Photography User Digital Camera Deals And Basic Photography Information

Digital Cameras – Some Basic Information

If you are a new compact digital camera user you may be confused by some of the features of digital camera technology and terminology. We’ve written this guide to help you find a way through the confusion and begin to understand the technology much better. We also would like to make it easier when deciding on your next digital camera. Some of the important expressions you need to understand include white balance, sensitivity, pixel and ppi and we will endeavor to give an explanation for each of these here.

What are Pixels?

This name comes from picture element and every digital photo is composed of several millions of these square pixels. When seen together the overall visual effect is of a continuous and smooth photograph. One system that digital cameras are categorised is by the pixel count, which is the number of pixels in a photograph. The number of pixels per inch is the ppi. More pixels make a smoother image and the larger the image can be blown up. The pixel count in modern digital cameras is generally between between one million and fourteen million. Cameras are described as 1 Mp or 10 Mp (where Mp = million pixels) for instance. Most of the most popular cameras have anything from 2 million and 5 million pixels per photo.

Good quality prints of four by six inches can be made from a 3MP digital camera while 5×7″ prints will probably be slightly poorer in quality. For 8×10″ prints a 4Mp or 5Mp camera would be more suitable. For much bigger prints you would need a camera with more pixels. Occasionally total pixels and effective pixels are described for a 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 comparable to film ISO ratings. The majority of digital cameras will have settings that are the equivalent of ISO 100 and ISO 200 film ratings. Some have settings that are similar to film’s ISO 400 rating. Pricier SLR digital cameras may have settings above this, even up to ISO 6400. Most cameras are able to adjust automatically to the the sensitivity that is most suitable for the lighting and mode.

Optical or Digital Zooms

Most digital cameras have optical and digital zoom. Digital zoom gives a lower picture quality because it crops the image and then enlarges the picture to the required size. This is similar to the process a program to edit images on your computer uses. Optical zooms work in a similar way to the zoom on a film camera by changing the focal length and magnification. The quality of the image is unaffected so than a digital zoom.

The White Balance

For a digital camera the white balance is adjustable depending on the light source. This allows you to ensure, under various lighting conditions, that white actually looks like white, and not yellow or blue. Most digital cameras adjust automatically depending on the light source but you can generally manually change this if you wish. You can adjust the white balance for sunlight, shade, fluorescent or tungsten lighting.