Digital Cameras
Digital cameras allow computer users to take pictures and store the photographed images digitally instead of on traditional film. With others, the camera stores the pictures directly on a floppy disk or on a PC card. A user then copies the pictures to a computer by inserting the floppy disk into a disk drive or the PC Card into a PC Card slot (Chambers and Norton 134). Once stored on a computer, the pictures can be edited with photo-editing software, printed, faxed, and sent via e-mail, included in another document, or posted to a Web site for everyone to see.With some digital cameras, a user downloads the stored pictures from the digital camera to a computer using special software included with the camera.
Types of Digital Cameras
Three basic types of digital cameras are studio cameras, field cameras, and point-and-shoot cameras (Shelly Cashman Series® Microsoft Word 2000 Project 2). The most expensive and highest quality of the three, a studio cameria, is a stationary camera used for professional studio work. Photojournalists frequently use field cameras because they are portable and have a variety of lenses and other attachments. As with the studio camera, a field camera can be quite expensive.
Image Quality
The image quality produced by a digital camera is measured by the number of bits it stores in a dot and the resolution, or number of dots per inch. The higher each number, the better the quality, but the more expensive the camera. Most of today’s point-and-shoot digital cameras are at least 24-bit with a resolution ranging from 640 x 480 to 1024 x 960 (Walker 57-89). Home and small business users can find an affordable camera with a resolution in this range that delivers excellent detail for less than $400. The table below shows PC Magazine’s 2005 choices for the best point-and-shoot cameras under $300.
According to Walker, the higher the capture resolution the better the print quality will be as you print larger pictures sizes. Consumers should purchase a camera with at least 3 Mega Pixel resolutin if they want to print quality 8 x 10 pictures.
Point-and-Shoot Cameras
Reliable and lightweight, the point-and-shoot camera provides acceptable quality photographic images for the home or small business user. A point-and-shoot camera enables these users to add pictures to personalized greeting cards, a computertized phto album, a family newsletter, certificates, awards, or a personal Web site. Because of its functionality, it is an ideal camera for mobile users such as real estate agents, insurance agents, and general contractors. Photos can be sent through electronic mail to friends by easily attaching the file.