this post was submitted on 10 Aug 2023
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Cassette Futurism

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A place to share and discuss Cassette Futurism: media where the technology closely matches the computers and technology of the 70s and 80s.

Whether it's bright colors and geometric shapes, the tendency towards stark plainness, or the the lack of powerful computers and cell phones, Cassette Futurism includes: Cassettes, ROM chips, CRT displays, computers reminiscent of microcomputers like the Commodore 64, freestanding hi-fi systems, small LCD displays, and other analog technologies.

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The first ever digital camera, built in 1975 by Eastman Kodak engineer Steve Sasson. It weighed 8 pounds (~3.6kg) and recorded 100x100 pixel photos to a cassette tape. (static01.nyt.com)
submitted 2 years ago by Crul@lemm.ee to c/cassettefuturism@lemm.ee
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[–] CIWS-30@kbin.social 36 points 2 years ago (3 children)

I remember reading about how Kodak tried to block digital cameras (even its own) so as not to compromise their own film business, only to be caught unprepared later on when the digital camera revolution came anyway and then took massive losses.

It's funny how they build the first.

[–] raltoid@lemmy.world 22 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 children)

Then later they almost shut down their entire consumer film production because of digital cameras. So they were right in thinking it would massively impact them, but made some very wrong choices because of it.

[–] TheBat@lemmy.world 9 points 2 years ago (2 children)

If only they would've started first instead of pretending change wouldn't happen.

[–] awesomesauce309@midwest.social 9 points 2 years ago

So suppressing the next big competing technology just put their company behind after it became ubiquitous? Is there a lesson to be learned here? I don’t have time to figure it out—somebody’s gotta mine all this coal.

[–] collegefurtrader@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 2 years ago

Kodak management: Consumers don’t want instant gratification!

[–] espentan@lemmy.world 5 points 2 years ago

It's a bit like discovering electric lighting and brushing it under the carpet, since your candle factory is blooming, while thinking/hoping that no one else will ever see a future for electric lights.

It must be one of the biggest faux pas in corporate history.

[–] someguy3@lemmy.ca 13 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

I read an interesting analysis: We as consumers just see pictures, but to them they were a chemical processing company. That didn't translate at all to digital pictures in any way like corporate experience, mindset, technical expertise, etc. It would have been hard to mentally make the change before it hit them in the face.

[–] veroxii@lemmy.world 7 points 2 years ago

There's a great video talking about this and also about how Fuji film had a different strategy and survived.

https://youtu.be/AdDIy0c5ZGo

[–] IWantToFuckSpez@kbin.social 6 points 2 years ago

And nowadays only Christopher Nolan keeps them in business.

[–] Docandersonn@lemm.ee 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

It's worth noting this is the first commercially available digital camera. The digital camera aboard Landsat 1 (launched 1972) was developed in 1969, predating this by 6 years.

[–] Crul@lemm.ee 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

EDIT: I looked at the wrong instrument. See comments below to read about the MSS, "the oldest operational multispectral digital sensor"

This is what I see from a quick search. According to Wikipedia page Landsat 1 - Sensors:

ERTS-A had two sensors to achieve its primary objectives: the return beam vidicon (RBV) and the multispectral scanner (MSS).

And from Return-Beam Vidicon (RBV) Overview:

The Return-Beam Vidicon (RBV) sensor utilised vidicon tube instruments containing an electron gun that read images from a photoconductive faceplate similar to television cameras. The data stream received from the satellite was analog-to-digital preprocessed to correct for radiometric and geometric errors.

So... if I understand it correctly, it was an analog camera which signal was at the end converted to digital. But please correct me if I'm wrong!

ninja-EDIT: What happened on 1969, according to The First Digital Camera Was the Size of a Toaster - IEEE Spectrum:

CCDs [...] were invented in 1969 by Willard Boyle and George E. Smith at Bell Labs,

[–] Docandersonn@lemm.ee 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

This also may be my lack of understanding, but I was referring to the Multi Spectral Scanner (MSS) on Landsat 1 which used band scanning and stored/transmitted digital images. https://gisrsstudy.com/multispectral-scanner-sensor/

[–] Crul@lemm.ee 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Ok, I looked at the wrong instrument.

Regarding the MMS, here (page 3) it says:

MSS sensor, the oldest operational multispectral digital sensor

Then I found this diagram (with some explanations on this link):

If I understand correctly, that means it has a 6 pixel-row resolution that it uses to scan a 2D area.

Finally, I realized I was using a wrong idea of "digital camera". There is no true "digital sensor", all sensors are analog and always need a postprocess to convert to digital... right?

As always, it's impossible to provide a non-ambiguous definition. Is a 6-pixel row res instrument on a satelite a "digital camera"? ... kind of :)

Anyway, fascinating topic. Thanks for the input!