Sony DKC-ID1 (1996)

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The Sony DKC-ID1 came to life because Sony used it's extensive videocamera knowledge and turned it into a digital still camera. It was showcased at PMA '96. The DKC-ID1 however still resembled more a camcorder than a 35mm camera. On the other hand it is one of the reasons why collecting vintage digital cameras is so much fun. Just take a look at the design and the features! It used a built-in electronic color viewfinder which could also be used for reviewing images. Not a novelty but I love this in a camera. The status display was right next to the viewfinder so one knew exactly what was going on.

Impressive too was the 12x optical zoom. No other digital camera of that time featured such an impressive zoom range (equiv. 38-459mm!). Macrophotography and telephotography were just two of the highlights. Exposure control, autofocus, built-in flash, SCSI terminal and a more than commonly available battery pack made the DKC-ID1 a more than interesting camera. From the beginning there has been some confusion about the model names. In Japan this camera was marketed as the DKC-D5PRO and and outside of Japan as the DKC-ID1. There also was a version called DKC-ID1 PRO, it had a big sticker on the box, but this was the standard DKC-ID1 package plus several accessoires like battery, batterycharger and 2MB memory card!