With the advancement of the digital camera and the software that is made for them, most pictures look professional from the first click of the camera. But like most things, it is important to understand the “how and why” for higher quality results.

The basics of a digital camera revolve around terms like pixel, pixel count, white balance, sensor, sensitivity, optical zoom, or digital zoom. These improve your understanding of what digital photography is all about, and will help you become a more efficient photographer.

For example, one important term is digital sensor. A typical digital camera may have a digital sensor element that is as big as a small finger nail. Most 5MP digital cameras use a sensor that is 7mm x 5mm in size. This is much smaller than the size of the negative of a 35 mm camera. However, high-end digital cameras have large sensors, and generate superior images. These are important things to know, to see how pictures can be better or worse.

Digital cameras also have sensitivity settings similar to ISO ratings on film. Most digital cameras will have settings for sensitivity equivalent to ISO 100 and ISO 200. Many also have a setting for ISO 400. A few expensive digital SLR cameras with large sensors have settings for ISO 3200 or even for ISO 6400.

Most digital cameras have an optical and a digital zoom. An optical zoom lens works by changing the focal length and magnification while the zoom is being utilized - with the image quality remaining high. Digital zoom works by cropping the image to a smaller size. The cropped image is enlarged to fill the frame, causing a significant loss of quality.

The manufacturers of digital cameras use the term “pixel count” to describe their camera’s image properties. The word pixel originates from “(PIC)ture (EL)ement”- with the use of phonics added for emphasis. It represents a single point in a graphic image - not a dot but an abstract sample that can be reproduced in any size, without a dot or square appearance.

A pixel is important to understand because it is the basic unit of measurement, used to define a digital photograph. The more the number of pixels per square inch, the higher the resolution of a digital picture, increasing its clarity. Some examples would be 2,400 pixels per inch, 640 pixels per line, or spaced 10 pixels apart. Designers, artists, and photographers sometimes interchange the pixel terminology, such as dots per inch (dpi) with pixels per inch (ppi). The dpi is used when it refers to the printer’s resolution for the printing density. Each pixel is made up of three color channels - red, green and blue — and has a numerical value of between 0 and 255.

The pixel count also decides the size of a print in case you want to print photographs. A 3MP camera can provide excellent 4×6 inch prints, while a 4 or 5MP digital camera can deliver high quality 8×10 inch prints. With a digital camera you can pick the white balance to suit the light source. This is meant to ensure that white looks white, and not yellow or blue. Normally, your digital camera will do this automatically. You can also set the white balance yourself for better effects.

Since each pixel generates three bytes of data, a photographer using a 3MP camera will need a storage space of 9 million bytes or 9MB to store a single image. This is a huge amount of space. Camera companies therefore allow for a compression of image using a format called JPEG. This reduces the file size significantly but while doing so a lot of data is lost. To overcome this problem companies have come up with different storage formats. Canon calls it RAW while Nikon calls it NEF. The data loss is less in these formats.

The low end cameras used by beginners can shoot images whose pixel count is one million is categorized as 1 MP or one million pixel camera because the intensity of each pixel is variable, with each pixel having three or four dimensions of variability - such as red, green and blue, cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. The high-end cameras used by professionals, can range from 14MP to 22MP with a pixel count as high as 14 million or 22 million per image.

The thing to remember is the higher the resolution, the more realistic the image is, matching closest what the actual image is. So take your time, do some research, and talk to people who know cameras. Otherwise, a lot of money will be spent on something that is barely adequate for what you want.

Bookmark to:

1fb8

Until recently, were you to ask someone if they knew how to operate a digital camera, they would react as though you had grown another head. A digital camera? Whoever heard of such a thing. Now, in less than 5 years, they’re the only kind of camera to buy. With digital photography there’s no need for endless rolls of film. You just focus, click, and presto, a digital image. Don’t like the picture you just took? That’s no problem, either. You can simply delete the image.

Now, with all this available technology, why should we ever worry about pictures again? Well, the plain truth of the matter is this, if you don’t have a computer, it’s still expensive and quite time consuming to download your pictures at the local Wal-mart (or Wal-greens), instruct the computer there to copy the pictures to a disk, and then pay for the actual printing. See, it’s at this point that most consumers realize it’s just downright easier to buy an old fashioned, film loaded, camera.

Let’s assume, however, that you do have a computer, and you do want to purchase a digital camera. What kind of camera do you need? Where do you begin to check out your options and see how they relate to your needs? Well, the first part of the process would be to visit an electronics store in your area. The stores that specialize in electronics will generally have a sales person on hand that can explain all the available features of a digital camera and help you decide what you need and what you can live without.

One of the big questions concerns the “megapixel” feature of the camera. The larger the megapixel number, the better the quality of the picture. You see, megapixel determines how the camera reads color combinations in order to produce the best photo possible. Now this might be a matter of great concern if you are a professional photographer, but to the everyday consumer, three or four mega pixel strength is all you need.

Next you’ll want to examine what types of subjects you will photograph and under what kind of conditions. Do you need a camera that makes pictures of moving objects? Are you making your pictures at night, or during daylight hours? Up close and personal, or over on the next block? All of these questions are valid and will affect the quality of the picture you get if not correctly addressed.

There is one final option that you might want to check: some of the digital cameras also do video. The cameras tape the audio and video of the moment as well, or better, than some of your larger video cameras, just not as expensively.

Last but not least, you need to understand your storage options, and determine how much storage space you need. Going to the family reunion, room for maybe 10 pictures will be enough; But now the class reunion, well you’re going to need room for at least 500 photos. Alright, that brings this topic to a close and moves us on to the subject of “memory stix”…….

Bookmark to:

The debate is on: digital cameras vs. film cameras. Ever since digital cameras first came out, people have been plotting digital cameras against film cameras. Which one is better? Which one is best for you?

Of course, one type of cameras is not necessarily better than the other type. That is the problem with the whole “digital cameras vs. film cameras” ordeal. Each type of camera is great for different reasons.

Here are some of the benefits of digital cameras:

· You have immediate results. You can see the photo you took, immediately after you took it.

· You can “develop” your film whenever you want… you do not have to wait until you are done with a roll of film.

· You can delete from your camera photos that you do not like.

· Your photos do not have to be perfect. You can take an imperfect photo and then later make it perfect by using photo software.

· You can take as many photos as you want. Many memory cards have a ton of memory these days!

· You can review and show people your photos straight from the camera.

· They can be made very small (they do not have to make room to hold a bulky roll of film, only a thin memory card).

· Although they used to be quite expensive, prices are going down and they are now quite affordable.

· Digital photographs are less likely to appear grainy.

· Many say that color quality is better in digital photographs.

· The technology of digital cameras is constantly improving.

Here are some of the benefits of film cameras (although this list is shorter, realize that it is these few things may weigh more heavily on your decision than the many things stated above):

· Although much art can be made with digital cameras, many consider it to be a truer, purer art if taking with a film camera. After all, it takes much more skill to set up a photograph perfectly in the first place than to go back and photoshop it after the fact. This is, perhaps, one of the most important things that you can consider in the debate of film cameras vs. digital cameras.

· Sometimes you do not want immediate results. Sometimes it is exciting to not know what your photographs will look like until you receive them. It is like unwrapping a present.

· It is easy to go buy a new roll of film when out on vacation if you run out of “memory…” It is much easier to find and buy a roll of film than a new memory card.

· You can still get your film camera photos put onto a CD… meaning that you can still download them onto your computer and even photoshop them if you desire to do so.

· The zoom on a film camera is always optical - this means that if you zoom in, you are going to get a better, close-up photograph that is still of excellent resolution. With a digital camera, many of the zooms are digital (not all)… this means that although you are zooming in, you are merely cropping the photograph, something that you can do with your photo software at home.

· Many consider film cameras to be easier to use.

· Generally, the resolution of a film camera is better (but this changes if you get a very high resolution digital camera… 7 megapixels or more).

Thus, the winner of the debate of digital cameras vs. film cameras is totally up to you. It depends on what is most important to you.

Bookmark to: