Whats a Digital Camera?

By Scott Cornwall

To most of us, taking photographs was something undertaken during holidays, or family occasions and to preserve images of friends and loved ones. It often seemed that you needed to be David Bailey to get that perfect shot. As we stumbled to find the flash, crammed our photographic targets into shot and hoped that nobodies head would be chopped off. Then of course - after the initial struggle to make sure the film was slotted in correctly, we would re-wind after that last photograph was taken, remove the film and have to then make the pilgrimage to the photo processors. Even with the advent of 1 hour photo processing - it was quite common to flick through those long awaited shots to find heads missing, blurring and that seemingly inevitable red eye! All in all, it could be quite disappointing to discover out of 36 much anticipated holiday snaps perhaps only 3 or 4 were fit for the album.

However, the advent of digital cameras has made all of the above a thing of the past. Many people wrongly assume that digital photography is complicated. It's of course that word 'digital' which conjures up images of advanced computer technology, confusing jargon and the necessity for expensive equipment. Because of this, many people simply think "No - that's too technical for me". Ironically - this couldn't be further from the truth.

Digital cameras have simplified home photography on so many levels and nowadays you don't even need a computer to be able to take great snap shots that you can store in exactly the same way as traditional photos.

Firstly - what is a digital camera? Well quite simply - it's exactly the same as a traditional camera - except it doesn't need a film. It has a tiny little card inside called 'A Memory Card'. The Memory Card comes in varying strengths called Megabytes (and referred to as MB) - the higher the MB the more pictures you will be able to take and store on your camera. For example the lowest Megabyte (MB) strength is 8MB and will store approximately 16 photographs, 256MB is the highest strength (and will store approximately and just under 500 photos). So in short - it is entirely possible (if you have bought and placed a 256MB memory card into your digital camera) that you could take 500 photos - all of which will be stored safely on your camera - waiting to be printed.

OK, you say, it’s all well and good having 500 photos on my camera - but how will I know what pictures I have taken? Well the great thing about a digital camera is it has a tiny viewing window in the back (a bit like a little TV screen). In nearly all respects the digital camera functions like a traditional camera - except when you pull back the lens and take a photograph, the image is immediately stored on the camera. The second the photo is taken - you can shut the lens; press 'O.K' (on the back of the camera) and the little screen will turn on and display the photograph you have just that second taken. At this moment you can see exactly what the photograph looks like. So if someone’s head is out of shot, another’s eyes are shut or if you are simply unhappy with it - you can delete it (by pressing 'O.K' and using the up/down button to scroll to delete) and then re-take the photo. Many people find they take their photos two or three times to get that perfect shot. This way, you have a camera that is filled with only those photos you want and would be happy to see printed on paper.

The other noticeable aspect about photographs taken with digital cameras is the crystal clear quality of the shots. Every single detail is clearly displayed and photographs have a realistic feel that was never evident with traditional photography. Digital photographs have this brilliant quality due to a term called 'Pixels'. Pixels are tiny little dots which combine to form the overall picture; the higher the amount of dots contained in the photo, the better the quality of the photograph. Because digital cameras use so many pixels to create an image - your photographs will have a very sharp and colourful appearance to them. In addition, simple functions on digital cameras allow you to easily switch to night time photography, eliminate red-eye and cameras also contain a simple ' automatic shot' function - so nobody need be left out of a photograph to hold the camera!

So now you may understand more about the benefits of taking photos with a digital camera - but you are probably wondering how to physically get those photographs for frames and albums. Well this is perhaps the easiest part of all. The traditional way to obtain the photographs taken on your camera - is to connect the camera to your PC via a USB connector. The USB connector comes with all digital cameras and is a simple wire with a plug. You insert one end into your camera and the other plugs into the side of your PC. Once connected to the PC the digital camera will light up, and the photographs taken on the camera will begin transferring onto your PC. In fact a screen will appear and you will suddenly see all these photographs appearing in order - on your computer monitor. Once the photographs appear on your PC - you can save them (onto your computer) and e-mail them to friends or relatives. If you have a printer - you can print them out onto standard paper, but this can be an expensive and less effective way to obtain your photographs - as it uses a great deal of printer ink and the shots can look more like photocopies than snap shots.

The best way to print your photographs is via a digital camera printer. With this, you don't need a PC at all. You can simply connect your camera to the printer (via that USB wire mentioned) and then select the shots you want and this special printer will create perfect photographs - as you would have received from traditional photographic processors - but all in your own home. A Digital Photo printer costs around £100 but is money well spent if you take a lot of photographs. However, for most of us (who only take snap shots on holidays and during special occasions) undoubtedly the cheapest and easiest option is take our digital camera direct to a photo processors. Photo Processing shops have moved with the times and today all of them feature easy to use equipment which will instantly print your digital camera shots. All you need to do is put your camera memory card into the self service machine and follow the 'touch screen' instructions. Your images will appear, you can select the shots you want to print and they are immediately processed in front of you (exactly as photo booths produce passport images). Easier still, you can ask one of the store assistants to print your photos for you – with the exception of selecting the images you want printed this requires no effort on your part at all! The cost to print photographs in this way is approximately 20p per snap shot, and you can opt for any size you like - although prices do increase with size.

The cost for a digital camera starts at around £40, although I would recommend a model at around £75-100 as ideal for anyone wanting a versatile easy to use camera. If you're considering buying a digital camera - why not visit either Curry's or Comets whose trained staff would be able to suggest a model that matches your requirements and most importantly get you familiar with using it.