In the past five years, Eastman Kodak's consumer digital cameras have made great strides in capabilities, performance, and portability. At the same time, Kodak's Design for Health, Safety, and Environment (DfHSE) Program has made these cameras significantly more environment-friendly. The success of the DfHSE Program requires knowledgeable design and management decisions across all life cycles of a product in order to minimize environmental effects and capitalize on business opportunities.

The formal DfHSE procedure uses a "stage-gate" approach that considers nine specific stages, from product concept proposal to product end-of-life. The actual product design stage falls about midway through the consideration process. In the case of Kodak digital cameras, DfHSE factors have been considered with each succeeding model, and the results have been evident.

Since digital picture-takers prefer a relatively small camera body, Kodak was motivated to reduce the camera mass. This was made possible by advances in both battery technology and image sensors, thus boosting power efficiency. The early models required four AA alkaline batteries, which increased the weight of the camera bodies. The image resolution of the early models was 0.9 megapixels and a user could expect to capture about 50 images before changing the batteries. The 2003 models are less than half the size and mass of the 1998 models, yet have as much as four times the resolution. Consumers can now capture as many as 400 images with a resolution of 2 to 5 megapixels from cameras that use a single 2-cell Lithium battery.

Kodak has also introduced a docking station to handle the battery recharging function, enabling a consumer to use only one set of batteries and eliminating used batteries from municipal waste streams. At the same time, Kodak's technological advances have greatly reduced both the power and the time required to download images onto a personal computer. The newest models with EasyShare 3.2 software allow a camera user to download 1000 images in just minutes, saving about 75% of the computer power required with the earlier generation software.

Progress is also evident on one other critical frontier - heavy metals. As the Kodak digital camera models have evolved, the company has systematically eliminated lead from the lenses, and cadmium from the photosensors and batteries, in keeping with the company's heavy metals reduction goals. In 2003, Kodak introduced the LS633, the world's first digital camera with an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display. The OLED display is small, lightweight, and does not require a backlight, which eliminates the need for a mercury lamp in the camera. Furthermore, because OLED displays emit their own light, they consume less energy than LCD style displays.

These improvements reflect Eastman Kodak's strong heritage of product stewardship. But the journey is not over. Kodak is continuing to work with its suppliers and commercialization teams to identify additional environmental improvements across the life cycle of digital cameras.