What Is Digital Camera?

This post is going to be long. So, make sure that you are free to read this, or you can read part of it & come back again.

Have fun. :-)

As the name goes, digital camera is simply a camera that takes images digitally. And with the technology today, a digital camera can perform more than that:

• Record video with sound
• Playback your photograph on a screen
• Huge storage
• Delete unwanted photograph
• Transfer your photograph to PC or TV

Digital camera has come a long way before it developed to wide consumer camera today. It was designed to give navigation information for astronauts. During 1988, the Fuji DS-1P was considered as the first digital camera that record images in a computerized file. However, the camera was not confirmed to be marketed.

Digital cameras are classified into few categories and some of the popular cameras are:

Compact digital camera

Example: Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5

Compact digital camera sometime is also call point and shoot camera. It is designed to be affordable, easy to use, portable and lightweight. Often, you can carry it with a small pouch instead of a backpack like the SLR or DSLR camera. And due to its design to be easy to use and cost effective, you will sacrifice much advanced features compare to the higher end digital cameras. Still if you need a camera for casual use, then compact digital camera will be your choice.

However, as technologies grow and become cheaper, manufacturers are able to build in more fun features into compact digital camera and one of them is the face detection feature.

Face detection is simply the technology to locate sizes of a number of faces. The technology only detects facial features and ignores other things. It used to detect only one face and again as technology improves, compact digital cameras nowadays come with multi-face detection feature which further enhance your photo snapping pleasure.

The face detection feature can be important to those who love to take pictures of people. What if you like to take sceneries than people? Then you might not use the face detection feature much.

Don't worry, compact digital camera manufacturer understand there are different user out there. That is why some manufacturers have built the wide angle lens into their compact digital camera.

The wide angle feature allows you to take in much wider angle of view so that you can capture more of the surroundings. You can then keep the subject in focus and make the picture more interesting with the background. And the smaller the number (in mm) of the lens, the wider view you can get.

By the way, if you love to snap pictures of big group of friends and family, having a wide angle compact digital camera can be very helpful.

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5 is among the compact digital camera that comes with the wide angle of 28mm which make photographing your favorite group of people fun and easy. You no longer need to stitch your picture or sacrifice anyone from the moment.

SLR like camera

Example: Sony Cyber-shot DSCH50

SLR (single lens reflex) like camera is also known as bridge digital camera. It is similar to DSLR camera but sometimes its lens is not interchangeable. Bridge digital camera fills the gap between high end DSLR and compact digital camera and hence the term "bridge".

SLR like camera was build for the intermediate photographer but some compact digital camera user would skip this category to save their money and go straight to DSLR. Some photographer however will start with SLR like camera rather than compact digital camera because they know that they will move into professional and they might as well prepare themselves for the future.

An SLR like camera is fun to have because it is similar to DSLR with the manual control over aperture, shutter speed, ISO and white balance. However, it might have smaller photosensor and lack the reflex system compare to the DSLR.

Since the SLR like camera lens is not interchangeable, manufacturer has built very large zoom range (including wide angle and telephoto) into the lens. But what if you want more zooming power than that?

Although the lens for SLR like camera is not interchangeable, you can actually get a secondary lens to increase the zoom capability. These secondary lenses can usually be screwed at the front of the lens directly or with an adapter tube. However, some photographers do comment that the DSLR produce better picture quality than the SLR like camera with secondary lens.

Another difference between the SLR like camera and DSLR is that SLR like camera uses electronic viewfinder (EVF) in oppose to optical viewfinder (OVF) in DLSR. The image you see with EVF is actually a digitally created through-the-lens (TTL) image. This then allows 100% previewing of the image compared to some DSLR that may not show you the 100%.

However, since the image is digitally created, you might experience lag time while taking your picture. This might then cause you to miss that only second to get the perfect picture.

DSLR camera

Example: Nikon D40

DSLR is a digital single lens reflex camera which uses reflective light from a mirror to project image to the eyepiece. It was created based on the film base SLR camera so now, you can take as many pictures as you like without worrying about your film cost.

DSLR camera offers photographers full control where you can control the aperture size, shutter speed, flash and more. With the help of these controls, you can very much decide how you want your picture to look like.

It also comes with a larger sensor compared to the other two digital cameras. Why larger sensors size you ask? That is to help you to get better quality and lower noise image in almost any lighting condition. If you have any experience with compact digital camera with dim light, you will wish that you will have a better camera. Even though some compact digital cameras do offer different condition, the end result still can't be compared to the DSLR camera.

What makes DSLR so superior in photography is the ability to change the lenses. Can your compact digital camera or bridge digital camera do that? Most likely not.

Now, there will be situations that you would like to take close up pictures but you can't. If you like photography and car race, you will understand what it means to have a far away shot of the racing cars. That is where telephoto lens comes in where you can zoom in so close that it looks like you are at the side of track.

If you like to take nature pictures, you will love the wide angle lens. You can take the whole mountain landscapes without sacrificing any part of the nature.

But with the ability to change the lenses, you are opening your DSLR to dust contamination. You might think that small dust in your camera is not harmful but think again. Even the smallest dust can affect the quality of your picture. Surely, you don't want to capture the once in a life time image only to find it is ruin by dust particles later.

When you want to clean your DSLR camera, you can remove the dust yourself or send it for service. Some DSLR camera manufacturers like Olympus have developed a dust removal system where a filter is created to protect dust from sticking to the image sensor. Then an ultrasonic vibration will remove the dust that rest on the filter and these dust will then be captured by the adhesive strip at the bottom of the filter.

As superior as DSLR camera may sound, some do comment that the camera is bulky, heavy and it will weight even more if you change the lens. Some also comment that the DSLR cost more than the SLR like camera and the lenses for DSLR is not cheap either.

You must agree that you ultimately want a great picture. It can be so great to brag about it to your grandchildren and to be frank, you can't get that kind of satisfaction with compact and SLR like digital camera.

You do need to invest some capital to get a sturdy piece of equipment. Then for the heavy lifting, just think that you are building your muscle while you are enjoying photography. :-)

Have fun photographing,

Michael Wong. :-)