Aztech MDC-180 (1997)

Intel built and designed a universal camera kit in 1997 and promoted it, alongside a good set of guidelines, to camera manufacturers like Aztech. But who was Aztech? Aztech was Singapore based company widely known for PC hardware. In fact it was pretty common for such manufacturers to venture into the digital camera business because digicams back then were considered more like computer peripheral devices rather than standalone photo cameras.

I believe that Aztech teamed up with Intel because both companies had their roots in the computer world. This model here however was not publicly shown to visitors but rather hidden in a back room. Regular visitors could only watch pictures in a brochure. The camera kit was indeed futuristic with built-in strobe, optical viewfinder, miniature card and USB connectivity! The camera was supposed to be a plug-and-play device that could automatically transfer images into a Personal Computer running on Windows 98.

You can read all about this 'kit' by clicking on the Intel 971 PC Kit elsewhere in this category.