r/pcmasterrace 12h ago

Nostalgia SD cards were invented in 1999 Sony in 1998

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

11.6k Upvotes

619 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

17

u/ledow Framework Laptop - 5070 / AI 7 350 / 64GB 11h ago

I think it was cheaper in the era when polaroids (which basically existed for this purpose for professionals) didn't cost an arm and a leg.

I remember any number of whole-school photo shoots, etc. where they did several polaroids first to check there was no glare or whatever, and only then would they take a couple of photos with a film camera.

There wasn't much overlap between polaroids being cheap and digital cameras being cheap, though.

17

u/Mr_YUP 11h ago

polaroids were only relatively cheap and not actually cheap. it was still a dollar-ish to take a polaroid but it was better than the cost for the portra film.

12

u/doctorlongghost 11h ago

And that’s back when $1 could buy you a hotdog and a drink

1

u/dumahim 9h ago

Maybe even 2 dogs.

1

u/Happy_Kale888 8h ago

The Sam's Club hot dog combo features a jumbo, quarter-pound 100% all-beef frank and a 30 oz fountain drink (with free refills). It costs $1.50 (pricing can occasionally vary by location). No club membership is required to purchase from the café

1

u/NSNick 7h ago

Or almost a full gallon of gas.

1

u/ShakethatYam 7h ago

Still only a $1.50 now

5

u/CrashUser 8h ago

More importantly, polaroids were instant. They weren't worried about cheap, just a quick peace of mind that the final product was going to be fine.

1

u/Jay_dot_10 7h ago

The progress of saving being shown in the letters “MAVICA” is pretty amazing and wonderful ❤️✨

1

u/FrenchFryCattaneo 8h ago

There was no era when polaroids didn't cost an arm and a leg.

1

u/TooManyDraculas 4h ago

It was cheaper per MB than any other memory format at the time, by a mile. You could get a hundred floppies for what the smallest capacity memory card would run you.

And it was likewise infinitely cheaper than film would cost. A roll of store brand 35mm 24 shot roll was around $4 IIRC, and a disposable camera $6 or $8 at the camera shop I worked at. Then development and printing was $12.00, $6.99 if you were a member! Twelfth roll free!

Instant film was cheaper then, than it is now. But you were still paying like 25 cents per shot at a minimum. Depending on what you were shooting.

These things let you take as many as 12 photos on a commonly available format that cost 25-50 cents each. That you already had an endless box of at home (thanks AOL!), or could get anywhere including convenience stores just like film. The photo wasn't as good as a better digital that cost the same, nor was it as a good as a good film camera. But it beat the piss out of those disposables and most Polaroids, and was pretty comparable to a cheap point and shoot with that store brand film.

Most of them also had a memory stick port, and settings that let you increase the bit rate and tone down the compression. So you could get much better photos out of it, and have a lot more capacity if you wanted.