Rhythm Watch Visimo (© Rhythm Watch Corp. Ltd.)

Rhythm Watch Co. Visimo (1994)

Rhythm Watch Co., Ltd., a company more known for all sorts of clocks and watches, already filed a trademark for their brand VISIMO in 1993 but it was abandoned a year later because no statement of use was filed. Multiple websites (e.g. cocolog) point towards 1994 which means that if the camera was marketed in 1994 it could have been the world's first consumer digital camera with LCD screen, one year before the Casio QV-10 hit the streets. I found a note in one of my TXT files that reads "actually sold in Japan" but I can't find the source anymore. Oh, yeah, found it, according to Taroh Sasaki's hobby website it was his first digital camera before he switched to the Ricoh RDC-1. Also, in a 1997 report of Future Image a list was printed of available cameras and the Visimo was on it. I am on it guys.......
(I know the image resolution in the specs doesn't match the CCD resolution but this is all the info I have at the time)

Edit 2014-22-11:  The camera is mentioned in an article of the New Scientist, Issue 1927, p23. If we can figure out whether it was marketed in 1994 or not than we can prove that it was the world's first digital camera with an LCD. Marketed a year before the Casio QV-10.

Specifications

  • Brand: Rhythm Watch Co.
  • Model: VISIMO
  • First mentioned: 1994
  • Marketed: yes
  • MSRP: approx. $300
  • Imager Type: 0.01MP CCD
  • Resolution: 737x480
  • Internal Storage: unknown size (could store up to 7 images)
  • External Storage: SRAM
  • Lens: 50mm fixed focus
  • Shutter: -
  • Aperture Range: -
  • LCD screen size: unknown size
  • Size: -
  • Weight: -
  • Remarks: -

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