In 1998, Nikon launched the COOLPIX 900, the company’s third digital camera but arguably its first designed with photographers in mind. The previous COOLPIX 100 and 300 may have had the honor of being Nikon’s first digital cameras, but those 1997 models were firmly in the computer peripheral camp.
Canon’s first consumer digital camera was the PowerShot 600, which launched in 1996 and sports a fixed 50mm equivalent lens, half a megapixel of resolution, and a surprisingly large body. It cost just shy of a grand at the time and was the debut of the PowerShot series.
Back in 1996, Sony launched its first consumer digital camera, the DSC-F1. It had one-third of a Megapixel, four megabytes of built-in memory, a 1.8-inch screen, and a lens housing that could rotate 180 degrees for comfortable waist-level shooting or selfies.