History taught us that the first digital camera was a 3.6-kilogram beast that needed 23 seconds to store a 10,000-pixel shot... on a cassette. Later we learned that the first photograph sent from a mobile phone was of a baby, 15 minutes after birth, in June 1997. Now, the question is: What was used to take the photo? That task fell to the Casio QV-10, the first commercial digital camera with an integrated LCD screen. Its sensor was 250 kilopixels, and it cost a fortune.
Anyone looking for information about the first digital camera will soon discover that the title depends on several factors. For example, some sources mention the Nikon QV-1000C as the first DSLR, but that is not technically correct, since the QV-1000C was analog. Others shift that privilege to Fujifilm, with its cameras FUJIX DS-1P and FUJIX DS-X, both with reusable digital storage (the DS-1P was not intended for general consumption, but the DS-X was). However, not a few arrows point to the Casio QV-10. Why?
Because it was the first digital camera "and" commercial with a built-in LCD, replacing the traditional viewfinder. This screen was color and active matrix, with a size of 1.8 inches (61,380 dots), and very difficult to see outdoors in bright sunlight. The total available flash storage was 2 megabytes, about 96 images at a maximum resolution of 320 x 240 pixels (or 640 x 480 interpolated), courtesy of a 250-kilopixel CCD sensor.
The sensor angle could be modified, making it easy to capture selfies... in 1995. Its lens was fixed focal, with two manual aperture values available (f/2.8 and f/8). As for power, the Casio QV-10 used four AA batteries, which were devoured in just two hours.
Despite the poor final quality of the images, the impressive battery consumption, and its official price (65,000 yen in 1995, or $625 with inflation and exchange rate adjustments), the Casio QV-10 symbolizes one of those "hinge moments" in the history of digital cameras, to such a point that Japan's National Museum of Nature and Science declared it "Essential Historic Material" in 2012. The QV-10 is relatively rare (not so its QV-10A revision), and we have seen prices close to 700 dollars on eBay for a working unit...
Do you want to know more about retro technology? Then you cannot miss the first image uploaded to the Web, and the forgotten gadgets of the 80s.
More information: Casio Product History
