Compact Digital Cameras – Demystifying the Technology
As a new compact digital camera user you might be bewildered about some aspects of digital camera equipment and terms. We’ve written this guide to help you find a way through the confusion in order for you to begin to comprehend this subject much better. We also hope to help in buying your next digital camera. Some of the important expressions you need to understand include ppi, white balance, sensitivity and pixel and we will try to give an explanation for each of them in this article.
Pixels or Picture Elements
This name is derived from picture element and each photograph is composed of many million of these picture elements. When seen all together the overall visual effect is of a smooth continuous photograph. One system that digital cameras are categorised is by their pixel count, which is the pixels present in the photo. The number of pixels per inch is the ppi. The number of pixels is directly related to the image quality and the image can be blown up more. In most modern cameras the pixel count is generally between between 1 and 14 million. Digital cameras are described as 2 Mp or 5 Mp (Mp =million pixels) for instance. Most of the most popular cameras have somewhere between 2 million and 5 million pixels per image.
Good quality four by six inch prints can be produced from a 3MP digital camera whereas 5×7″ prints will be somewhat lower in quality. If you want to produce 8×10″ prints a 4 or 5 Mp digital camera would be more suitable. For even bigger prints you would need a camera with more pixels. Occasionally you might see total and effective pixels quoted for a digital camera. The number to consider is the effective pixels as this is what you will see in the image.
Sensitivity Settings
The settings for sensitivity on a digital camera are similar to the ISO ratings for film. Most digital cameras will have settings similar to ISO 100 and ISO 200 film ratings. A number have ISO 400 equivalant setting. Pricier SLR digital cameras may have setting even higher, even up to ISO 6400. Many cameras are able to adjust automatically to the the sensitivity that is most suitable for the lighting and the mode.
Optical and Digital Zooms
Nearly all digital cameras have the choose of optical or digital zoom. Digital zoom gives a lower picture quality as it crops the image and then enlarges the picture to the the size needed. This is similar to the process an image editing program uses. Optical zooms work in the same way as a film camera zoom by changing the focal length and magnification. This does not affect the image quality so than using a digital zoom.
The White Balance
The white balance is adjustable for different light sources. This lets you make sure, in different lighting conditions, that white looks white, and not yellow or blue. Most digital cameras automatically adjust to the light source, however you can generally adjust this manually if you wish. The white balance can be set for fluorescent lighting, tungsten lighting, shade, electronic flash or sunlight.
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