catalog - UCR/California Museum of Photography

digital cameras for his own personal work.
For their ongoing support and guidance I am
deeply indebted to the Directors of the David
Whitmire Hearst Jr. Foundation, Christopher
Espineli and Warren Coley. Leigh Gleason,
UCR/California Museum of Photography’s
Curator of Collections and Georg Burwick,
ARTSblock’s Director of Digital Media provided invaluable research for this exhibition.
Special thanks to Dan Rossiter who installed
the exhibition and Natasha Thoreson and Aide
Esquivel who photographed the cameras. David Whitmire Hearst Jr. has my deep respect and warm thanks for his strong belief in
CMP’s projects and programs and for continuing to augment CMP’s own camera holdings
with these important exhibitions that make significant advances in camera technology widely
accessible.
Jonathan Green
Executive Director
UCR ARTSblock
DIGITAL CAMERAS IN THE EXHIBITION
.3 megapixels
21 megapixels
COMPANY
CAMERA
YEAR
Casio
VS-101
1987
Canon
Xapshot RC250
Kodak*
DCS-100
Apple*
MPIXELS
PANEL
COMPANY
.3
4
Olympus Camedia C211 Zoom
CAMERA
YEAR
2000
MPIXELS
1988
.2
4
Polaroid
PDC700
2000
.8
1991
1.3
4
Sony
Mavica MVC-CD1000
2000
2.1
Quick Take 100
1994
.3
4
Kodak
DC4800
2000
3.3
Chinon
ES-3000
1995
.3
5
Olympus Camedia C-3030
2000
3.3
3
Minolta
RD175
1995
1.7
8
Aiptek*
PenCam Trio
2001
.3
3
Kodak
DC50 Zoom
1996
.4
5
Canon
PowerShot Pro 90 IS
2001
2.6
5
Sony
Digital Still Camera DSC-F1 1996
.3
5
Sony
DSC-F707
2001
5.2
1
Sony*
Mavica MVC-FD5
1997
.3
Konica
Revio C2
2002
1.2
Fuji
MX-700
2.1
PANEL
6
7
1998
1.5
5
Leica
Digilux 1
2002
5.2
1
Panasonic PVSD4090
1998
1.3 1
Minota
Dimage X
2002
2.1
6
Sony*
Mavica Hi-Band A-10
1998
.3
Pentax
Digibino DB100
2002
.8
6
Casio
QV-5500 SX
1999
1.2
5
Canon
EOS D60
2002
6.3
7
Nikon
D1
1999
2.7
6
Pentax
Optio S
2003
3.1
7
Sony
Digital Mavica MVC-FD81 1999
.8
2
Nokia*
3600 Smartphone
2002
.3
Toshiba
PDR-M4
1999
2.1
6
Leica
Digilux 2
2004
5
Nikon*
Coolpix 950
1999
2.1
Leica
R-9
2005
10
Canon
Powershot S100 Elph
2000
2.1
6
Leica
D-Lux 2
2006
8.4
7
Epson
Photo PC 3000Z
2000
3.1
4
Apple*
iPhone
2007
2
7
Fuji
Finepix 4900 Zoom
2000
2.4
7
Vtech
Kidizoom camera
2008
2
8
Minox
DC1311
2000
2.1
3
Canon*
EOS 5D Mark II
2009
21
7
Cameras on loan from the David Whitmire Hearst Jr. Foundation Collection.
*Cameras from the collection of the California Museum of Photography.
4
THE END
OF FILM
DIGITAL
CAMERAS
This exhibition represents the second in
a series of presentations of the riches of David
Whitmire Hearst Jr.’s extraordinary, encyclopedic camera collection. The first exhibition, Leica
& Hasselblad, explored the two most precisionmade handheld cameras of the 20th century,
cameras that captured many of the iconic images of the modern world. But the film cameras that defined the last century began to be
replaced at the turn of the 21st century with a
new device for recording optical reality, a device
that has now become the primary visual recording instrument of our time: the digital camera.
Where Mr. Hearst’s Leicas and Hasselblads
spanned the history of the camera during the
77 years from 1913 to 2000, his digital cameras represent a much smaller period, the 22
years from 1987 to 2009. But it is safe to say
that these 22 years represent a revolution in
image-making and image distribution that is
unprecedented in the history of the world. In
the 19th century, photography was the province of skilled practitioners. During the 20th
century, the development of small cameras and
A Brief History of
1987–2009
Selections from the David Whitmire
Hearst Jr. Foundation Collection
California Museum of Photography
UCR ARTSblock
University of California, Riverside
October 24, 2009 – January 30, 2010
1
the use of roll film allowed both professionals
and snapshooters to capture images, transforming photography from specialized exercise to
common practice, and transforming the camera
from specialized device to common appliance.
With the advent of the computer and the cell
phone, access to the camera increased exponentially. Now two thirds of the world’s population
carries a cell phone, and camera phones have
begun to reach the bottom of the world’s economic pyramid. In 2009 owning some sort of
camera is the rule and receiving, transmitting
and trading photographs forms the basis of social networks and human communication.
While most of the cameras in Mr. Hearst’s
collection are museum pieces and have never
been used, the digital cameras are frequently exceptions. With a curiosity of an engineer examining each new technical advance, Mr. Hearst
acquired many consumer digital cameras to
evaluate their resolution, ease of use, and processing power. He was amazed at the increasing quality and functionality of digital cameras,
and now, as most of us, he is exclusively using
1. Casio VS-101 .28MP
2. Canon Xapshot RC250 .2MP
4. Apple QuickTake 100 .3MP
2
1
1987
3. Kodak DCS-100 1.3MP
1988
5. Chinon ES-3000 .3MP
6. Kodak DC50 Zoom .38MP
3
1989
THE END OF FILM
The incredible transformation of photographic technology during the last 20
years recapitulates at an exponential scale
what had occurred during photography’s
previous 163-year history. From 1826 to
1989 the camera was transformed from
a bulky device to a smartly designed,
handheld image recorder. Light-sensitive
media changed from silver plate or fragile glass to sheet and roll film. Advances
in photochemistry allowed film to record more information and to capture
color. Advances in lens design produced
tack sharp lenses and zoom optics. Other
technologies made possible reflex viewing, motor drives, electronic flash, and
auto-focus. These changes repositioned
an invention that began on the margins
of society into a medium that occupied
the center of modern communication,
journalism, and social interaction.
1990
1991
During the 20th century, images in
the printed press moved from etching
to photograph and news reporting was
transformed from text-based to picturebased. By 1989 the camera had become
a worldwide presence, a ubiquitous device whose existence on the societal scale
shaped culture and politics, and on the
personal scale constructed the visual narratives of our lives. No previous media
had so successfully produced images that
could be both political acts, social gestures
and public records as well as personal histories, diaries and observations.
The digital photography of the past
twenty years developed out of the convergence of the computer, video technology,
and the camera. The photograph, which
was conceived as a visual image, now
became digital data, a string of numbers
easily captured, stored, duplicated, manipulated, transmitted and presented. All
7. Sony DSC-F1 .3MP
4
1992
1993
camera components except the lens were
completely reinvented for digital use.
Images are now recorded on electronic
sensors that send digital data to postage
stamp-sized media cards capable of holdings thousands of images. Image processing is instant, complex adjustments and
manipulations are automatic. High-resolution screens display images instantly,
paper prints can be made with ease. As
microprocessors shrank in size, cameras
became more compact. The cell phone
and the internet added networked communication. And since still and moving
image, text and sound could be translated
into digital data, recording and communication could converge into one appliance.
DIGITAL CAMERAS
When we look at the digital cameras
available today it is easy to forget that
their current capabilities did not appear
1994
8. Fuji MX-700 1.5MP
5
1995
instantly, but evolved, first slowly in the
20 year period from the mid 60s to the
mid 80s, and then much more rapidly
during the past 20 years. During these
second 20 years, the remarkable thing is
not just the extent of advancement but
rather the ever-accelerating progress of
technology.
Paradoxically digital photography began with analogue video. The first useful
digital still images were recorded in the
1960s when NASA used computers to enhance television-like video camera signals
to map the moon. Later digital stills derived from prototype cameras which were
in essence analogue video movie cameras
that grabbed single frames were used by
news agencies to cover the 1984 Summer
Olympics, the 1986 World Series, and
the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. The
earliest digital cameras in this exhibition
followed this process: the Casio VX-101
6
1996
9. Casio QV-5500 SX 1.2MP
7
10. Toshiba PDR-M4 2.1MP
8
1997
1998
(1987) and the Canon Xapshot RC 250
(1988) digitized video signals rather than
recorded a still image. The XapShot could
send an NTSC signal to a TV/VCR for
playback and recording or an image could
be captured on an Apple Macintosh computer equipped with a video capture card.
While this equipment was beyond the
reach of the average consumer, the Casio
VX-101 was the first digital camera used
by fine art photographers.
The first true digital still camera in
this exhibition is the Kodak DCS-100
(1991). It used a 1.3MP (megapixel) sensor, weighed 20 pounds, and was priced
at $13,000. The sensor apparatus was
mounted in a Nikon F3 body cabled to a
hard drive unit that stored and displayed
the images. It connected to a computer
via a SCSI interface that could be accessed through Adobe Photoshop, the
program that in 1990 revolutionized im-
11. Canon Powershot S100 Elph 2.1MP
9
11
10
1999
2000
age processing, editing and manipulation.
In 1994 Apple Computer launched
the Apple QuickTake, built by Kodak as
an easy-to-use digital camera that connected by cable to any Macintosh computer. The camera was capable of storing
eight photos at 640x480 or .3MP resolution. Other than downloading the photos
to a computer, there was no way to preview them on the camera. The first digital
camera in this exhibition that recorded
images as a computerized file on a removable card is the Chinon ES-3000 (1995),
which was the predecessor of the Kodak
DC50 (1996). These cameras recorded .3
and .38MP images respectively.
MINIATURIZATION & SLEEK DESIGN
The shape of today’s compact digital
cameras began to emerge in the mid ’90s.
These designs would mark the ergonomic
transformation of the camera from util-
12. Camedia C211 Zoom 2.1MP
13. Minolta Dimage X 2.1MP
12
13 14 15
2001
2002
ity device to fashion statement to unity
appliance. Their form had evolved from
small disc film cameras of the 1980s and
from Canon’s APS film Elph cameras of
the mid ’90s. The digital Elph S100 (2000)
was preceded by other small, sleek, metallic bodies represented here by the .3MP
Sony Cyber Shot DSC-F1 (1996), which
introduced a swiveling lens; the 1.5MP
Fuji MX-700 (1998), one of the cameras
which started the “mini-megapixel” revolution; and the elegant art nouveau styled
Toshiba PDR-M4 (1999). These were
followed by such small cameras as the
Minolta Dimage X (2002), Pentax Optio
S (2003), and Leica D-LUX 2 (2005).
In the late 1990s progress toward professional features occurred on larger cameras whose form factor followed previous
film SLRs. These instruments had much
larger sensors for superior resolution and
low-light performance. They used inter-
14. Pentax Digibino DB100 .8MP
15. Canon EOS D60 6.3MP
16
2003
17. Leica D-Lux 2 8.4MP
16. Pentax Optio S 3.14MP
18. Canon EOS 5D Mark II 21MP
18
17
2004
changeable lenses and offered full aperture and shutter control. Nikon’s D1
(1999) marked the first digital SLR professional camera under $5,000 to break
the 2.5MP barrier. During the same time
Canon began producing the EOS line.
Canon’s EOS-D60 (2002) brought a
6MP sensor to market.
As the capabilities of the processor and the sensor chip expanded, so
did the camera’s video capacities. Since
digital video was essentially a series of
digital stills, manufacturers began to include video as part of the feature set.
The Casio QV-5500 SX (1999) and the
Minolta Dimage X (2002) were able to
shoot 320x240 movies. This fusion of media reached its apotheosis in the Canon
EOS 5D Mark II (2009), which more
than any other camera to date blurs the
lines between a still and video instrument.
Its 21MP sensor can take full cinematic
2005
2006
quality 1920x1080 HD video and stores
up to 45 minutes of film on inexpensive
16 GB CF cards. Its still and film capabilities point to an integration that will
only mature in the coming years.
CONVERGENCE
Other areas of hybridity were developing
during this period. The Olympus Camedia C-211 (2000) combined a Polaroid
printer with a digital camera. The Pentax
Digibino DB100 (2002) amalgamated
binoculars and a .8MP digital camera.
But of course the major convergence of
media occurred with the cell phone. In
2003 Kyocera Wireless introduced the
first widely available megapixel camera
phone with a flash and zoom. By the
end of 2008, the installed base of camera
phones was 1.9 billion or 30 percent of
the world’s population. Currently the Apple iPhone (2007), now in version 3GS, is
2007
2008
2009
in reality a handheld computer featuring
a camera with sound, video, multimedia
and music recording and playback, internet connection, multiple computer applications, and cell phone transmission. This
powerful set of tools has allowed photography to have an unprecedented impact
on the modern world.
In 1989 it was hard to imagine that
the camera and photography could possibly burrow more deeply into society or
psyche. But looking back from the vantage point of 2009, it is clear that all of the
advances of the previous 163 years have
been surpassed a hundred-fold, and a medium which 20 years ago was ubiquitous
has now become intrinsic, an essential
element for human communication, history, and knowledge.