00:39:11,960 Speaker 1: on the history of these cameras and to really get 691 00:39:12,280 --> 00:39:17,480 Speaker 1: a decent understanding of the two major technologies that dominate 692 00:39:17,560 --> 00:39:21,200 Speaker 1: the space. But that's it for this episode. I hope 693 00:39:21,200 --> 00:39:23,760 Speaker 1: you are all well, and I'll talk to you again 694 00:39:24,600 --> 00:39:34,640 Speaker 1: really soon. Tech Stuff is an iHeartRadio production. For more 695 00:39:34,719 --> 00:39:39,440 Speaker 1: podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or 696 00:39:39,480 --> 00:39:44,920 Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.