Production Glossary
Digital Photography
Digital photography uses a variety of sensors that are sensitive to light in order to photograph whatever image the lens is focused on. The image is afterwards stored in the camera as a digital file. Digital photos, unlike traditional photographic film, can be archived, transferred, viewed, stored, printed and changed using a computer, not chemicals.Digital photography offers many advantages over film:
1. One can view the pictures they have taken instantly. This allows the photographer to delete unwanted photos or to immediately correct the problem and re-take the picture.
2. Since film processing is unnecessary, the cost for a digital photographer to maintain hundreds of photos is small (aside from printing costs).
3. It is easier and faster to make copies of photos, and to transfer them from one medium to the other without causing deterioration.
4. Metadata can be embedded with the file of an image. This enables information like shutter speed, time and date, and flash use to be examined and aid in sorting photos.
The advantages above and features such as anti-shake functionality, increased storage in the camera itself, AV-out cable and connector to a TV, built-in video camera, and seamless ISO setting changes have made digital photography much more popular than standard film photography.
Almost every model of digital camera comes with removable flash memory or built-in memory storage. The stored images can stay on the camera or be transferred via USB cable to a computer or secondary storage device.
The choice of digital cameras on the market is large, but there are certain features that help the consumer make a wise purchase decision. Pixel quality is often touted by manufacturers as the best way to determine which camera is better, but this tactic is more for the common shopper’s benefit. The processing system, capture medium (CMOS, CCD, reversal film, negative film), lens quality (distortion, resolution, dispersion), and capture format (pixel count, film format, and digital file type) are all important factors in determining the quality of the camera.
Digital photography, though extremely popular with commercial and home photography, is not preferred by everyone. Some simply prefer the old way photography with film, negatives, and a dark room. Others claim that digital photography is more of a problem because of the sensitivity of the cameras to weather and temperature changes. There is no doubting that the advances in technology have given photographers the ability to go far and beyond what simple film can do.
