A 'toaster with a lens': The story behind the first handheld digital camera
undefined 10, 2025
Steve Sasson, a young Kodak engineer, built the first handheld digital camera in 1975 by combining a CCD sensor, hacked-together parts, and a cassette recorder. His crude 100×100-pixel device captured and played back the world’s first digital photo, revealing a future without film. Kodak management was intrigued but hesitant, unsure why consumers would want digital images. Sasson predicted it would take 15–20 years to match film, Kodak’s first consumer digital camera arrived in 1995. His invention helped spark the digital photography revolution, though it came too early for Kodak to fully capitalise.
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