Everything Digital Cameras

In comparison to film cameras, digital cameras have number of advantages which includes displaying the image on the camera screen right after recording, a single small memory device can record thousands of images, records video with sound, provision to edit images, and above all storage capacity can be re-used by deleting the images. There are numbers of devices available that has in-built digital cameras like mobile phones, PDA`s etc. Specialized digital cameras are fit into astronomical devices like The Hubble Space Telescope.

Digitizing images on scanner and digitizing video signals are much older than making of still images using digital signals from an array of discrete sensor elements. It was then used for astronauts to provide onboard navigation information during their visit to planets. It provided the still photos of stars and planet locations during transit and also additional stadiametric information for orbiting or landing guidance while approaching planet.

Steven Sasson, an engineer at Eastman Kodak, attempted to develop first digital camera with solid state CCD image sensor chips. But it was just a technical exercise. The true digital camera was Fuji DS-1P developed in 1988. And the first commercialized camera was Dycam Model 1 in 1990. Then in 1991, Kodak launched its Kodak DCS 100. Else Casio QV-10 was the first consumer camera in 1995. Nikon D1, a 2.74 megapixel camera was the first digital SLR developed in 1999. And in 2003, Canon 300D, first 600 megapixel camera was launched.

There are various types of digital cameras available. For videos, there are professional video cameras which are used in television and movie production. Camcorders come with inbuilt microphone and a small liquid crystal display to watch video while recording and playback. One can get still photographs also with them. Webcams, attached to computers, can capture full-motion video and are also available with microphones or zooming ability.

In live-preview digital camera, there is an electronic camera that can be used to frame and preview before taking the photograph and also to review stored photographs. Many of such cameras can take motion pictures. Then the recorded images can be transferred to computer, printer or any other such device. USB mass storage device enables the camera to function as disk drive for computer and Picture Transfer Protocol is then used.

To use Firewire, storage device is removed from camera and inserted into other device. Compact digital cameras, small and portable with inbuilt flash, are easy to use, and images are stored using Lossy compression. They might be able to capture motion picture but that to a limit. Bridge or SLR like camera is higher-end-live-preview camera with more advanced features like superzoom lenses, takes movies with sound, etc. Digital rangefinder, a user operated mechanism, is capable to measure subject distance.

Apart from above mentioned digital cameras, there are other categories also. Professional modular digital camera systems are used in studios for commercial production. Line-scan camera systems, based on focusing mechanism, are used in industrial settings to capture images of constantly moving materials. They capture images at extremely fast with high image resolutions.

Most of the digital cameras come with pre-set modes for different applications. Data can be transferred through USB port, Firewire port, USB PTP mode and even through wireless connections like WiFi, Bluetooth etc. These data are mostly stored in Microdrives, Joint Photography Experts Group (JPEG), Tagged Image File Format (TIFF) and RAW. Formats for movies are AVI, DV, MPEG and MOV. Recently MP4 format is also developed. Digital cameras have small but powerful batteries to operate for enough length of time.



By: Roberto Sedycias

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Digital cameras are a vast improvement over the regular cameras. Electronic sensors are used in digital cameras to store pictures on a memory card. These pictures can be uploaded to a computer by an USB cable. Some digital cameras can record sound and video also.

It is imperative to study the different types of digital cameras, their features and identify our objective before buying a digital camera.

Types of digital cameras:

Compact digital camera – These are `snapshot` cameras invariably small and compact in size. They lack sophisticated hardware. Images are stored in JPEG format. Compact digital cameras have a sharp focus and a built-in flash.

Bridge camera – These cameras form a `bridge` between the compact digital camera and the DSLR camera. They have small sensors but large zoom ranges. Bridge cameras have an LCD electronic screen which can take a live preview of the photo before clicking it. Bridge cameras employ either electronic viewfinders (EVF) or optical viewfinders (OVF). The quality of these viewfinders is undergoing sea improvement regarding their size, resolution, visibility, magnification and refresh rate.

Digital single-lens reflex camera – An automatic mirror system is used which displays the exact image. The absence of time lag in the image is a great advantage for taking photos where the subject is constantly on the move. There is an auto focus system and furthermore, the resolution is extremely good. The only disadvantage is the absence of a `live preview` in most DSLR cameras.

Digital rangefinder camera – This is a portable camera suitable for theatre photography, portrait photography, street photography and candid shots. A rangefinder is a range finding focusing accessory attached to a digital camera allowing a sharp focus. Wide-angle lenses are more often used in rangefinders. Filters which absorb much light or change the color of the image can be used in this camera.

Main features:

Resolution – About 2 – 3 mega pixel resolution is enough for a decent digital camera. Resolution is a measure of the number of pixels on the sensor that create the picture. It is an important factor for printing a larger image or cropping it. Usually, the higher the resolution, greater the cost.

Type of lens – A glass lens gives a better quality picture than a plastic one. Again, a zoom lens adds greater versatility.

Close-up mode – Many digital cameras have a special close-up mode which allows one to take close-ups of extremely small objects like jewelry and coins.

Manual mode – Modes of different types are there, which enhance the quality of photographs in a particular situation. Portrait, landscape and close-up are the special exposure modes. Shutter speed and lens opening can be maneuvered in the manual exposure mode. Burst mode allows a number of pictures to be taken in rapid succession. Different filters can be used to provide beautiful effects. Extra flash modes can also enhance the clarity of the picture.

ISO – This value normally varies between 100 and 400. A higher value indicates that more number of pictures can be taken in dim light.

Conclusion:

After going through the different types of digital cameras and their features, one should ask oneself about the objective of buying a digital camera. The type of photography, the experience level, weather conditions, the budget and portability are all factors which need to be taken into account before purchasing a digital camera.

A higher mega pixel rating means a higher price. If large prints are not the criteria, then mega pixel rating around 4 should suffice. Lastly, reading reviews of the different digital cameras available for sale might just be the best option before purchasing an actual one.



By: Roberto Sedycias

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Where are you going today? Are you going alone or together with your friends or family? Don’t forget to bring your camera. Don’t leave home without your camera. A lot of unique thing happen in the street. You can capture anything with your camera.

What is your camera? Do you still have your grandfather’s camera? Many people still use SLR (single lens reflection) cameras. A SLR camera is great because you can create photography art. A professional photographer will use both digital and analog camera.

If you go to the city and enter the camera shops, there are not many conventional cameras available now. Most people are preferred to use a compact digital camera. A digital camera is slim, full with features and easy to use. You don’t have to bring a big size camera and film wherever you want to take some pictures.

When you need to buy a digital camera you must think about the price, brand, features, picture quality, mega pixel, services and guarantee, etc. You can choose many brands such as Kodak, Canon, Pentax, Panasonic Lumix, Leica, Casio, Nikon, Sanyo, Samsung, Sony, and other brand. A digital camera starts from 1.3 mega pixels and above 10 mega pixels. You can get a good quality picture from 4 or more mega pixel resolutions. Don’t buy a digital camera below the 4 mega pixels because the picture quality is not so good when you print your photo. Recently, Canon PowerShot, Casio Exilim, Sony Cyber-shot, Panasonic Lumix and other Chinese brand Mikona camera promote 12.1 Megapixel digital cameras. Wow…

The latest digital camera also equipped with face detection technology, high sensitive ISO, anti shake, anti blur, auto focus, internal editing, and other high tech features. Also you can connect your digital camera to view full HDTV 1080p for better images. You don’t have to buy a separate video camera if you are a traveler because a compact size digital camera also equipped with a capability to make a movie. It’s incredible.

Before you make a decision please consider the feature of the camera. Don’t forget to check the brochure and browse the information in the Internet. Make sure that the lenses size, zoom, and flash light, battery life, etc. fits your needs. Ask the shop owner about bonus if you choose a particular brand. Sometime they give some bonuses such as external memory or soft case. Most digital camera also include video capture capability, but make sure that you can make a video or movie with sound or audio. Video without audio is not complete. It’s a great idea if you purchase a digital camera in a promotion season. Digital cameras are now available for both professional photographers and amateur enthusiasts. A professional digital camera is expensive and the size it’s bigger than the compact size digital camera.

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By: Komang Setiabudi

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Many of us look for digital cameras that can perform the tasks that we need while being priced at reasonable rates. The various digital cameras can be found in the high end market to the mid range and also affordable digital cameras. When you are looking for the affordable digital cameras that you need for your photographs you will find many different types of cheap digital cameras that you can buy.

These different affordable digital cameras can be bought from a variety of camera stores. The price range from some of these cameras can start at about $30 and go as high as $500. The various cameras that can you find in this cheap digital camera market also have well known brands like Nikon, Minolta, JVC, Kodak and Fuji.

While these affordable digital cameras will lack some of the features that can be found in the high end digital cameras they can deliver good photographs. You will need to look at these cheaper digital cameras to see if they have the various items that you require.

These features can be the various shooting modes that you will get from your digital camera. Underwater, foliage, indoor, portrait, automatic are just a few of the shooting modes that you can look for when you are selecting your affordable digital camera. Some cheap digital cameras will feature interesting effects like that of panorama stitching.

This facility allows you to take three different photographs. You can them merge these distinct photographs together to create a fantastic picture. The amount of megapixels may not be that important for everyone but they do allow you to receive sharp and well defined pictures.

Since this is important for accurate and detailed photographs you should look for this information as you are going through the various types of affordable digital cameras that are available. You can use various photography magazines and digital camera buyer’s guides to help you select the type of digital camera that is within your budget.

Since there are many different models of affordable digital cameras you will need to know the various features and requirements that you need for taking a picture. Once you know these parameters you can start your hunt for the right type of digital camera. With so many different brands and models of digital cameras on the market you are sure to find your ideal and affordable digital camera.



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Digital cameras, which employ reusable memory cards instead of film, give you far more creative control than film cameras can. With a digital camera, you can transfer shots to your computer, then crop, adjust color and contrast, and add textures and other special effects. Final results can be made into cards or T-shirts, or sent via e-mail, all using the software that usually comes with the camera. You can make prints on a color inkjet printer, or by dropping off the memory card at one of a growing number of photofinishers. You can upload the file to a photo-sharing Web site for storage, viewing, and sharing with others.

Like camcorders, digital cameras have LCD viewers. Some camcorders can be used to take still pictures, but a typical camcorder’s resolution is no match for a good still camera’s.

WHAT’S AVAILABLE

The leading brands are Canon, Fujifilm, HP, Kodak, Olympus, and Sony; other brands come from consumer-electronics, computer, and traditional camera and film companies.

Digital cameras are categorized by how many pixels, or picture elements, the image sensor contains. One megapixel equals 1 million picture elements. A 3-megapixel camera can make excellent 8x10s and pleasing 11x14s. There are also 4- to 8-megapixel models, including point-and-shoot ones; these are well suited for making larger prints or for maintaining sharpness if you want to use only a portion of the original image. Professional Digital cameras use as many as 14 megapixels.

Price range: $200 to $400 for 3 megapixels; $250 to $400 for 4 and 5 megapixels; $300 to $1,000 for 6 to 8 megapixels.

IMPORTANT FEATURES

Most Digital cameras are highly automated, with features such as automatic exposure control (which manages the shutter speed, aperture, or both according to available light) and autofocus.

Instead of film, digital cameras typically record their shots onto flash-memory cards. CompactFlash and SecureDigital (SD) are the most widely used. Once quite expensive, such cards have tumbled in price–a 128-megabyte card can now cost less than $50. Other types of memory cards used by cameras include Memory Stick, Smart Media and xD-picture card. A few cameras, mainly some Sony models, use 3 1/4-inch CD-R or CD-RW discs.

To save images, you transfer them to a computer, typically by connecting the camera to the computer’s USB or FireWire port or inserting the memory card into a special reader. Some printers can take memory cards and make prints without putting the images on a computer first. Image-handling software, such as Adobe Photoshop Elements, Jasc Paint Shop, Microsoft Picture It, and ACDSee, lets you size, touch up, and crop digital images using your computer. Most digital cameras work with both Windows and Macintosh machines.

The file format commonly used for photos is JPEG, which is a compressed format. Some cameras can save photos in uncompressed TIFF format, but this setting yields enormous files. Other high-end cameras have a RAW file format, which yields the image data with no processing from the camera.

Digital cameras typically have both an optical viewfinder and a small color LCD viewer. LCD viewers are very accurate in framing the actual image you get–better than most of the optical viewfinders–but they use more battery power and may be hard to see in bright sunlight. You can also view shots you’ve already taken on the LCD viewer. Many digital cameras provide a video output, so you can view your pictures on a TV set.

Certain cameras let you record an audio clip with a picture. But these clips use additional storage space. Some allow you to record limited video, but the frame rate is slow and the resolution poor.

A zoom lens provides flexibility in framing shots and closes the distance between you and your subject–ideal if you want to quickly switch to a close shot. The typical 3x zoom on mainstream cameras goes from a moderately wide-angle view (35mm) to moderate telephoto (105mm). You can find cameras with extended zoom ranges between 8x and 12x, giving added versatility for outdoor photography. Other new cameras go down to 24 or 28 mm at the wide-angle end, making it easier to take in an entire scene in close quarters, such as a crowded party.

Optical zooms are superior to digital zooms, which magnify the center of the frame without actually increasing picture detail, resulting in a somewhat coarser view.

Sensors in digital cameras are typically about as light-sensitive as ISO 100 film, though some let you increase that setting. (At ISO 100, you’ll likely need to use a flash indoors and in low outdoor light.) A camera’s flash range tells you how far from the camera the flash will provide proper exposure: If the subject is out of range, you’ll know to close the distance. But digital cameras can tolerate some underexposure before the image suffers noticeably.

Red-eye reduction shines a light toward your subject just before the main flash. (A camera whose flash unit is farther from the lens reduces the risk of red eye. Computer editing of the image may also correct red eye.) With automatic flash mode, the camera fires the flash whenever the light entering the camera registers as insufficient. A few new cameras have built-in red-eye correction capability.

Some cameras that have powerful telephoto lenses now come with image stabilizers. These compensate for camera shake, letting you use a slower shutter speed than you otherwise could for following movement. But an image stabilizer won’t compensate for the motion of subjects.

Most new 6- to 8-megapixel cameras come with full manual controls, including independent controls for shutter and aperture. That gives serious shutterbugs control over depth of field, shooting action, or shooting scene with tricky lighting.

HOW TO CHOOSE

The first step is to determine how you will use the camera most of the time. Consider these two questions:

How much flexibility to enlarge images do you need? If you mainly want to make 4×6 snapshots, a camera with a 3- or 4-megapixel resolution will be fine. Such a camera will also make an 8×10 print of an entire image without alteration that looks as sharp as one from a 6- or 8-megapixel model. But to enlarge the image more or enlarge only part of it, you’ll want a 6- to 8-megapixel camera.

How much control do you want over exposure and composition? Cameras meant for automatic point-and-shoot photos, with a 3x-zoom lens, will serve snap shooters as well as dedicate hobbyists much of the time. The full-featured cameras in the 6- to 8-megapixel range offer capabilities that more-dedicated photographers will want to have. Two of the more important capabilities are a zoom range of 5x to 10x or more, which lets you bring distant outdoor subjects close and also lets you shoot candid portraits without getting right in your subject’s face, and a full complement of manual controls that you determine the shutter speed and lens opening. ‘

Once you’ve established the performance priorities that you need from a camera, you can narrow your choices further by considering these convenience factors:

Size and weight. The smallest, lightest models aren’t necessarily inexpensive 3-megapixel cameras. And the biggest and heaviest aren’t necessarily found at the high end. If possible, try cameras at the store before you buy. That way, you’ll know which one fits you hand best and which can be securely gripped. In our tests, we have found that some of the smallest don’t leave much room even for small fingers.

Battery type and life. All digital cameras can run on rechargeable batteries of one of two types: an expensive battery pack or a set of AA batteries. In our tests of the cameras, neither battery type had a clear performance advantage. The best-performing cameras offer upward of 300 shots on a charge, while the worst manage only about 50. We think it’s more convenient to own a camera that accepts AA batteries. You can buy economical, rechargeable cells (plus a charger) and drop in a set of disposable lithium or alkaline batteries if the rechargeable run down in the middle of the day’s shooting.

Camera speed. With point-and-shoot cameras like the ones we tested, you must wait after each shot as the camera processes the image. Most models let you shoot an image every few seconds, but a few make you wait 5 seconds or more. They may frustrate you when you’re taking photos in sequence.

Your other cameras. If you’re adding a camera to your lineup or trading up to a more versatile model, look first for one that’s compatible with the other cameras. If it is, you can share memory cards and batteries. Designs within a camera brand line are often similar. So staying wit the brand you have lowers the learning curve on the new camera for family members who switch between cameras.

Copyright © 2002-2006 Consumers Union of U.S., Inc.

For the latest information on this and many other products and services, visit www.ConsumerReports.org.



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