I'd say digital image sensors are by far a much more important innovation
I thought about this statement before writing it, and I know what you mean. But the way I justify this view is that with film vs digital I was never able to take any different images. Sure, digital photography is at the heart of drones. But A digital camera didn't give me an entirely a new way to easily tell a story.
Of course, I could rent a helicopter (almost impossible for some locations and prohibitively expensive) but to carry a small gadget and send it up to tell a story is something that has only become possible recently.
Take something like this [0]. It's a former spy radio satellite the operated in current Latvia during the USSR days and now has been turned into a radio telescope. It would be impossible to tell a story about it's location in middle of trees, etc. unless I had a helicopter.
Or how do you show there is a monument built on top of the hills in Buda side that overlooks the river on Budapest. You can not [1].
As I said, it gives you abilities to tell stories that you could not do with an analogue camera.
Of course, I could rent a helicopter (almost impossible for some locations and prohibitively expensive) but to carry a small gadget and send it up to tell a story is something that has only become possible recently.
Take something like this [0]. It's a former spy radio satellite the operated in current Latvia during the USSR days and now has been turned into a radio telescope. It would be impossible to tell a story about it's location in middle of trees, etc. unless I had a helicopter.
Or how do you show there is a monument built on top of the hills in Buda side that overlooks the river on Budapest. You can not [1]. As I said, it gives you abilities to tell stories that you could not do with an analogue camera.
[0] https://www.eyeem.com/p/121629319 [1]https://www.eyeem.com/p/110013323