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Why Digital?
With digital photography you can do things that you can not do with film:
• Snap anytime- there is no cost until you print!
• There is no such thing as a roll of film. Snap 2, 10 or 100 photos at a time.
• Use the camera's automatic mode – a computer helps take a great picture.
• Review the picture immediately after you snap it. Delete and re-snap if required.
• Print what you want, when you want.
• Save money at the photo counter – only print what you like.
• Edit your photos on the computer – Crop, remove red-eye, improve contrast and
more.
• Combine photos for interesting effects. Add people or take them out!
• Make your own greeting cards, newsletters, brochures, business cards, all in full
color.
2004 was a milestone year in digital photography. In 2000, digital camera sales
worldwide in dollars exceeded film camera sales. In 2004, digital still cameras overtook
film camera sales in numbers, with over 75 million units sold worldwide, as opposed to
approximately 50 million film cameras sold. The number of film cameras sold is
declining in double digit percentages.
Costs of digital camera have dropped to the point where they are competitive with film
cameras.
Cameras I
Basic operation and features
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Related Manuals for Polaroid Cameras I
Summary of Contents for Polaroid Cameras I
- Page 1 75 million units sold worldwide, as opposed to approximately 50 million film cameras sold. The number of film cameras sold is declining in double digit percentages. Costs of digital camera have dropped to the point where they are competitive with film cameras. Cameras I...
- Page 2 Elements of a digital camera A digital camera is a lot different than a film camera. Until the advent of auto-focus in the 1980s, film cameras had very little in terms of electronics. A shutter release activated a spring loaded shutter and the film was briefly exposed to the image through the lens.
- Page 3 shutter button and lens are virtually the only parts of the camera that remain in digital cameras. The film has been replaced with a light sensitive chip, called a Charge Coupled Device (CCD). This chip is an array of millions elements that are sensitive to light. When light hits an element in the CCD array, a electrical charge is accumulated at a rate determined by the amount of light striking it.
- Page 4 The focus, exposure and color balance calculations are the principle reason that most people take better photos with a digital camera than with film. Although modern film cameras do an admirable job with focus and exposure control, no film camera can do color compensation.
- Page 5 What the heck is a megapixel? Mega is a prefix that means million. A pixel refers to the element on the CCD that captures light. Thus a 4 megapixel camera has approximately 4 million sensing elements on its CCD. The megapixels a camera has nothing to do with the size of the image, but has everything to do with resolution.
- Page 6 Remember: while you can always decrease resolution using editing software, you can never increase it. A rough rule of thumb is that the memory required per picture is one half of the megapixel rating of the camera. Thus a 4 megapixel camera will require 2 Mbytes of storage per picture.
- Page 7 Can you see the difference? You can probably tell that the 1 megapixel camera is not as good for 8x10s. It is still adequate for email or eBay work but not acceptable for taking quality pictures that will be enlarged. Is 2 megapixels enough? That is up to you: it may be, if a camera has other features you like.
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Page 8: Lcd Screen
Many cameras offer a digital zoom in addition to the optical zoom. That’s ok. If you never use the digital portion, which is activated automatically when the limit of the optical zoom is reached, then you never suffer a loss of resolution. It is always there if you really need it. - Page 9 Remember the rule of thumb for storage? One half the megapixel rating per picture. So a 4 megapixel camera will require 2 megabytes of storage per picture. Thus the 32 mbyte card that came with the 4 megapixel camera will only hold 16 shots. 16 shots is not enough for a good afternoon, especially if you decide to shoot some video.
- Page 10 Lenses The lens of a digital camera is the most important individual element in getting a good picture. It is one of the only differentiable features in the camera, but the most often ignored. If the lens of the camera is not good, the picture quality will be compromised.
- Page 11 Digital camera flash Like most “point and shoot” cameras the flash of a digital camera is normally built in. Even high end cameras will have a built-in flash. The flash control is an easy button to find; it has a lightning bolt next to it. It is one of the most important buttons to learn on the camera.
- Page 12 Windows 98 and ME). Digital camera software When you buy a digital camera it will come with some software. This software is broken into three categories: • Drivers so your camera will interface properly with your computer •...
- Page 13 Microsoft Picture-It, (free with XP?): Pretty limited, but good for simple tasks. Make sure that the software (and the drivers for the camera), are compatible with your own computer. If you are running Windows 95 or a Macintosh, you are likely to have a more difficult time finding a camera and software that will work with your computer.
- Page 14 The final result Photo restoration: The following severely damaged file was restored using Photoshop Elements:...
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Page 15: File Types
File types Different file types can be determined by the suffix on the file name, for example, a JPEG file might be called “filename.jpeg” or “filename.jpg.” The most common file types are sufficient for most uses, they are: JPG: example: “filename.jpg” or “filename.jpeg.” This is the native or internal file format for most cameras. - Page 16 tend to be smaller and are definitely more expensive, and standard size batteries that you can buy in any electronics, grocery or drug store. Proprietary battery packs: If you opt for a very small camera you are going to get a special small battery supplied by the manufacturer.
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Page 17: Putting It All Together
Putting it all together What differentiates one digital camera from another? It is more than just megapixels and optical zoom. Buying a digital camera is a highly personal process that lets you choose from many options that are right for you. - Page 18 Hint: Digital zoom without an optical zoom is not a good option. It turns out that the Polaroid camera will take a memory card, although one is not included. It doesn’t matter anyway because it does not...
- Page 19 Printing at the digital kiosk You don’t need a computer to enjoy the benefits of digital photography. With the introduction of digital kiosks in many photo, discount and drug stores you can select, edit, make prints and burn your photos onto a CD without ever getting near a computer. The photo at right is a kiosk at a well known department store.
- Page 20 Addendum Copyright law If you take a picture with your camera, you own it. You can copyright it, print it, sell it and freely modify it. If you use someone else’s copyrighted image, from the internet for example, you lose some of these rights. Unless you obtain permission of the original photographer or the owner of the photograph, you may have no rights to use that photo or any part of it in any commercial way.
- Page 21 Buying a digital camera: Checklist: 1. Megapixels: □ < 2 Megapixels – eBay low quality only □ 2 Megapixels □ 3 Megapixels Very High Quality □ 4 Megapixels □ 5 Megapixels □ 6 Megapixels Professional □ 8 Megapixels □ 11 Megapixels 2.
- Page 23 Addendum 2: Digital cameras versus the Space Shuttle I make the comment all the time, “Your digital camera has more computing power than the space shuttle! Is that true? Let’s look at the facts: Space Shuttle: Computer: Computer is a hardened derivative of the IBM 360 mainframe, first introduced in 1964.