<P> Digital and movie cameras share an optical system, typically using a lens with a variable diaphragm to focus light onto an image pickup device . The diaphragm and shutter admit the correct amount of light to the imager, just as with film but the image pickup device is electronic rather than chemical . However, unlike film cameras, digital cameras can display images on a screen immediately after being recorded, and store and delete images from memory . Many digital cameras can also record moving videos with sound . Some digital cameras can crop and stitch pictures and perform other elementary image editing . </P> <P> The history of the digital camera began with Eugene F. Lally of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, who was thinking about how to use a mosaic photosensor to capture digital images . His 1961 idea was to take pictures of the planets and stars while travelling through space to give information about the astronauts' position . As with Texas Instruments employee Willis Adcock's filmless camera (US patent 4,057,830) in 1972, the technology had yet to catch up with the concept . </P> <P> Steven Sasson as an engineer at Eastman Kodak invented and built the first electronic camera using a charge - coupled device image sensor in 1975 . Earlier ones used a camera tube; later ones digitized the signal . Early uses were mainly military and scientific; followed by medical and news applications . </P> <P> In 1986, Japanese company Nikon introduced the first digital single - lens reflex (DSLR) camera, the Nikon SVC . In the mid-to - late 1990s, DSLR cameras became common among consumers . By the mid-2000s, DSLR cameras had largely replaced film cameras . </P>

When did the first digital camera come out