| |
 |
|
Rolleiflex MiniDigi
Click photo for more retro cameras. |
A bit of trivia: the first working digital camera was designed and built in the early to mid-1970s by Steven Sasson, an Engineer at Eastman-Kodak. The result of Sasson's efforts was an eight-pound monstrosity that recorded images in black and white onto a cassette tape. It was a whopping .01 megapixels (that's a scant 10,000 pixels) and took 23 seconds to record its first image. Suffice to say, you won't be slinging this around your neck and snapping sports shots.
Digital cameras have come a long way since the blurry, grainy, noisy B&W neck breakers like this one. Our shooting power is now measured in two-digit megapixels, and our resolutions are high enough to produce an image the size of a bread van. And as technology gets cheaper, faster, and smaller, the camera becomes much more refined. It's sleeker. It has more bells and whistles. It is a precision picture-making machine. Even the cheapest major-label economy digicam available today is light years ahead of where digital imaging technology was 15 years ago.
Styles, tastes and public preferences change quickly. But despite the fast-paced evolution of the digital camera, from palm-sized snap shooters to hefty DSLRs, sometimes you just want the style and grace of days gone by. Luckily, camera manufacturers seem to be old softies, with a penchant for nostalgia. Many have introduced lines of retro cameras that let enthusiasts frolic and play in a land of make-believe Kodachrome.
Here are some retro-styled digicams that might be of interest to the camera collector -- for their styling, if not necessarily image quality and processing power. Some of these cameras are still currently available new from major shops, but for some of the older models, you may have to check eBay.
Rolleiflex MiniDigi (check eBay) - Perhaps the most well-known and popular retro camera, among both professionals and consumers alike, is the Rolleiflex MiniDigi. This tiny, palm-sized 3.1 megapixel point-and-shoot is a throwback to a racier time in photography. Modeled after the paparazzi favorite from 50 years ago, the MiniDigi goes out of its way to reproduce the details of the original Rolleiflex 2.8F. Just like the original, this camera has twin vertically mounted lenses, a crank lever, an exposure meter, and, of course, the nifty retro logo. Even the shutter release is a miniaturized version of the original.
There's just something about this camera that gives you a feeling of history and class. Sure, at 3.1 megapixels you won't be using it for too many professional gigs. Wedding portraits are probably out. But it's certainly an eye catcher and a conversation piece, and it adds a certain amount of elegance and class to snapping shots of your friends and family.
|
