Digital Envisions

At its very simplest description, a digital camera is a camera that does not record photographs on film. However, in order to be able to do that, a digital camera requires a whole new system inside. There is nothing that a film camera and a digital camera have in common, besides the lens and the fact that it will take photos.

A film camera depends on chemicals that react to light to make colour photos, but a digital camera has millions of small sensors that record the colour that they ‘see’ on a chip, so that they may be accessed later.

A film camera does not need electricity unless it has a motor drive, but a digital camera may not operate without electricity, which is normally supplied by batteries. The more powerful the camera, the more power that it will require.

Besides these technical details of internal components, the biggest difference between a film camera and a digital camera is in the composition of the photographs. Because a digital photograph is made up of dots called pixels which are recorded digitally, they can be manipulated by a computer program.

A conventional film picture may not be altered after it has been ‘fixed’, but a digital photo can be manipulated at any time. You simply load it into a photograph manipulation program such as Photoshop and you will be able to change all the yellows to green, brighten the lighting, sharpen the picture, alter the contrast and a hundred more things.

As with all new technology, digital cameras used to be very expansive, but the price was soon recouped because there was no requirement to purchase film or have it developed into photographs. This is a big saving. However, the price of digital cameras has fallen so much that the technology can be placed into mobile telephones without dramatically increasing their price.

The foremost thing to look for when purchasing a digital camera is the resolution, which is expressed in terms of megapixels – the number of dots that create the picture. The more the better. At the time of writing, ten megapixels is around normal, but a professional DSLR camera might have 35 plus megapixels.

A digital camera requires a memory in order to store the pictures. The memory comes in two types akin to with a computer – it has on board RAM and a slot for an external memory chip, usually called a flash card.

It is best to have a lot of internal memory but it is not vital if you use flash cards. The cards come in different sizes. The more megapixels your camera has, the more memory your camera will require.

If you would like more than a point-and-click camera, consider purchasing an SLR or in this case a DSLR – a digital single-lens reflex camera. These cameras allow you to change lenses for special effects like fishbowl look, telephoto or macro photos. A DSLR camera with a basic lens will be about $550 so will not break the bank, but will permit you to take professional quality photographs.

Related posts

• What You Should Know Before You buy A Digital Camera (0)
• Some Basic Terms Concerning The Digital Camera (0)
• Six Ways To Make Money Using Your Digital Camera (0)
• More Basic Terminology Concerning The Digital Camera (0)
• Digital Zoom Versus Optical Zoom: What Is The Difference? (0)

Comments are closed.