Digital photography is currently the most popular form of photography, and it’s not hard to understand why. The immediacy and directness of digital photography makes it appealing to the masses, and the portability (most of us have a digital camera on our mobile phones) makes it easy to try and experiment with on the go.

Digital photography is only a relatively recent development in the history of photography though, and only really became popular and accessible to the public within the last 20 – 25 years. It may seems like everyone has a digital camera at their disposal now, but that’s wasn’t always the way!

Here is a brief history of digital photography, so you can learn a little more about how this amazing technology become part of our everyday lives.

The Introduction of the Scanner

Digital photography is all about the movement of image, and digital processing of images. The scanner (invented in the 1950s) was one of the first inventions to let us copy and send images / visuals electronically. Whilst a scanner didn’t actually take photographs – it certainly was one of the first stepping stones to digital photography.

The Space Race

One of the major driving forces behind developing digital photography was the space race (1950s). It became quite clear early on that film photography wouldn’t work in space – the film rolls wouldn’t be able to be sent back down to Earth – and there wouldn’t be any film processors in space to change the reels either. The solution was digital photographs and using coded images, which could be sent via signal.

The “All Solid State Radiation Imager”

This crucial invention, that received and stored optical images, that was a predecessor to the CCD (charge-coupled device) which was invented in 1969 by Willard Boyle and George E Smith. The technology in both of these inventions helped inspire further invention, and became crucial inspiration for some of the first digital camera models released to the public.

The “Sony Mavica” and the “Canon RC-701”

Widely regarded as the first digital camera in 1981, however it was never available for commercial production. The camera could store around 20-25 images on a floppy disc (ground breaking at the time!). The first commercial analog electronic camera was the Canon RC-701 which was released to the public in 1984.

Digital cameras go mainstream

It took around a 10 years from this point for digital cameras to become the photography tool of choice for most households. Gradually camera brands such as Kodak and Fuji released more affordable models, and people realised the advantages to printing a digital image at home, not to mention the improvement in image quality.

Digital Cameras in Phones

The addition of digital cameras to mobile phones is what cemented digital photography as a ‘keeper’. The ability to carry your camera around in your pocket made photography irresistible to the masses.

Who can resist taking a spontaneous photo, especially when their phone is already in their hand? The growth of social media and photo-sharing websites also increased the popularity of digital photography, as people wanted to share more of their lives than ever before.