Monthly Archives: July 2010

How a Digital Camera Works

This section provides a quick look at how a digital camera works. You don’t really need to understand quantum physics to operate a digital camera, but a basic comprehension of what’s going on inside your picture box can help you … Continue reading

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LENSES

If the name Willebrord Snell doesn’t sound familiar, don’t worry; most people aren’t too familiar with Snell. Nevertheless, he got things started for digital cameras in 1621, when he performed the first experiments with refraction. As Snell discovered, light travels … Continue reading

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Why Shoot Raw?

Most people who purchase a digital SLR immediately seek advice from a salesman, friend or colleague who can “get them started” taking pictures.  Time and again, the most common advice they receive is “shoot in JPEG mode; stay away from … Continue reading

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HOW YOUR CAMERA MAKES AN IMAGE

The preceding description might sound complicated. In reality, though, the process an imaging chip employs to capture an image is even more complex. First, the light coming through the lens is passed through several filters. These include an infrared filter … Continue reading

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Digital Cameras for Close-Up and Macro Photography

Digital camera technology has improved vastly over the last few years, and is still rapidly evolving, with new camera designs and features being introduced almost on a daily basis, and relative costs falling too. The image quality nowadays from a … Continue reading

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Five dSLR Downsides

All is not perfect in digital SLR land. There are a few select things that are difficult to do with a dSLR, and some problems that only digital single lens reflex owners have to contend with. This section lists the … Continue reading

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Camera design

Fundamentally, all cameras consist of the same basic components: a light-tight box, a method of focusing the image onto the image plane, an image sensor to capture and record the image, and some means of controlling exposure. However, the history … Continue reading

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Choosing a Format

For some photographers, discussing camera formats brings out a fervor roughly akin to that of defending one’s faith. Some envision large format as a kind of holy grail; others consider it the photographic equivalent of a black belt in karate. … Continue reading

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Shoot at Your Lens’ Sharpest Aperture

Shoot at Your Lens’ Sharpest Aperture Another trick the pros use is, when possible, shoot at your lens’ sharpest aperture. For most lenses, that is about two full stops smaller than wide open (so the f-stop number you use will … Continue reading

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Guided Tour of a Digital Camera

Guided Tour of a Digital Camera We’re going to start with a generic tour of a typical non-SLR digital camera. Later on, we’ll get into the features of digital SLR cameras, too, but if you want a great deal of … Continue reading

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