Did you know that Kodak collaborated with Canon and Nikon to turn their film cameras into DSLRs?

A video on Instagram reminded me of Kodak's doomed DCS series, which launched in 1991 and was ultimately axed in 2005. DCS stands for Digital Camera System and was Kodak’s pioneering foray into the digital camera market.

I say pioneering because the first camera in the series, the Kodak DCS 100, was the first DSLR to hit the consumer market back in 1991.

Rather than focus on its own DSLR cameras, Kodak’s DCS system modified existing film cameras by the big manufacturers or supplied digital camera backs – which enabled a digital sensor to be slotted into a compatible camera's film compartment.

The camera in Kamerastore’s Reel (below) is the Kodak DCS 760, released in 2001.

Fans of the Big N will instantly notice that it’s built around a Nikon F5, with a big battery grip bearing the Kodak logo.

The camera is built around a 6.3MP APS-H CCD sensor, which is bigger than an APS-C sensor but smaller than a full-frame sensor. Something that sticks out in the video is just how huge the batteries are – no wonder the battery grip was necessary!

Upon its release in the US, the Kodak DCS 760 retailed for around $8,000 – which was a huge sum of money in 2001. Just for fun, that’s roughly $14,500 if you account for inflation! Today, though, used units from websites such as Kamerastore go for a fraction of the price.

Still, this is a piece of digital imaging history – and a fascinating reminder of just how bizarre the transition from film to digital really was, back in the early days of the technology. Not to mention how much cooperation happened between the big brands back then!

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