Steve Sasson

[Mike Farley]

If you ever wondered what Steve Sasson looks like, here's a recent picture in an article whicg is linked below. Sasson is the cheery looking guy on the right of of the image. The chap on the left is meeting one of his heroes. Apparently.

http://theonlinephotographer.typepad.co ... asson.html

If you do not know who Steve Sasson is, for shame. He is the man who has done the most to revolutionise photography since Fox Talbot and is responsible for the box of tricks you are using to take pictures. Yes, he invented the digital camera, way back in 1975 which makes it 40 years old, incredibly. At the time, Sasson was famously working for Kodak, which should have been thrilled at what he had done. Instead, when he demonstrated it to the board, they told him that they did not want to see him or his gadget again. That was just the start of Kodak failing to get to grips with digital imaging, which has seen the company become a shadow of what it was.

Kodak's decision might seem strange, but I have heard that its profit on film was 60% as the materials used and the manufacturing process were inexpensive. A roll of 35mm film cost just pennies to make, less than the packaging apparently. With profits so easy to come by, being an executive at Kodak did not require much ability. All that was needed was to ensure that nothing disrupted its existing operation. Digital imaging was just such a threat, so they attempted to make it go away. The real skill lay in monetising the invention and managing the transition to the new technology. We have all seen just how good Kodak was at that.