Digital photography

In 1981 Sony unveiled the first consumer camera to use a charge-coupled device for imaging, eliminating the need for film: the Sony Mavica. While the Mavica saved images to disk, the images were displayed on television, and the camera was not fully digital. In 1991, Kodak unveiled the DCS 100, the first commercially available digital single lens reflex camera. Although its high cost precluded uses other than photojournalism and professional photography, commercial digital photography was born.

Digital imaging uses an electronic image sensor to record the image as a set of electronic data rather than as chemical changes on film.  An important difference between digital and chemical photography is that chemical photography resists photo manipulation because it involves film and photographic paper while digital imaging is a highly manipulative medium. This difference allows for a degree of image post-processing that is comparatively difficult in film-based photography and permits different communicative potentials and applications.

Camera development 

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  19th century studio camera standing on tripod and using plates
 
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  Box camera, one of the first mass produced pocket cameras using film, c. 1900
 
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  Compact Kodak folding camera from 1922
 
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  Leica-II, one of the first 135 film cameras, 1932
 
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  Contax S of 1949 – the first pentaprism SLR
 
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  Polaroid Colorpack 80 instant camera, c 1975
 
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  Digital camera, Canon Ixus class, c. 2000.
 
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  Nikon D1, the first digital SLR used in journalism and sports photography, c. 2000