Thirty years ago this month, Kodak introduced its latest and "hottest" new invention -- the digital photograph.
According to Gizmag, "In 1974 Steven Sasson, an engineer at Kodak’s Applied Electronics Research Centre, was tasked with devising an “electronic handheld still camera”. The following year his first working prototype – weighing 8.5 pounds, powered by 16 AA batteries and recording images on a cassette – took the first ever digital still camera photograph."
The question I raise is why has it taken thirty years for the digital camera to become what it is today -- a marketable and professionally viable alternative to analog wet processes? Despite the argument that digital still has a ways to go, why did it take almost 30 years to work out the technological wrinkles in terms of image quality and reliability?
Today, the digital point-and-shoot camera is changing personal photography (long live citizen shutterbugs) the same way the Kodak One did in the 1880s.
Even as we celebrate the technological achievements of digital photography we must also call into question the political and economic powers that drive (or impede) the pace of such changes in society today.
Although Kodak is getting the credit for the initial advance of the digital photograph, the corporation (along with other manufacturers) seemed in no rush over past decades to ditch a very profitable film and processing industry. The film and photo processing industry's hold over consumers is very much akin to the way the Big Three auto makers have embraced mass transportation alternatives in this country. Today, the digital revolution has eventually caught up with the billion-dollar-a year film and photo processing market -- a trend that has forced the industry to change.
Professionals and early adopters of the digital format paid the price for many of these advances. The cost of a professional digital cameras in the early 1990s was about $16,000. Today, a dozen years later, this same camera, with a little over 2 mega-pixels resolution, is obsolete. Today, instead of buying a box of photo paper and a few chemicals to make prints, we are forced into buying toner at about $3,000 gallon for our digital printers.
A Brief History of the Digital Camera in Photojournalism
It may be possible to synthesize the history of photography since its inception in 1826 into three major technological epochs.
The first era coincides with the capture or fixing of a permanent image
onto film, through the wet-plate and later on the dry plate processes.
The second epoch of photography occurred n 1880s with the
industrialization of the industry, epitomized by George Eastman’s Kodak
Company.
In addition, this era was marked by the development of the half-tone method, which allows photographs to be mass reproduced in popular journals and books.
Finally, the last revolution, one that we are still in the midst of, is the digital and electronic era—beginning in the mid-1970s and one which coincides what has been termed the pictorial turn. All three epochs signify important developments in photography and in society as well.
For decades photojournalists have been dependent on film and chemical processes in the coverage of news. Even during a period of digitalization in the 1980s, film was still the primary medium as it was converted into pixels through computer scanning in post-production. However, it was not until the 1990s that photojournalism was to feel the greatest impact on routines introduced by digital technological innovation (Coleman, 1998; Corbett, 2002; Galbraith, 1999; Russial and Wanta, 1998; Zavoina and Davidson, 2002).
The history of the digital camera can be traced to the development of video tape recording and later expanded upon for use in space exploration and government surveillance systems ( Hammerstingl, 2000; Milbrandt, 2003; Bellis, 2004).
According to Bellis, “During the 1960s, NASA converted from using analog to digital signals with their space probes to map the surface of the moon (sending digital images back to earth). Computer technology was also advancing at this time and NASA used computers to enhance the images that the space probes were sending” (Online, 2004).
Among what is thought to be the beginning of the digital revolution in photography, Kodak, Canon and RCA were all researching the possibility of converting light into digital images starting in the 1970’s. Inspired by technological innovations in television photography, some still photographers started to explore the possibilities of utilizing video and electronic imagery in photojournalism.
In 1979, National Geographic photographer Emory Kristof was the first to use an electronic camera while photographing life at the bottom of the ocean in a miniature submarine (Dooks, 1979, p. 16). Kristof worked closely with television engineers at RCA to develop what is considered the first use of a charge coupled device (CCD) in photojournalism.
undefined comments, “What does this development mean? That the working newspaper photographer in the not-too-distance future could be using an electronic camera” (p. 17).
For Weber (1979), “A sinister handwriting is on the wall for still photographers. While we diddle away precious time bemoaning how unloved and unappreciated we are, the finger moves and spells out ENG, STILL VERSION” (News Photographer, January 1979, p. 19).
Heralded as the “camera of tomorrow,” Sony’s Mavica non-film electronic camera was released in 1981. At the same time, many photojournalists remained skeptical about the new technology. According to Breen (1982), “When the electronic camera, and all that goes with it, is finally in our hands—and it will be—it will not be because we have sought it out, but because we are no longer left with a choice” (p.15).
Nevertheless, digital imaging technology became increasingly pervasive in news operations. Further, advances in telephony and computing accelerated the pace of change for many. By 1984, photojournalists were already experimenting and using cellular telephones to send images from remote locations through drum transmitters (NPPA, 1984a).
In the news business, many saw the digitalization of images produced with film cameras as a way to reduce costs related to chemical processes as well as to increase efficiency by eliminating time spent making prints in the darkroom. “Wire services and newspapers experimented with digital cameras in the late 1980s and early 1990s, but cost and quality considerations largely restricted their use to coverage of high-profile news events, such as a presidential inauguration, a Super Bowl, or an Olympics” (Russial and Wanta, 1998, p. 594).
Electronic imaging, that is the conversion of analog to digital information, shifted dramatically for many news operations prior to the full-scale adoption of digital cameras in photojournalism.
Electronic imaging pulled photojournalists out of darkrooms and pushed them in front of computer terminals. One driving force behind this phenomenon began with the Associated Press’ (AP) high-speed digital photo transmission and receiver system, which replaced older analog facsimile-style processes in many newsrooms.
According to Horton (2001), “In 1988, a revolutionary device called an AP Leafax transmitter allowed a photographer to scan his processed film, instead of making a print. The photographer then could send that image to an attached receiver or transmit it over a conventional telephone line” (p. 203).
Further, “electronic picture desks were used throughout the 1980s by the wire services, but they did not become common in daily newspapers until 1990” (Russial and Wanta, 1998). The AP Leaf Picture system, with a constant stream of electronic imagery uploaded to thousands of newspapers worldwide, nudged the news business, and photojournalism, even further into the digital age.
Photojournalists, at this time, were also required to acquire new computer skills in digital imaging, beyond photographic expertise, to keep pace with changes in newsgathering and dissemination.
Photographic routines gradually embraced the computer as an essential part of the image-making process, just as photographers learned to accept making prints from film a century earlier (Carlebach, 1997). By 1996, more than 85 percent of newspapers reported that computer skills were either very or somewhat important in the hiring of entry-level journalists (Russial and Wanta, 1998, p. 595).
One photographer, in a News Photographer article about the benefits of digital photography, suggested that the digital camera “gives you a lot more opportunities to shoot…and the photographer also can spot check work on an assignment” (NPPA, 1998, p. 14).
The speed in which photographers have adopted to the digital cameras differs from past experiences such as adapting to 35mm film cameras. In the case of the latter, more than two decades of transition time allowed photographers to become accustomed to the smaller camera and
format size. With digital, the transition has occurred within a decade and has required not only acquiring new skills with the camera but also in production methods.
For another photojournalist, “The speed in which digital photography has taken over the photojournalism industry is nothing less than stunning, and that’s exactly what the rapid pace is doing to some people in photojournalism, stunning them” (Galbraith, 1999).
As Didlick claims, “our careers as photojournalists were forever changed” (Galbraith, 1999). At the same time, the new technology created many challenges for photographers. “Early digital photographers faced a dilemma: while the technology was promising, the imaging know-how needed to put a film-resolution sensor inside a conveniently sized camera body simply didn’t exist, and neither did the processing power needed to crank out high-res images at reasonable speed” (Schloss, 2004).
Today, however, with the cost of digital technology decreasing and image quality increasing, the history of photojournalism is being redefined.
As Horton explains:
"Previously, new photography techniques and technologies were just extensions of older, accepted routines. A new lens, a new camera with some extra capabilities, maybe a new enlarger or darkroom device. But the digital cameras, the software and computers to support them, and the integration with newsroom systems is a new world” (p. 207).
Horton’s argument may be subject to debate in that photographers were still required to make adjustments in routines using the 35mm film cameras. It would be inaccurate to conclude that this generation of photojournalists did not face challenges adjusting to the smaller format.
In 1984, the Committee on Journalism Education of the Associated Press Managing Editors Association interviewed journalists and educations about the future of photojournalism. Participants discussed how the advent of electronic photography changes the role of the news photographer in positive terms.
For example, Ralph Langer of the Dallas Morning News commented, “It sounds like it could give us more speed, more time to do the selection and cropping of photographs and less time just doing the technical production of it” (NPPA, 1984b).
In 1984, Charles Scott noted, “ Electronic photography is going to replace the silver image. We are going to have to have an understanding of how to edit pictures, how pictures are stored electronically and how to edit them electronically” (NPPA, 1984b, p. 13).
As many of the conference interviewees predicted with some accuracy, the extent that digital adoption would occur in photojournalism increased over time. Haynes contends, “I suspect that by 1990 we will be heavily into some sort of electronic photography. It seems doubtful that newspapers will be as all electronic as some people think…. Experiments are going on but the changeover would require scrapping both equipment and attitudes for the new and unknown and probably expensive technology” (NPPA, 1984b).
In 1985, the NPPA began holding annual digital imaging workshops and conferences related to technical and ethical issues in new electronic technology.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the Associated Press was actively engaged in the development, promotion and sale of digital technologies in news operations across the country. In 1981, AP introduced its mini-electronic darkroom, capable of converting photos into 2.5 million bytes of information (NPPA, 1982). With an investment of more than $500,000 in developing the new technology, AP promoted the mini-electronic darkroom as a way of providing editors with an “extra deadline service” to meet “special problems” and “provide more color” (NPPA, 1982).
A few years later, “Electronic picture desks” were “being hawked” along with color film scanner and image processors (NPPA, 1987a). By 1986, Kodak scientists released the first mega pixel sensor and later developed a system for recording images on compact disc (Bellis, 2004, Online).
One year later, a video still camera, the Canon RC-701, was tested and used for the first time by newspapers covering the Pan-American games. The camera was capable of recording 50 color images, which could be transmitted over a regular telephone line between 90 seconds and three minutes.
“David Metz, Canon national technical manager, said the test ‘showed press photographers that still video is a fast, reliable way to get images into publication––much faster than with conventional photography’” (NPPA, 1987b, p. 28).
In a commentary on digital imaging a frequently mentioned rhetorical question arises:
What does all this mean to newspaper and magazine photographers? It means the electronic revolution has finally caught up with us. It’s been quietly gathering momentum in the back shop over the past couple of years but now we’re seeing some results and effects…. This equipment will have a powerful effect on how we process, edit, choose and place photos in publications (NPPA, 1987a, p. 28).
At this time vendors such as the Associated Press/Leaf and Adobe began offering training courses aimed at helping photojournalists and photo editors with computer-based picture handling skills at basic, intermediate and advanced levels were offered by vendors like (NPPA, 1992, p. 33).
At the same conference, Leaf Systems introduced a “full-resolution digital camera” capable of producing 2000 x 2000 pixel images with a range of 14 bits of color (NPPA, 1992). However, with the introduction of cheaper laptop computing options and advanced image software products, such systems have since become obsolete.
The first professional digital camera systems were introduced to photojournalists in the early 1990s. “In 1991, Kodak released the first professional digital camera system (DCS), aimed at photojournalists. It was a Nikon F-3 camera equipped by Kodak with a 1.3 mega pixel sensor” (Bellis, 2004, Online).
Faced with the reality of digital imaging production in photojournalism, more than 980 professionals attended NPPA’s Digital conference in San Francisco (NPPA, 1992). The Digital News Camera (NC2000), based on Kodak’s Digital Camera Systems (DCS), made its official debut in 1994 (Cole Papers, 2004, p.5). The NC2000 was co-developed by the Associated Press and Kodak specifically for photojournalists.
The camera was lighter, used standardized lenses and could make as many as 700 exposures at a time. At more than $16,000 per unit, the NC2000 replaced an earlier model, which required carrying a battery shoulder pack. The high cost of the camera as well as issues associated with image quality and file preservation, were significant factors in the adoption rate of the digital camera into photojournalism. Zappe (2004) suggested, “Newspapers gained enormously when they made the transition from film to digital cameras” (Cole Papers, p. 2).
According to Digital Photography Review, 22.8 million digital cameras will have been sold in the United States in 2004, representing a 58% increase in sales since 2002 (Online). As predicted in the 1980s, digital photography changes the way photojournalists and newspapers cover the news. Digital cameras are now the dominant image capture devices in photojournalism.
Coupled with the technology of computers, cellular phones, and fast wireless Internet connections, photojournalists have become more independent in the production of their images. Although content is paramount in photojournalism, extended deadlines, immediate editing and transmission of images with the digital camera have had a significant impact on photojournalism in recent years.
Shortly after the introduction of the DCS series, Nikon, Canon, Fuji, Olympus, Minolta and other manufacturers began mass production of their own models. Due to increased market demand and competition between camera makers, the price of many models has continued to decrease, while image quality and capture functions increase.
Today, professional digital cameras range between $1,000 and $5,000 and are considered technically far superior to previous models just five years ago (2004, Digital Photo Review, Online). For example, Kodak’s latest DCS Pro SLR/n models offer the highest resolution on a 35mm format at 13.89 mega-pixels with an image resolution in the 4,536 x 3,024 pixel range. In addition, Nikon and Canon both released newer versions of earlier D1 and EOS-1D models. These cameras, the Nikon D2H and the Canon EOS-1D Mark II, are especially suited for photojournalism with faster shutter response times and longer battery life, and are capable of making 40 continuous JPEG full-resolution images at a speed of 8 frames per second (Schonauer, 2004, p. 58). Previously with film cameras, photographers were limited to the number of exposures on the film cassette.
The pace of technological change in society appears to be accelerating, especially in digital photography, telephony and electronic imaging. Winston (1998) suggests that the “storm of progress blows so hard as to obscure our vision of what is actually happening” (p.1).
As this brief history of technological change in photojournalism attempts to explain, the speed at which images can be produced and published has been a driving factor for innovation. Until the advent of the digital camera, photojournalists defined behaviors and routines around the visual environment of working with film-based chemical processes.
Digital technology disrupts older chemical-based processes in photojournalism and replaces traditional routines with newer ones. In photojournalism, digital technology represents a shift in the complex landscape of routines, rituals, norms, and attitudes affecting how photojournalists define and justify the ideologies supporting a visual domain. Therefore, this section takes note that the history of technological change is inextricably linked to advances in communicative processes and newsgathering practices.
As Didlick (2004) contends, “Anyone keeping up with the changing trends in newspaper photography knows change is happening fast…digital photography has finally reached a stage were it is a deadline and production tool, rather than an expensive toy for computer-literate photographers (personal communication, 2004).
A Selected Bibilography on Digital Photography and Photojournalism
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