Your Camera CCD Sensor Size And The Number Of Megapixels

Your Camera CCD Sensor Size And The Number Of Megapixels
By Ziv Haparnas Ziv Haparnas

The digital cameras megapixels madness is very similar to the personal computer Mhz madness back in the 90s. The number of pixels a camera uses to produce a digital photo is just one element in determining the photo quality. Another important element that is usually forgotten is the sensor size. Here is why.

Digital cameras use an electronic sensor (also known as a CCD) in order to capture a digital photo. This sensor replaces the old film rolls used by traditional cameras. The electronic sensor is built from small light sensors also known as pixels. When you take a photo the camera opens the shutter for a certain amount of time. During that time light hits each individual pixel. The amount of light that hits each pixel determines its intensity (also known as the pixel value). A digital photo is comprised of many pixels each with its own pixel value.There is a direct relationship between the size of the CCD the digital camera uses, the number of megapixels it supports and the size of each pixel. For a fixed CCD size the more pixels the CCD supports the smaller each pixel is. On the other hand for a CCD with a fixed number of pixels, the larger the CCD the bigger each pixel is.

So why should you care about the pixel size? There are many reasons to care about the pixel size as it plays an important role in the overall quality of your digital photos. One reason that is very easy to understand is sensitivity to light. Assume that you are taking a photo with the shutter opened for a fixed amount of time. During that time light hits each pixel. The larger a pixel is the more light energy that it accumulates during that period of time. The result is that with larger pixels you could take photos in darker scenarios than with smaller pixels. Also – with larger pixels the amount of noise in each pixel value is reduced.

For example if you have two digital cameras both having the same number of pixels but one is using a larger CCD sensor – the camera with the larger CCD will be able to take digital photos that are sharper and with less noise. It will also be able to take digital photos in scenes that are too dark for the other camera. Higher light sensitivity also allows more flexibility with both shutter speed and aperture settings.

High end cameras like digital SLR use larger CCD than point and shoot digital pocket cameras. Why is that? The main reason is simple: cost. It costs more to manufacture a larger CCD (for reasons such as yield and other specific manufacturing processes issues). The CCD size also influences other optical attributes of the camera – for example the aperture needed in a specific scene changes as the CCD size changes. The depth of field is directly influenced by such aperture changes.

In conclusion, when buying a digital camera always remember not to get fixated on the number of pixels. Although this number is important it is not a standalone feature. If you plan to take digital photos in extreme conditions, if you do care about depth of field, aperture settings, shutter speeds and light sensitivity than you should also check the size of the CDD the camera uses among other optical parameters of the camera.

Ziv Haparnas is a technology veteran and writes about practical technology and science issues. This article can be reprinted and used as long as the resource box including the backlink is included. You can find more information about photo album printing and photography in general on http://www.printrates.com - a site dedicated to photo printing.

Read more!

The Many Advantages Offered by a Digital Camera

The Many Advantages Offered by a Digital Camera
By Morgan HamiltonI can proudly say that I am a photo nut, and I love to take pictures of everything everywhere. However, I used to go through rolls and rolls of film and spent so much money on processing pictures that would end up being off center. I would also often take pictures of people with their eyes closed or with an unattractive look on their face. Fortunately, I can now take thousands of pictures without spending a lot of money on processing photos that are less than desirable with the help of a great digital camera. The advantage of having a digital camera is that you can immediately see if a picture you have taken has turned out well. You can immediately take another photo if you took a picture and saw on the screen that someone wasn’t looking at the camera. You would have to wait until the photos are processed and lose the moment if you don’t have a digital camera.

A digital camera also allows you to pick and choose which photos you would like to have processed for your photo album. This means that you don’t have to spend money on pictures that will just be thrown away. A digital camera can be expensive but you can spend a lot less money in film and film processing.

You can also take advantage of wonderful digital photo organization programs that will hold all of your digital photos on your computer. The good news is that most of these programs are free. You can download the pictures from the memory card of your camera into your computer with these programs. You can then sort through to pick which ones you would like to print and which you would like to delete completely.

You can also hold onto photos in an album format without having to print the photos out at all with these programs. Some of these programs will help you organize your digital photos by the date they were taken. This means that you can automatically have the pictures sorted by date instead of having to sort through printed pictures you have thrown into a shoebox.

Read more!

Digital Camera Success Card

Digital Camera Success Card
By Michael Huddleston

There are hundreds of thousands of wrecked photos and just as many hurt feelings because the photos did not turn out because of some goofy setting on the camera. When we shell out so much money for digital cameras we make some pretty dangerous assumptions about how they work. Truth is, even if you don’t change any of the settings on your new digital camera you’ll quickly discover it will operate differently in various picture taking conditions. This can be REALLY frustrating for people who just want to “take pictures.” I’ve heard the following comment so many times.

“Look, that’s the reason I bought the top of the line Canon/Sony/Kodak or whatever digital camera because the sales person said it was so sophisticated that 9 times out of 10 all I would need to do is point-and-shoot.” Or, even if there were no salespersons involved because the camera was purchased on the Internet the new owner STILL assumes point-and-shoot means just that. They quickly find out that all is not well in digital camera land.

No matter how much you pay for your new digital camera you’ll discover that it will let you down if you don’t take steps to protect yourself, and your pictures.

Here’s an example.

The other day a friend told me a story about his new digital camera, it’s a sad story.

His new digital arrived and according to all the literature the camera would do everything and he really didn’t have to worry about it. He had a large 1 Gig memory card and a battery that would pretty much let him take pictures all day. The camera was LOADED with all the new bleeding edge technologies including image stabilization, so according to the literature he could practically take beautiful pictures in the dark even without needing to use that distracting flash.

So…

He took his new digital camera to friends wedding and 90% of the wedding was outdoors and the day was slightly overcast so the lighting was perfect - he turned the flash OFF. He absolutely LOVED how the camera handled. It was perfect, it was fast, and it even looked sexy. Guests kept asking him “What kind of camera is THAT?” so he was feeling pretty good about his purchase.

Then the wedding moved indoors…

Not a problem, his new camera had image stabilization and really high ISO settings so he could continue to fire off photos without aid of the flash, he was delighted!

Everyone was so impressed with my friends photographic confidence and his sexy ultra sophisticated digital camera they ALL stopped taking pictures, mainly because he boldly told everyone he would gladly provided copies of the photos on his website.

Then he went home and made a horrible discovery…

While all the outdoor photos were PERFECT, every single indoor photo (group photos) were terrible. He was sick! :(

This is what happened…

When the wedding moved indoors it moved into a VERY dark room meaning the camera adjusted its settings to compensate. What it did was elevate the ISO settings to a point where the resulting photos were filled with digital noise and looked grainy.

Like I said, he was sick! These were all the important photos, bride with mom, cake cutting, family photos, close-ups of the bride and groom etc. etc.

After I listened to him drone on and on about this disaster he finally asked me what he could do to prevent this problem from reoccurring in the future.

I came up with the idea of the “Digital Camera Success Card”

Essentially it is a digital camera check list that you could laminate and keep with the camera. Then every time you pulled the camera out you could QUICKLY peek at the card and make sure everything was set right on the camera so you could be reasonably guaranteed of getting top notch pictures.

It’s pretty basic but it will SAVE your behind.

===============================

Battery charged?

Memory Card OK?

Camera set to auto?

Flash set to auto or on?

Inside Pictures

Dark settings - Camera works slower

Set flash to “on” not auto

Hold shutter 1/2 down wait for green light

Outside Pictures

Close-up people pictures/heavy shadows - Flash On

===============================

Ok, I admit it, it’s pretty basic, but if my friend had used this quick system to make sure everything was OK he would not have needed to be apologizing to all those people who stopped taking pictures and were counting on him.

Make it about the size of business card and laminate it so it’s protected and keep it right with the camera. Obviously you can put anything on your “Digital Camera Success Card” that you want and in my example I covered just a few of the basics.

Think for a moment though, wouldn’t this make a really cool gift for the person in your life who…

* Just bought a new digital camera
* Has a digital camera and is frustrated
* Or.. for you!

Read more!