Overview

Today it seems like everyone has a digital camera and that digital photography has been around forever. There are hundreds of models of digital cameras available, and finding film is getting to be more and more difficult. But, this really isn't the way it always was.

In 1992, I was working at the Newport Beach Police Department. The department bought a Kodak DCS 200 digital camera that provided a whopping 1.5 million pixels and cost around $10,000. It didn't use a memory card, but it had an internal computer hard drive and a SCSI connection to download photos to the computer. All of the components in the camera were of the highest quality, and the digital photos of fingerprints and evidence actually looked incredible.

In those days, a handful of law enforcement users were experimenting with digital imaging technology. If one of us discovered something earth changing, like how to make a fingerprint 1:1, we'd all be on the phone with each other talking in excited voices. When any of us presented our images at a conference and (for example) increased the contrast on a projected image, the "oohs" and "ahhs" from the audience were comparable to what you would hear at a Doug Henning performance.

Fifteen years later, there are very few cameras available with fewer than 3 million pixels, although for under $40 you can get a 640 480 Barbie digital camera. Everyone knows how to adjust the contrast on a digital image, so there are no more...