Apple
QuickTake 100
Apple Quicktake 100 (1994)
You can trust Apple to be a leader in both technology and industrial design – and so it is with this beautiful product. The Quicktake 100 was borne out of a co-operative project between Kodak and Apple. But while the former was lumbering and indecisive at the start of the digital era, Apple borrowed a sensor from Kodak's DCS 200, developed the electronics and bodywork around it and, hey presto, announced the Quicktake 100 in February 1994.
Apple had decided to target its first digital camera for the mass market. It also wanted the camera to connect to its famous Macintosh computers to download and manipulate the photos. Hence, the Quicktake 100 is what one historian describes as the "first truly affordable digital camera that could be easily connected to a computer". The price in America was about US$750.
Not long after introducing this revolutionary 0.3 megapixel camera, Apple abandoned the camera business. It wasn't until the advent of iPhone 1 in 2007, that you could once again take a photo on a portable Apple device. Note also that the Quicktake 100 had Apple's original rainbow logo that was phased out in 1998.
The Quicktake 100 was a beautiful camera — beautiful to hold and beautiful to behold. It has an optical viewfinder, an LCD status screen, a fast f/2.8 lens and a 1/30 to 1/750sec shutter range. Mine is shown with a close-up lens that fits across the full frontage of the camera and an original, beautifully printed instruction manual.
Apple Quicktake 200 (1996)
What a shock! Two years after its radical-looking QuickTake 100, Apple launched this successor with
ultra-conservative appearance, the QuickTake 200. The reason for the enormous change in design was the influence of Apple’s co-developer Fujifilm plus pressure from consumers for a less bulky camera with features you could recognise from the era of film photography.
As we now know, the shift to conservative mode wasn’t enough to save Apple cameras. The axe-wielding Steve Jobs killed off the division when he returned to Apple the following year. The company has never made cameras since. We can only imagine what gorgeous products have not been produced since – or we can look to Fujifilm’s line-up.
End of tearful reminiscence. Let’s take joy from this charming survivor.
The QuickTake 200 was nicknamed “Neptune” (don't ask me why) and badged by Fujifilm as the DS8 Clip-it. It had a 0.3 megapixel sensor and resolution of 640x480, a nice 1.8” LCD screen, an amazingly light weight of 240 grams and a price tag in the US of $700. You can see in my photos that there is also a clip-on viewfinder that must have been so easy to lose, but luckily not in my example. The QuickTake 200 nicely partnered with the Apple Macintosh computers of the time for photo transfer and editing. Thought bubble: rather than wanting QuickTake, consumers really were wanting QuickTransfer.
In summary, let’s also give thanks to the Apple photographic department for bringing us the memorable QuickTake cameras, while they could.
