Controversy over Philip Kaufman's Henry & June causes the MPAA to create a new rating, "NC-17."

Hou Hsiao-Hsien's City of Sadness broaches sensitive issues of Taiwanese history and identity.

Matsushita purchases the Music Corporation of America (MCA), parent company of Universal Pictures, for $6 billion.

Adobe Photoshop 1.0 (TM) is the second professional image manipulation program available for Macintosh computers.

Dycam releases an electronic camera for business imaging applications.

The merger of Wild Leitz Holding AG with The Cambridge Instrument Company plc creates the new Leica Holding B.V. group.

Incorporation of the Zett-Geräte-Werk (former Zeiss-Ikon) into the Leica Camera Group and foundation of Leica Projektion GmbH.

Eastman Kodak prototypes an electronic camera back designed for the needs of photojournalists.

Kodak announces the development of its Photo CD system.

The "Eurofilm," with diversified funding from six or more different countries, comes of age.

Jonathan Demme's The Silence of the Lambs, the first horror film to win an Academy Award for Best Picture.

Peter Greenaway's Prospero's Books makes extensive use of computer paintbox and window technologies.

The Gulf War.

Sony releases the SEPS-1000 Digital Studio Camera for modest quality advertising.

Rollei and Arca Swiss announce their digital studio cameras.

Kodak announces their digital cameras.

Electronic imaging plays an important role in coverage of the Gulf War. Although most still-image photojournalists on the scene use conventional cameras and film for shooting, electronic techniques are widely employed to transmit the pictures home.

James Cameron's Terminator 2: Judgment Day, exemplary in its use of digital computer technology.

Banking concerns in France, Germany, and Luxembourg form Films Ltd. to finance major coproduction projects.

Leaf Systems announces the Leaf camera back for studio cameras, such as Hasselblad or Sinar.

Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park surpasses E.T. as the top-grossing movie of all time. The film's creatures were generated by computer.

Jane Campion's The Piano is part of a worldwide cycle of "Heritage films," often adapted from acclaimed works of literature and notable for their exquisite attention to period detail and for reaching beyond the traditional art-film audience to the mainstream.

Single-use camera sales in Japan attain a record 55 million units in 1993.

Nikon, Canon, Leaf Systems, and others announce new digital cameras for photojournalists and studio photographers respectively.

LivePicture image manipulation software is announced by HSC, Inc.

Adobe Photoshop is available for MS-DOS/Windows platforms.

Russian-Chechen civil war.

Robert Zemeckis's Forrest Gump adds digitally fabricated figures to historically famous documentary film footage.

Apple Computer, Sony, and Kodak announce new digital cameras.

Apple Computer introduces RISC technology to the desktop computer market with the new PowerPC line.

Associated Press announces the AP/Kodak NC2000 digital camera for photojournalists.

19th of April, Timothy McVeigh bombs the Oklahoma City Federal Building.

Toy Story, the first full-length feature composed completely of computer animation.

The film Lumière et Cie (Lumière and Company) by 39 contemporary filmmakers - including directors Spike Lee, the producer-director team of Ismail Merchant and James Ivory, and Zhang Yimou - is made under the conditions in which the Lumière cameramen had worked, using a restored Cinématographe camera and with film prepared according to the original Lumière formula.

In the movie, The Bridges of Madison County, Clint Eastwood plays a National Geographic Magazine photographer who uses a Nikon F camera to photograph the bridges of Madison County in Iowa.

A major earthquake hits Kobe, Japan and the surrounding Hanshin region in January. Over 5,000 people die.

In March, Casio introduces the QV-10 digital camera retailing for 65,000 yen. It's success forces other manufacturers to create similar cameras.

Advanced Photo System (APS) is introduced, a new system of photography integrating a 24-mm film format, cameras, and photo-finishing equipment.

APS is overshadowed by the digital camera revolution. Therefore, many camera manufacturers focus on new digital cameras instead.

Kodak's Advantix Camera is introduced.

Microsoft releases their next generation operating system, Windows 95, with extensive backwards compatibility. It is a great success.

Sales of single-use cameras ("film with lens") jump to a record 80 million units in Japan.

1st of April, Leica takes over the camera division of Minox GmbH, manufacturer of sub-miniature and miniature cameras.

Nikon introduces their latest professional body the Nikon F5. Retail 325,000 yen.

The Mars Rover lands.

Hitachi introduces the MPEG1 digital camera, the world's first digital camera which can output moving pictures to a personal computer in the MPEG format.

In May, Nikon announces that it will discontinue the Nikon F4 after fulfilling orders received by the end of May. It is the first time Nikon gives advance notice for discontinuing a major camera. Parts will be made available for the next 10 years.

In August, Princess Diana dies in a car accident in Paris. Paparazzi are, to some degree, blamed.

28th of August, Canon Inc. produces its 100 millionth camera, a Canon IXY made in Oita Pref. During it's 63 years, the company has introduced 160 camera models.

In September, Eastman Kodak Co. completes the purchase of a majority stake (50.1%) in Chinon Industries, a Japanese camera maker most noted for digital cameras.

Sales of digital cameras in Japan reach 1 million units, about 2.4 times more than in 1996.

Single-use cameras account for almost 25 percent of the photo film market in Japan.

In late November, the Pentax 67 II medium-format camera is marketed. It is an upgrade of the 1969 model.

28th of November, Canon markets the EOS-3 autofocus SLR camera.

In December, the Minolta alpha-9 AF SLR camera becomes Minolta's new flagship model. It features a stainless steel shell, 100% viewfinder coverage, and 1/12000th sec. shutter speed. Retail 250,000 yen.

In late December, the Nikon F100 is marketed as Nikon's No. 2 top-of-the-line SLR camera. It is a sort of an F5 Junior and a rival for the Canon EOS-3.

King Abdullah I, King of Jordan, dies.

In September, Nikon markets the professional's Nikon D1 digital SLR camera with a price tag of 650,000 yen which is the cheapest yet for a camera in this class. The large, 2.74-megapixel CCD measures 23.7 x 15.6 mm which is the same as the APS format's C size. The camera design is based on the Nikon F5, and the D1 is compatible with Nikkor SLR lenses.

In October, the second Russian-Chechen civil war breaks out when Russia invades Chechnya.

Epson, Canon, and Hewlett-Packard introduce new top-of-the-line, ink-jet printers which boast nearly true photographic-quality printing. The Epson PM-800 inkjet printer even offers a roll-paper option which enables borderless printing of regular-size photographs.

The Japan Electronic Industry Development Association reports that about 1.45 million digital cameras were sold in Japan in 1999, a 21 percent increase from 1998. Meanwhile, the Japan Camera Industry Association reveals that domestic sales of film-based cameras in fiscal 1999 fell by 4.5 percent to 4.18 million units.

Nikon digital camera sales account for 30 percent of its total camera sales. It is also spending about half its R&D budget on digital cameras.

The Year 2000 crisis (coined as "Y2K").