{
  "id": 4434021,
  "title": "30 years ago, this monster futuristic Leica camera shot digital photos at a resolution that was over 20 times better than its rivals – but there was a catch",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/30/30-years-ago-this-monster-futuristic-leica-camera-shot-digital-photos",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-08-30T09:10:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Digital Camera World",
    "slug": "digital-camera-world",
    "url": "https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/cameras/30-years-ago-this-monster-futuristic-leica-camera-shot-digital-photos-at-a-resolution-that-was-over-20-times-better-than-its-rivals-but-there-was-a-catch"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "In the year 1996, the photography world was dominated by the Canon Elph, an APS film camera that became one of the best-selling compact cameras in the United States. Despite APS film's popularity, 35mm cameras still led camera sales. Among the most popular were Canon's Sure Shot series, Kodak's Advantix APS series, and Olympus's Stylus 35mm models. For SLRs, Canon's Rebel G was a major player, while Nikon's N50 (sold as the F50 in Europe) was a close competitor. However, digital cameras accounted for less than 1% of sales at the time.\n\nLeica's S1 camera presented an extraordinary alternative, shooting 26 megapixel digital photographs using a scanning back. This meant that both the camera and the subject had to remain completely still during the 75 to 185-second exposure. At a time when no digital camera could match its resolution, the Leica S1 offered an astonishing 26.4-megapixel image. However, there was a significant catch: it was a scanning camera, unable to capture photos in the conventional sense. Introduced at Photokina in 1966 and not available until the following spring, the Leica S1 was unlike any other camera, particularly in the 1990s. Its lens projected the image onto a 36 x 36 mm focal plane, with a precision stepper motor moving the sensor across the image. The sensor had three parallel rows, each sensitive to one of the primary colors, with 5,140 photosites per row spanning the full width of the image. The complete image measured 5,140 x 5,140 pixels, or 26.4 megapixels, at a resolution 20 to 25 times higher than Kodachrome 25.\n\nThis studio-only camera, intended for museums, art galleries, advertising photography, and other static subjects, was powered by an external power supply and required a connection to a computer, as it had no internal memory or storage card. The camera weighed approximately 7.9lbs (3.6kg) and was usually mounted on a heavy tripod or copy stand. With interchangeable lens mounts, optics from Leica, Nikon, Canon, and others could be used, making it appealing to organizations already equipped with lenses. The S1 sold for $21,500 (around $43,000/£24,800/ AU$66,900 today) when new, making it an extremely rare and expensive camera. Only about 160 complete S1-series cameras were manufactured, with most sold to museums, universities, and similar organizations.",
  "summary": "This futuristic Leica camera weighed 8 pounds and took 3 minutes to snap one photo in 1996",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}