CASE STUDY tHe silent end oF Film: diGital sHootinG For about a hundred years, photography depended entirely on film. Taking a picture was a hands-on process: you had to buy a roll of film, load it carefully into the camera, capture a limited number of shots, and then wait while the film was developed using chemicals. The innovation The big change came with the invention of a new technology: the ChargeCoupled Device (CCD) image sensor. This breakthrough made it possible to capture images digitally, without film. The transition began at the Eastman Kodak Company, which was the leading film producer at the time. In 1975, a young Kodak engineer named Steven Sasson built the first digital camera prototype. It looked large and bulky, about the size of a toaster, but it did something revolutionary: it captured light electronically. That first digital camera was very basic. It produced tiny, black-and-white images with low resolution, and it took more than twenty seconds to save each photo onto an audio cassette. Moreover, the pictures could only be viewed by connecting the camera to a television. Kodak executives dismissed it as a fun gadget, thinking it could never compete with film photography, but they were mistaken. The development The idea of digital photography slowly gained popularity. People loved being able to see their pictures instantly and share them electronically without needing chemicals or prints. By the early 1990s, the first commercial digital cameras became available. This moment marked the beginning of the end for film photography. The familiar sound of the film winder was replaced by the instant appearance of a bright image on an LCD screen a change that transformed photography forever. bulky: ingombrante winder: avvolgitore 5 answer the questions. 1. How was photography traditionally practised before digital technology appeared? 2. Why was using film considered a hands-on process ? 3. What was the key invention that made digital photography possible? 4. What was unique about Steven Sasson s prototype camera, and how did it differ from traditional film cameras? 5. Why did Kodak executives initially dismiss the digital camera? 6. What were some of the technical limitations of Sasson s first digital camera? 7. What features of digital photography made it attractive to users once it began to spread? 8. How did the introduction of digital cameras in the 1990s change the experience of taking and viewing photos? Steven Sasson PeoPle and instruments 301