Time for Olde Tyme Techcitement, where we take a look back at technology relics. It’s basically your grampa talking about the good old days, but sooner and totally more reasonable than dumb boring stories about how all this used to be farmland.
It’s hard to believe 30 years have passed since Kodak attempted a revolution in photography with their Kodak Disc camera. Sure, it was expensive (Original 1982 list price: $68 or $159 in 2011 dollars.) and it took terrible pictures, but with a gold or silver casing and auto-everything technology, Kodak Disc cameras were the definition of 1980s cool. Here’s the introduction commercial Kodak made for the camera in 1982. Keep an eye out for the kid behind the Harlem Globetrotter at 00:40. What the heck is he doing?
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I love the second commercial and not just for the completely unironic Christmas sweater or the shiny purple blouse girlfriend number two is wearing. The ending is splendid, both because they made sure to point out that our hound dog protagonist wasn’t going after a second-generation MILF, and because they tried to redeem the entire ad with the heartwarming nonsense tacked on in the last two seconds. You just know that was a focus-grouped addition to the original concept. This one also has the more familiar “I’m gonna getcha” Kodak Disc jingle.
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A few details on the Kodak Disc’s introduction and surprisingly quick demise from Camerapedia:
Disc film was a format introduced by Kodak, along with the cameras in June 1982 (in the US) and September 1982 (in the UK). The intention was to develop the Instamatic idea, of foolproof loading and simple operation, into cameras which would work in all lighting conditions
The quality of pictures was not good, due to the size of the negatives showing large grain and poor resolution, and the tendency of photo labs to print them using optics designed for larger formats rather than use Kodak’s specially-designed system.
The format ultimately failed due to the poor picture quality, the relative expense of the cameras compared to other formats, and reliability problems. Disc cameras went out of production in 1988. Most manufacturers stopped making film shortly afterwards – although Kodak carried on with film until 1999.
I do remember them! I don’t think I had one, though — I was still using my 110 Instamatic. Woo.
As I recall, the grainy-ness of the prints was a really big drawback, especially as I grew up being a third generation photographer (my father often did his own developing, but that was too hardcore for me).