Format Button Essay, Research Paper

Digital Cameras

Digital cameras allow computer users to take pictures and store the photographed images digitally instead of on traditional film. With some digital cameras, a user downloads the stored pictures from the digital camera to a computer using special software included with the camera. 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, sent via electronic mail, included in another document, or posted to a Web site for everyone to see.

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 camera, 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.

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 computerized photo 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.

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 lease 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.

Works Cited

Chamber, John Q., and Theresa R. Norton, Understanding Computers in the New Century. Chicago: Midwest Press, 2001.

Shelly Cashman Series? Word 2000 Project 2. Course Technology. 5 Mar. 2001. http://www.scsite.com/wd2000/pr2/wc2.htm.

Walker, Marianne L. ?Understanding the Resolutions of Digital Cameras and Imaging Devices.? Computing for the Home Feb. 2001: 57-89.