Understanding Digital Photography Terms and Definitions

The following terms are often used in digital photography:

Opening: The opening is an opening, the light enters the camera 's go inside, where the sensor is possible.

Digital zoom: Digital zoom is the explosion of one aspect of the image. With the digital zoom reduces image quality.

JPEG: JPEG compression, describes a digital image. The Joint Photographic Experts Group has developed a compact, whichreduces the image size. This reduction will result in a significant loss of image quality.

Megapixels: one megapixel equals one million pixels.

Memory: Memory is the storage capacity that holds the digital camera to store images.

1 MP Camera: A 1-MP camera can capture an image that consists of one million pixels.

Optical zoom: Optical zoom focal length of a lens and changesMagnification.

Pixel: Pixel is a short form (picture element), which has a numerical value between 0-255. There are three color channels (red, green and blue) in each pixel.

Number of Pixel: A pixel is the number of pixels in each image.

PPI: PPI (pixels per inch) describes the quality of the images. The higher the PPI, the more clearly and solve the photo.

RAW / NEF: These are two terms that mean both the uncompressed image as shot by is the camera. This is the RAW format used by Canon digital cameras and the NEF format used by Nikon digital cameras.

Sensor: The sensor is the strip within the digital camera that receives light. The sensor has the task, comparable to the negative in a non-digital camera.

Shutter speed: Shutter speed refers to the length of time the camera aperture, and the light inside the> Camera.

TIFF: TIFF stands for Tagged Image File Format, a format that uses a very large file, but has the advantage that no information is lost.

White balance. The white balance is the white color of the image quality digital cameras usually have adjustable settings for the electronic flash, shade, sunlight, fluorescent and tungsten.

A Simplified Guide To Quickly And Easily Understanding Your Digital Camera

A digital camera can appear complicated, but there are certain basic points that can be quickly learned and will help you become a better photographer. It is worth it to spend some time thinking about your camera's pixel count, white balance, sensor, sensitivity, optical zoom, digital zoom, etc. These features will improve your pictures and increase the enjoyment you get from your digital camera.

A digital camera's basic unit of measurement is its number of pixels. The clarity and resolution of your pictures improve with the number of pixels per square inch your camera has. Each pixel contains within it three color channels (red, green and blue) and carries a numerical value of between 0 and 255.

Digital camera manufacturers use the pixel count as one way to describe their product. The pixel count of low-end digital cameras are usually around 1 million, a number that seems large, but is strictly for beginners! Better digital cameras and those used by professionals range in the 14 million to 22 million pixels-per-image.

Pixel number also determines the quality of your pictures at a given size. For example, a 3MP camera can give you beautiful 4"x6" prints, but would not give you the same quality at 5"x7" or larger. A 4 or 5 MP digital camera is necessary for excellent quality bigger prints.

You should also be familiar with your digital camera's digital sensor. The sensor element in most digital cameras is small, about the size of a fingernail, which is much smaller than a 35mm camera's negative. Again, high-end cameras have the larger sensors, which produce better quality large prints.

Another helpful feature of your digital camera is the white balance. This is adjusted to suit the light source and keeps your colors true, ensuring that whites are pure and not yellow or blue looking. Generally, your digital camera adjusts automatically, but for a really beautiful shot, you can manually adjust to get results exactly as you want them.

A digital camera's sensitivity setting is similar to ISO ratings on film. Generally, the sensitivity settings of digital cameras compare to ISO100 and ISO 200. Some have a setting for ISO 400. A few digital cameras with large sensors (and large price tags) have a setting for ISO 3200 or ISO 6400.

Another very important feature to be familiar with is optical versus digital zoom. Both are important, but for different reasons. Digital zoom physically crops the image to a smaller size; this cropped image expands to fill the frame. This cool feature allows you to cut out ugly background or focus on a particular object in the frame that might not be centered. Depending on the amount you "zoomed" out, there may a significant loss of quality in your pictures. The optical zoom lens actually changes the magnification and focal length, drawing subjects in and out depending on your desire.

Picture image storage can also be an issue and it's important to familiarize yourself with the manner in which data is stored. Each pixel generates three bytes of data. A photographer using a modest 3MP will need an amazing nine million bites to store each picture! Compressing an image using a format called JPEG significantly reduces the file size, which causes a corresponding loss of quality. For some purposes, this loss is not important, but as a rule, it is not preferable. Digital camera manufacturers have come up with different storage format designed to minimize this data loss. The format is not uniform; for example, Nikon calls its process NEF, while Canon calls its format RAW.