The company I was working for in the mid-late 80s did online photos
in real estate listing systems. The images were acquired using
Sony cameras that recorded analog info on 2" microfloppy media.
The floppies were taken back to a digitizing station where there was
a player that output NTSC video. A PC with a video frame grabber
board was used to digitize the images, where they were quantized and
uploaded to the host computer. Resolution was obviously low in every
imaginable way; iirc they were 16 grey scales, and barely measured
in kilopixels. Brokers viewed the results via a simple board added
into a serial dumb terminal. Connection to the host was over dialup,
with early installs using 4800 or 9600 baud modems.

I appear to have a test image or two from old backup tapes, but need to
figure out how to convert them to something useful on modern equipment.

We were also known to use the digitizing gear evenings and weekends
for other entertainment. I have some of the results printed on paper,
though the files are long gone. Quantization effects on old concert
footage, anyone?

De