Kodak DCS 100

The Kodak Professional Digital Camera System or DCS, later unofficially named DCS 100, was the first commercially available digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) camera. It was a customized camera back bearing the digital image sensor, mounted on a Nikon F3 body and released by Kodak in May 1991; the company had previously shown the camera at photokina in 1990. Aimed at the photo journalism market in order to improve the speed with which photographs could be transmitted back to the studio or newsroom, the DCS had a resolution of 1.3 megapixels. The DCS 100 was publicly presented for the first time in Arles (France), at the Journées de l'Image Pro by Mr Ray H. DeMoulin, the worldwide President of the Eastman Kodak Company. 453 international journalists attended this presentation, which took place in the Palais des Congres of Arles.

The predecessor to the commercial Digital Still Camera (DCS) was prototyped in the spring of 1987 at Kodak Research Labs. A 1.3 megapixel imager had been produced by Kodak’s Microelectronics Technology Division and the logical next step was to build a high resolution digital imaging system around it. The DCS prototype was developed for trials by the Associated Press. Kodak researchers chose the Nikon F3HP SLR because it was the most widely used professional camera at the time.

A number of key problems had to be solved: How to accurately position the image sensor in the camera’s film plane? How to synchronize the camera’s mechanical shutter exposure period and the image sensor’s electronic integration period? Which lenses would provide sharp images without aliasing artifacts? What feedback could be provided to assist the photographer with getting the right exposure? Many scenes had higher dynamic range than the imager. How were digital images to be stored? Where was sufficient power to be sourced?

Fortunately, the F3HP had motor drive contacts that provided signals sufficient for electronic synchronization. A set of potential lenses underwent MTF testing and best matched lenses were selected. The battery power and a hard drive were integrated into a tethered remote system to be worn on the shoulder while the photographer worked. The A/D converter output was processed to generate an exposure histogram for the photographer. Finally, since the 1.3MP imager was smaller than the full 35mm film frame, colored templates were added to the viewfinder to indicate the area the imager would capture.

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