We all know that Sony invented the VCR and the walkman but who invented the digital camera and what kind of digital camera was it? The first digital camera was invented by an electrical engineer in December 1975 at Eastman Kodak Company, Steven Sasson. He has now been named to the Consumer Electronics hall of fame.

The digital camera that Steven invented in 1975 was not as one of the cheap digital cameras today. It weighted 8 pounds and was the size of a toaster. The resolution of this camera was 0.01 megapixels and saved the image in black and white onto a digital cassette. The step from this camera to mass produced digital cameras for the public was long. It took another 16 years for Kodak to start selling digital cameras to the public.

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Steven Sasson never imagined when he invented the digital camera 1975 that many years later 50 percent of American households would have a digital camera. When he started his invention the literature on digital imaging was virtually blank. He had to construct the digital circuitry from scratch, only relying on oscilloscope measurements to guide him. He had no images to look at until he was done with the entire prototype. In December 1975 he completed the final voltage-variation test by having a lab assistant to pose. That photo took 23 seconds to record onto the cassette. Then it took another 23 seconds to read from the cassette onto a television and there it was the first digital photo. It didn’t become very good but it worked! Sasson was really happy and knew what to do to fine-tune the camera to produce even better quality photos.

Here are some facts about Steven Sasson who invented the digital camera.

• Steven J. Sasson was born in Brooklyn N.Y. on July 4, 1950.
• He was born in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn, New York. Steve Sasson grew up with a interest in electronics. As a child, he designed and built radio receivers, stereo amplifiers and transmitters in his cellar with salvaged electronic components from discarded televisions and radios. He attended the Brooklyn Technical High School, a specialized public high school in New York City, where he focused on technical and scientific studies. Sasson obtained a bachelors and a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Renesselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, New York.
• In 1978, Sasson and Lloyd were issued United States Patent 4,131,919 for their digital camera.
• Sasson now works to protect the intellectual capital of his employer, Eastman Kodak Company.

Hope this article has given you all the information you need about who invented the digital camera and how it was done.