Apple QuickTake 100: FIRST digital camera 29 years later! RETRO review

The Apple QuickTake 100 was arguably the first consumer digital camera, taking VGA colour photos and costing under $1000 when launched in 1994. Join me almost 30 years later as I experience the birth of consumer digital photography!

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#vintage #digitalcamera

[sturoberson]

Wow. You really got it right. I was a marketing manager at Apple when we launched the camera. Rajiv Mehta was the Product Manager who predicted the rapid replacement of film and passionately launched the product. Well done, from start to finish you captured the life and death of QuickTake perfectly.

[FerventAstronomy]

This clearly gives you joy, and it’s so nice to see people doing things that make them happy!

[OneMonthTwoCameras]

I am deeply impressed by your dedication to getting the images off the camera! I have given up on quite a few that just did my head in after a while :P

[Ishikabibble]

I'd love it if you did a video not necessarily on the old PCs, but your whole 'old' workflow as someone who was a published professional way back in the early days of the digital camera. Retro tech is super popular, but there aren't a lot of people making videos about them who actually worked with the tech back when it was still current.

[greyzog]

I did use one at work back in the 90's. When you talked about the somewhat substantial shutter release button the tactile memory of pushing that button was awakened in my brain. I did like the feel of pressing the shutter. The QuickTake was really a great tool for getting images for newsletters and emails. We would rent them out by the day and a lot of people came in to do just that as they were pretty exciting tech.

[wal]

Great review as always! I recently picked up a QT100 / 100 Plus and 150 and they all seem to be facing what I'd call "CCD Rot" as the images are horrible. Colors are off, QT100's photos are mostly green. None of the photos I've taken look anywhere near as good as the samples you or LGR showed. I was happy to figure out how to get them off the camera(s), but the resulting photos didn't make me happy. Also, I wanted to let you and other's know, I was able to connect the camera using a USB to Serial Adapter (Sabrent brand) and a cable from a KODAK DC20 (Apple to PC serial). I used the Quicktake 150 software and after carefully ensuring USB to Serial drivers were installed (Prolific in my case), the QuickTake software communicated with the cameras. A few caveats, I am using Windows XP on a Dell D630 laptop and what I found worked was to connect serial first (serial to USB), then power cable (or batteries) to power up the unit. If you power the unit first, I don't believe it will communicate properly. The D630 has serial port and this is how I first connected the cameras but also tried the USB adapter afterwards and was surprised it worked! Also, the preview times are horribly slow! Takes about 30 secs per image to view and I guess "decrypt" the qtk files. Still lots of geeky fun, but I was sure hoping to get better photos. Maybe I'll source another QT100 before the prices get too out of hand. Thanks again for the fun and informative videos, this one should have TONS more views! Thanks to you I'm now on the hunt for more vintage digital cameras 😊

[agenericaccount]

Welcome back x2.
Fair point about lack of review. Back then, in the context of the market being mostly film, not being able to review pics was just part for the course.

[CinemaMacabro]

My English professor bought this camera and loved it, he treated himself with some dividends he got back on some stock, and adamantly said this would be the way of the future, he was right, but not with the quick take. And back then I didn't know of any printers that had photo-quality printing, I would have loved to see a 4x6 of this. Also the pics of the graffiti and David Bowie mural are awesome for 620x480.. Great video mate! Hopefully i would find one at a thrift store!

[cjsebes]

In 1997, my employer gave me his Quicktake 100 as I was leaving his ad agency for college. He'd upgraded to a more capable camera. I was beyond thrilled to receive it and use it for quite a few projects and to simply play with. Cutting edge at the time.

[ChemaGD]

One of the best photo channels on YouTube. Love it

[radiozelaza]

Nice color rendition, quite surprising for such an early sensor tech

[tfangel]

I still have mine from back in the day, but it was really the Sony Mavica, with the floppy drive, that helped me really get into digital photography. Yeah, had to carry around floppies, but could see results and quickly get shooting again once full.

[ccderik]

Apart from the poor resolution, those images actually look pretty decent! 😀Love your dedication, like a digital archeologist you manage to pull those images from the camera! The Quicktake looks like a projector doesn’t it? Thanks for the video, it’s really interesting and fun to hear your insight, putting the camera into the context of its time.

[Localtraveler]

Was wondering why I hadn’t seen one of these videos from you from awhile and realized I didn’t have notifications on! Fixed so now I can continue watching these glimpses of past technology.

[michaellundphotography]

Honestly these images look great for the era! We were all pretty used to the graphics of like “Oregon Trail” etc… this blows that away… I would have been mesmerized as a kid lol

[SteveMorton]

Great work Gordon.
I don't think current users of digital cameras appreciate how far the technology has come in nearly 30 years. Back then I was still shooting film, although I did get access to a Casio digital camera at work in the late 1990's.
Some one should write an iPhone app that mimics the QuickTake 100 with the 'delete all' button included... but only the photos taken with the app! The quality of the 640x480 photos are surprisingly good considering!

[alanbates]

Thanks, another interesting and informative video. I acquired a 100 & 150 to compliment an assortment of early Macs I have which made connection easy. Apple also made a case for them that came with a protective sleeve that fitted over the camera body while allowing access to all the controls/connections and incorporated a strap that made one handed use much more secure. It's twin, the Kodak DC40 incorporated lugs for the same purpose and came with a strap, a much better idea. The DC40 also had the lens mount threaded to take 37mm accessory lens etc. Tiffen made a push fit adapter for the QuickTakes, again 37mm threaded, for the same purpose. The QuickTake came with a battery charger and three NiCad batteries which was just as well in view of it's appetite for power!

[asphotographics]

We had one in our graphics lab when I was in high school. We used it for capturing events for the school paper. 8 shots wasn’t really a limit, as that is about how many frames you would take on a film camera of any given event anyway, and you didn’t have to shoot and develop a whole roll of film just for that one frame you really wanted. Getting shots off the camera was certainly faster than developing, printing, and scanning film. We printed the weekly paper on an offset press so the QuickTake had enough resolution for any layout except possibly the cover shot. Digital photography was obviously the future and I was able to eventually make a career out of it.

[alexanderdnelson]

Thank you so much for this video; I watched it with intrigue. Then, a few weeks later, I happened into a thrift store and there was a QuickTake 100 just waiting to be bought! The staff said none of them had any idea what it was, but I did! I bought it, put in some new batteries, and it fired right up. Your video was very helpful with considering the software compatibility. I went with a serial to usb cable on a 2007 MacBook running Windows XP, and had no issues with the driver or software installation! Can't wait to go out and take some retro digital photos.

[Raptoraus]

I was working for Apple in 1994 as a tech and used to repair a lot of these cameras :) fun times!