A beginners guide to digital

Peter Rowlands · Issue 18, Apr/May 2004 · pp. 43–46

Products mentioned: CompactFlash, Smartmedia

43 In this article we’ll be looking at basic entry level digital cameras rather than the more expensive digital SLR (single lens reflex) cameras. A lot of the terminology applies to both types of cameras and we’ll look at D-SLR’s in the next issue of UwP. Traditional film cameras and modern digital cameras achieve basically the same results but they do so in completely different ways. As their name implies, digital cameras convert light into data which can be used to generate an electronic photographic image. The light is captured on a small CCD (Charge coupled device) sensor and the data recorded can be either viewed on a computer screen or printed onto paper. Traditional cameras use light sensitive film to record the light levels and chemicals are then used to convert the film into a form which our eyes can recognise i.e. a transparency or print. File formats The two main file formats …