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Free Article : Digital Cameras

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Digital Cameras

Today, it seems that just about everyone in Britain owns a digital camera of one sort or another. Everyone is familiar with the term and knows that they differ from earlier cameras in that image information is stored on a storage card instead of film. In the 1990s digital photography was a revolutionary concept and early quality was experimental and relatively poor. A camera is rated by its pixel capability and, as pixels contain the image information, so pixel numbers contribute to final image quality. The advent of the first 1 megapixel (1 million pixels) camera was hailed as a breakthough in technology and they were very expensive to buy. Not only were the cameras themselves expensive but so were the storage cards that the cameras used instead of film. At one time the going rate for some storage cards was £1 for each 1MB of storage! The technology for digital capture was on a roll, though, and soon each successive 'ultimate digital camera' was being replaced at a rate of what seemed every few weeks! It wasn't possible to buy an expensive digital camera and believe that the investment would keep you happy for the next 15 or more years, as it might have done with a 35 mm camera. A camera worth £1,000 when purchased could be worth only a fraction of that amount when you tried to trade it in, against the newer model, only months later.

These earlier digital cameras were, basically, compact cameras with a zoom lens. The zoom lens could have two settings, one for 'optical', often X3, and one, perhaps X6, in which the camera would interpolate information. Basically, the optical zoom was the important factor and that, of course, relied on the quality of the optics. Pixel numbers were important (and still are) but equally important was a good quality lens and some of the traditional camera makers were quick to join the 'revolution'. Major players were Cannon, Pentax, Nikon and Olympus closely followed by other popular makers like Fuji, Sony, Samsung, Panasonic, Kodak and Casio. Many of these compacts offered a diversity of programmed settings and options that was often bewildering but appealed to the growing numbers of photographers who had never owned a roll film camera. One of the functions frequently offered was the facility to take short video clips. And the cameras were small! They could be tucked away in a pocket or the handbag and always close to hand ....... no more missed photo-opportunities!

'Serious' photographers who demanded slides or good print quality at A4 size or larger were largely unimpressed at this time but the rate of progress in digital camera technology was phenomenal. The first digital SLR (single lens reflex) camera arrived on the scene early in this millennium at staggering prices in the thousands of pounds! For the first time club and professional photographers started to think that digital might be for all photographers eventually! Today, in 2009, the advantages of digital over roll film are recognised in professional studios and photographic societies almost universally. However, it must be said that there is still a small number of photographers who love the thrill of sending off a roll of film and having a box of slides drop through the letterbox a few days later or of taking a roll of film into the darkroom and producing colour or monochrome prints of exceptional quality. For many photographers, whether professional or hobby, the advantages of digital capture far outweigh any perceived disadvantages.

Today, choosing a new camera can be mind-blowing! There are so many and prices range from the basic 'cheap and cheerful', even ones on keyrings, to the multi-megapixel SLRs with a range of interchangeable lenses that need a mortgage to purchase them. Before you make a decision think very carefully about what you want from your camera and what your budget is. There are several internet sites that offer largely unbiased and independent reviews on new cameras as they come onto the market. Let's think about the functions or specifications that you might want or need:

Do you want your camera as a quick and easy way of recording family events and holiday snaps without the need to enlarge them beyond A5 size?
Do you want a camera with a long zoom so that you can bring the action to yourself instead of vice versa?
Do you want to carry interchangeable lenses, of varying focal lengths, with an SLR (which is also usually much bulkier itself than most compacts).
Do you want to capture image files of a quality enabling you to make quality prints (at 300dpi) of A4, A3 or even larger?
Do you want a camera that has all the advantages for quality capture and print but don't want the hassle of an SLR?
Do you want an additional video function?
Do you want a camera that offers RAW files to work with?
What optional qualities of image capture does the camera offer?
Is there a hotshoe for a separate flashgun?
What sort of batteries does it need?
What type of storage device is used?
Ease of handling?
Ease in understanding the various function buttons and menu!
And I'm sure there are many other criteria of your own that could be added to the equation.

Do your homework and make sure that you understand what each of the functions and different specifications mean and whether or not they're important or irrelevant to your own needs.

It's a common misconception that 'pixels = quality' to the exclusion of all other factors. This isn't so. The lens quality is another all-important factor. Once you've decided what you want to use your camera for, your budget, and investigated the criteria offered by various cameras, you may find you have a shortlist of, perhaps half a dozen models. At this stage personal preference for a maker, ease of handling, availability and special price offers come into the equation. If you want a good quality camera and are happy to buy one near the end of its production run then good bargains can be found, frequently without foregoing too much in the way of 'improvements'. Visit as many internet sites selling cameras as you can find and study prices and specifications. Some models will only be available through certain stores, on-line or in the High Street. If you don't understand the importance of some of the specifications, take the time to find out what differences you would find with or without them. Identify an outlet where you can handle the camera of choice and make sure that you're comfortable with it. Sometimes a High Street retailer will match an on-line price so that a sale isn't lost.

Finally you need to think about where you will store your growing number of digital image files and how you will present them. Again, questions need to be asked of yourself and answered. When cameras used a roll of film, it was exposed, developed and, usually, printed either by yourself or by one of the many print services offering 24 or 36 prints 6" x 4" or 7" x 5" for about £5. We all have drawers or albums full of often grainy, over/under exposed, blurry pictures of family events and holidays that are often our only record of the happening. In amongst them were a few brilliant pictures that were often achieved more by accident than design! We wouldn't want to be without any of them. Today it's a slightly different scenario. Because storage media is relatively cheap and can be re-used, we can take hundreds of images instead of a careful roll of 36. These can then be opened in a computer, looked at once and then, frequently, ignored in the future! You can, of course, take the sensible course of action choosing the best, doing any basic manipulation of exposure or contrast, dropping the resultant files onto a cd or card, getting them printed on a machine in a local photography outlet and then mounting them in the family photo album. You don't even need to put them through your computer if you're happy that you'll be pleased with the printed results.

Alternatively, you can store the files and choose your best to work on more intensively on the computer, in a light room rather than a darkroom. This of course means that you need to consider buying photo-manipulation software. Basic software can be bought relatively cheaply but expect to pay hundreds of punds for professional standard software. To make this worthwhile you would then need a decent computer and printer. A good compromise option would be to buy a multi-function printer that will accept your storage cards, allow basic manipulation of quality and then print off the finished files. Another alternative is to to create sequences of your chosen images and even add a soundtrack of music or narrative. The finished audio visual sequence can then be saved to a cd or dvd and passed to friends and family for viewing.

Whatever you decide to buy and however you decide to keep or present your image files .............. enjoy the process!

Article Ref : http://www.stijlnet.com/pages/contentwriting/articles/free/2009/0003-digital-camera.html (First published 12th January 2009)

Author(s) : stijlnet.com site writers for DigitalCreative.info

Title : Digital Cameras

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