10 Awesome Innovations That Changed Cinema Forever

4. Digital Cameras

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t__e6J6CCz8 Sony began to roll out digital video technology in the late 1980s, though it would have been impossible to predict the impact it has had on the industry at large. The pros were obvious from the start; digital cameras need to be loaded with film, meaning they were far more cost-effective and less time consuming to set-up, though the main problem for a long time with cinematographers was that the image quality just wasn't up to the standard of film, and even today, many purists (such as Christopher Nolan) flat-out refuse to shoot their films digitally. 2002's Star Wars: Attack of the Clones was the first major feature to be shot completely digitally, and though the film is hardly a great advertisement for the format, it at least demonstrated the greater ease that instantly-digitised content provided as it pertained to editing and also to adding visual effects to the mix, as well as the shooting itself - a digital camera can theoretically shoot for hours without stopping. Today, as digital image quality becomes ever-more crisp and clear, it seems to be winning the war against film.