G'Day,
been lurking for some time, and I think its time to step up to the plate and start sharing some stuff with fellow Nikon tragics.
I'm a Press Photographer in Australia, and to keep myself poor, and my wife unhappy, I collect Nikons (and press related photographic ephemera...)
I also think that sharing information and knowledge is critical to our joint interest.
So I thought I might start with sharing a new purchase which was exciting for me and also one of the very first digital cameras ever made.
A little history:
Jim McGarvey from Kodak had in 1988 created the very first DSLR in 1988 (yes he is actually the father of the modern digital camera...), a single "Electro-Optic Camera" based on a Canon F1 for a US Government customer.
In the same year he then built two "Tactical Camera EO" cameras for demonstration to government agencies. Again based on the Canon F1 body.
Sensibly changing to Nikon (well I would say that) for the base bodies Jim and his team then started taking the next serious steps towards developing a digital camera that could end up as a saleable commercial reality. The Hawkeye ii was that next step.
From what I understand the Hawkeye ii cameras were initially produced for use and testing by various American government agencies, ranging from the Defence forces through to Nasa and the CIA (among others).
In essence this small batch of cameras were effectively the prototypes for the Kodak DCS 100 cameras some 2 years later, the DCS 100 was effectively the first ever digital DSLR camera sold to the market.
I was extremely lucky to obtain a Kodak Hawkeye ii a few months ago. I didnt think I would ever get to see one let alone own one...
Essentially it was one of a batch of perhaps about 20 or so cameras that were created around 1989 by Jim McGarvey for Kodak.
Using an Nikon F3 as the body, with a removable digital back which in turn was connected (tethered) to a large processing and storage unit (usually hung on the shoulder...). Kodak made a bespoke motor drive to replace the MD4 which could wind and cock the shutter as well as perform other functions.
I purchased mine from a sports photographer near Washington DC, without the impossible (literally) to find storage unit (DSU).
And this is what he told me he knew about its history:
Years before he had been gifted it by a friend who worked at the FBI, who was not a photographer there, but whose boss knew
he liked cameras and passed on the now long redundant camera.
The sports photographer had it authenticated a good number of years ago by Eastman House, who at that time did not have an example of a Hawkeye ii at all.
At the time they made some serious noises about buying the unit for their own museum...but amazingly it was about this time that the box of old Kodak digital relics/machines was found just before they were due to be thrown out!
So the sports photog got to keep his camera.
Ive crossed referenced these details with emails I have seen from Jim McGarvey, and the timing etc all matches perfectly.
However Jim thought only the CIA/Military only got these special mono Hawkeye's, so its possible the sports photographer may have mis-remembered the FBI instead of CIA...
Initially I was worried that the sensor seemed too large and that I had bought some sort of "mash-up".
However with incredible helpfulness of Ron Volmershausen, and his contact with the legendary Jim McGarvey he discovered it is actually an even rarer version of the Hawkeye ii, a Mono M3 sensor version.
Until this camera popped up the only known image of it at all was a small photocopied B/W picture in an US Defence paper (again found by the amazing Ron Vol!!)
This is what Jim has said to Ron about this particular camera:
"A B&W M3 back is a rare one. The 9036 date code on the voltage regulator dates it pretty late in the HEII timeframe.
...it is likely a camera that was sold to the Gov't. and not a Kodak leftover. We made a couple of those for the CIA, as a follow up project to the EO camera."
"I knew the FBI tested some of the cameras, but I didn't remember that they had any with the M3 sensor. I've never come up with a good total number of tethered HEIIs. I usually say I think we made a few dozen, and that's pretty ambiguous!"
"The M3 sensor is the 16um, 1024 x 1280 sensor in the DCS camera. We put a couple of them in Hawkeye II's to test, before we built the DCS prototypes. M3 was the first color CCD we used, and I know we made a color HEII. I believe we made some HEII's with mono M3's as well, but I don't remember any specifics. I remember distinctly the first M3 we tested had a rectangular 'cluster defect' that took out about 1/4 of the pixels.
Thanks for all the info. Those were exciting days.."
Cheers, Lyndon
Some pics of the old girl:
