Advancements In Digital Photography

Every now and then I’ll be roaming around the Internet and randomly clicking on things that catch my attention and a few days ago something caught mine that I just had to check out. Like a lot of other photographers I use the Internet as a tool for all sorts of things, such as checking out new products or reviews or just looking for new creative photo ideas from various photographers. The video I came across was from The Camera Store TV website and originally aired back in October 2015. The reason it caught my eye was because the man doing the video was talking about my first DSLR camera, the original Canon 300D Digital Rebel. He was describing how far digital cameras have advanced and how far the prices have come down since they were first introduced to the general public. Think about it, these days some cell phones can shoot 4k video and shoot images over 15 MP. Isn’t it amazing how far the digital technology has come? 

When I purchased my Canon Digital Rebel in 2003 I had already been shooting digital for about three years and had been using Photoshop for two years (version 6.0). My first digital camera wasn’t the Rebel, it was actually a Panasonic PV-SD4090 SuperDisk PalmCam and shot at 1.3MP. It was released in 2000 and it actually recorded images on a 3 ¼ floppy disk that slid into the side of the camera and cost about $2000. Although it had an optical as well as a digital zoom lens, you couldn’t change lenses like the SLR’s camera I was used to. I probably would have kept shooting with it for a while longer but it could only hold about 12 shots on a disk (even at 1.3 MP) and you needed Windows ME to run it which was getting phased out by Microsoft for numerous reasons. Fortunately for me I was already converting all my files to DNG format or I would not even be able to open them these days. 

Panasonic SuperDisk

I remember there were sneak press releases in November 2002 announcing the soon to be released Digital Rebel. The Canon Rebel was going to be the first consumer priced digital camera designed to get people interested in DSLR cameras and it boasted a 6.3MP sensor and could shoot at a lightning fast 2.5 frames a second. That sounds like a joke now, but at that time it was fantastic. Before the Rebel would finally be released, Canon would first introduce the semi-pro EOS 10D in February of 2003. The EOS 10D was priced at $1999 (body only) but the Digital Rebel was scheduled going to be offered at $999 (body only) but would also be offered as a kit with an 18-55mm lens that featured Canon’s new EF-S lens system for around $1199. 

The 300D Digital Rebel was finally released in August of 2013 and because people were so anxious to get them Canon couldn't keep up with the demand. Believe it or not, you had to be put on a waiting list to get one for yourself. For me it was definitely worth the wait because now not only could I change lenses but I could record my images in Camera RAW.  It would be about two years before I was shooting totally in Camera RAW. It was pretty easy switching over to the Rebel because my main camera was a Canon AE1 film SLR and all the functions were the same except I now I was shooting on a CF card and I had a LCD to preview my shots. I kept photographing families and events, and actually shot a few weddings totally in JPEG mode and my customers were very happy with the images. To check out the video click  Canon 300D Digital Rebel.

I hope this post brought back memories of your first digital camera. As always, remember to keep shooting and have some fun!