What Kodak’s digital camera teaches us about fear of change
The story of Steve Sasson is one of innovation ahead of its time—and corporate reluctance that led to a missed opportunity for Kodak.
The Invention of the Digital Camera (1975)
In 1975, Steve Sasson, an engineer at Eastman Kodak, developed the first-ever digital camera while working in the company’s research lab. He used a CCD (charge-coupled device) image sensor, which had been invented a few years earlier, to capture images in a completely electronic format.
The camera was a bulky prototype, weighing about 8 pounds (3.6 kg) and using a cassette tape to store black-and-white images at a resolution of 0.01 megapixels (100 x 100 pixels). It took 23 seconds to record an image onto the tape and another 23 seconds to read and display it on a screen. Despite its limitations, it was a revolutionary concept—photography without film.
Kodak’s Response
When Sasson demonstrated the digital camera to Kodak executives in 1976, their reaction was not excitement but fear. Kodak was a film company—one of the most dominant in the world—and executives saw digital photography as a direct threat to their lucrative film and chemical business. While Kodak had the technology to lead the digital revolution, they suppressed it, fearing it would cannibalize their existing market.
Instead of embracing digital, Kodak focused on improving film photography—a move that, in hindsight, would prove disastrous.
Missed Opportunities & Kodak’s Decline
Despite holding patents on digital camera technology, Kodak failed to capitalize on it. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, companies like Sony, Canon, and Nikon surged ahead in the digital photography market. By the time Kodak tried to pivot, it was too late.
Kodak filed for bankruptcy in 2012, a victim of its own resistance to innovation.
Steve Sasson’s Recognition
Though Kodak never profited from his invention, Steve Sasson eventually received recognition for his work. In 2009, President Obama awarded him the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, acknowledging his role in pioneering digital photography.
Sasson’s story is a cautionary tale of how companies can innovate yet fail if they refuse to embrace change. His digital camera concept changed the world, but Kodak’s hesitation cost them their dominance in the photography industry.
Humor Helps
Change is uncomfortable. Whether it’s a major career shift, a sudden technological breakthrough, or just realizing your favorite coffee shop replaced real mugs with paper cups, transitions can feel jarring. But humor has a way of making change more bearable, relatable, and even enjoyable. It gives us permission to laugh at the absurdity of life, rather than crumbling under the weight of uncertainty.
Kodak resisted change and paid the price, but their story is now a cautionary tale that people tell with a hint of irony—the idea that they “invented digital photography but chose film instead” sounds like the setup to a great joke. Humor helps us distance ourselves from fear and see the bigger picture. Instead of feeling threatened by change, we can joke about it and, in doing so, make it less intimidating.
Reframe Failure
Humor also helps us reframe failure. When things go wrong, our instinct might be to dwell on what we lost. But humor can flip the script, making failures feel like plot twists rather than dead ends. Whether it’s a business that missed its moment (hello, Kodak), a personal reinvention we didn’t plan for, or a cultural shift we’re struggling to keep up with, humor reminds us that no one has it all figured out. Everyone’s just improvising.
Even on a personal level, humor is a powerful coping mechanism. The best comedians often talk about life’s hardest changes—breakups, layoffs, aging—because laughter takes the sting out of things. If you can joke about something, you own the narrative instead of letting the narrative own you. Change, after all, is inevitable. The ability to laugh through it? That’s a choice—and a skill worth developing.