Image is Everything

Digital photography isn't just cheap and convenient - it opens up a whole new realm of communication. It is clear that photography is currently going through its more radical change since its birth. Although the invention of 35mm film made cameras lighter and cheaper, the convulated process of getting prints is still expensive, time consuming and, for all but the most hardened enthusiast, a mystery. Digital technology has removed the dark arts of the darkroom - and turned photography into an incredibly powerful way to converse and exchange ideas.

Before the invention of the digital camera, you couldn't see the face of your new nephew within seconds of his birth. You couldn't tease your colleagues with shots of cocktail - fuelled holiday antics. And you certainly couldn't 'impress' girls with late-night shots of the contents of your trousers. A picture really is worth a thousand words, even if many of them are expletives.....

THE LOWDOWN:

Like film cameras, digicams work by focusing the light from a lens onto a surface - but rather than light - sensitive chemicals on film, which can be used only once, digital cameras use an image sensor chip that turns light into electrical signals.

CCD - Charge-Coupled Device. The most common type of image sensor.

CMOS - Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor. Less common sensor.

Megapixel - A digital image is divided into pixels. The more pixels, the better the picture - so cameras are rated by millions of pixels, or megapixels.