Whether you’re a professional photographer, or just post your selfies on social media, just about everyone has used a digital camera at least once. Digital cameras are the most popular type of camera on account of their ease of use, and most modern smart phones now come equipped with them. But how exactly do digital cameras work? Here is some general information on digital cameras, how they work, and why they’ve taken the photography world by storm.
Before diving into information on digital cameras, let’s first take a look at the process behind it’s predecessor, the film camera. When the shutter button is hit on a film camera, the camera makes a hole in the lens open briefly, allowing light to enter through it. The light then causes a chemical reaction on the film roll inside the camera, which can be brought to camera stores to be developed into photographs.
Though digital cameras are built to look similar to film cameras, the photo taking process is a bit different. A digital camera shoots the same way as a film camera in that it allows light in through the lens through a small hole. However, there is no film to expose that light to. Instead, there is an electronic device known as a charge-coupled device (CCD) that captures the light, turning them into electrical signals. This process is similar to the idea behind solar panels, which take in the sun’s light rays and convert them into electrical currents.
When the picture is taken, light hits the CCD and is broken up into millions of pixels. The CCD can then measure the color and brightness of the pixel, turning it into a string of numbers that describe the details of each individual pixel. Once a picture is saved as a numeric data file, it can be uploaded onto a variety of other technologies, such as a laptop, cellphone, or tablet.
While looking up information on digital cameras, you might notice that the more expensive digital cameras will have a higher ‘resolution’ than it’s competition. A photo’s resolution is the amount of detail that the camera can capture, based on the amount of pixels it has. The greater the amount of pixels in a digital camera, the more detailed the pictures will come out.
As technology grows, digital cameras continue to become more advanced. While many photographers still prefer the traditional film camera, digital cameras continue to be the most popular type of camera due to their ease of use and versatility.
