October 01, 2007

WiFi Comes to Digital Cameras

First we had to get over the whole film thing after a nation of baby boomers had been raised on Kodak, Polaroid, and 35mm film cameras of various shapes and sizes. We were all use to the idea of sending in our film for developing and waiting for our pictures to come back.

Then along came digital cameras and the world was taken by storm with this cool new technology. Suddenly you could take a picture and see the results immediately. At first these cameras were slow and not such great quality but still kind of cool. Then things heated up and now we have fantastic digital cameras of all sizes and shapes that can take wonderful images which can be shared instantly with your family, or the rest of the world for that matter.

Now comes the latest in technology integration. WiFi and digital cameras. No need to even plug your camera memory card into a computer, or a printer at all. Now you can buy a digital camera that transmits the images via wireless technology. Yes, that is right, a wireless connection for your image uploads.

Now, you may be among those in the population that have not even gotten their hands around the whole digital image sharing thing yet. But this promising new technology may lead us to a world of fewer cables to plug in, quicker transfer of our images, and in the case of events in the world, the ability to share images of news almost instantly.

As we saw in the recent bombings in London, folks with cell phone cameras recorded the devastation they saw in the underground and shared it with the world in almost real time fashion. These new cameras may be able to take that sort of thing to an all new level. Imagine cities that implement widespread WiFi access and photographers with WiFi cameras capturing images of news and other special events. They could transmit those images right away and let the world see them.

Here is how it works:

Nikon has released two models of digital cameras that are WiFi enabled. The idea is to be able to transmit your pictures straight from the camera to your computer or printer through a wireless adaptor. You bring up the images to transfer, hit “go”, and they get sent through the air to your printer. The Coolpix P1 and P2 will be in the $400-$550 range in pricing and the adaptor is extra.

They are competing with Kodak which released its own version of the WiFi camera in their Easy Share line of cameras this year. Kodak has already gone to making it easy to share photos by transmitting them at so called "wireless hot spots", usually cafes or stores where wireless access is sold or given away to customers. These efforts by the leading camera makers seem aimed at adding value to their already impressive digital technology.

Digital cameras continue to be hot sellers despite what some in the industry thought would be a slowing of sales this year. Many had predicted that cell phone cameras would slow digital camera sales, but this is not happening.

If you are a leading edge gadget buyer and have a wireless mindset then you may want to be first on the block to get one of these Wi-Fi digital cameras.



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Posted by DigitalCamera at 09:00 AM | Comments (0)

June 19, 2006

How a Digital Camera Works

Digital cameras are quite similar to traditional cameras in their operation. They both have a lens to focus the image, a shutter to allow light inside the camera, and an aperture to control the amount of light which enters the camera.

The differences between digital and traditional photography occur after the light enters the camera. A traditional camera captures the images on film, while a digital camera captures the image on an image sensor.

Image sensors are electronic devices made up of an array of electrodes (or photosites) which measure light intensity. The most common type of image sensor for digital cameras is the CCD (Charge-Coupled Device) although others such as CMOS and Foveon are sometimes used.

The number of photosites in the image sensor gives the digital camera its megapixel (millions of pixels) rating. Each photosite corresponds to a pixel in the final image, so a camera which is rated at six megapixels, for example, has an image sensor which is 3008 pixels wide by 2000 pixels high.

When light hits the image sensor it is converted into electrical signals which are amplified and fed to an analog-to-digital (A/D) converter. The A/D converter changes the electrical signal into binary numbers which are processed by a computer housed in the camera body. Once the numbers have been processed the resulting image is stored on a memory card.

Photosites can only measure intensity of light -- not colour. In order to produce a colour image, each photosite must be covered with a coloured filter which can be red, blue, or green. These are the three primary colours which can be combined to produce any other colour including white.

The coloured filters are arranged in a grid so that there are twice as many green filters as there are red or blue. This is because the human eye is twice as sensitive to green light. Filters are arranged in a pattern called the Bayer pattern - one row of red, green, red, green (etc.), and the next row of blue, green, blue, green (etc).

Since each photosite can only be covered with one coloured filter, computer processing is necessary to produce a full coloured image. This is done by analyzing each individual pixel and its immediate neighbors and producing a composite colour from these calculations. For example, if a bright red pixel is surrounded by bright green and bright blue pixels, the bright red pixel must actually be white, because white is the combination of red, blue, and green. This process is called demosaicing.

After demosaicing the image is adjusted according to the settings on your camera. Most cameras have settings for brightness, contrast, and colour saturation. After these adjustments are made some cameras may also apply a sharpening algorithm to make the image clearer.

The final step before saving the image on the memory card is to compress it. Most cameras use JPEG as a compression format. This reduces the size of the file by eliminating excess data. This data cannot be recovered, so JPEG is called a 'lossy' format.

Many cameras have the ability to save uncompressed images as TIFF files or raw data. Raw data is the original photosite data even before demosaicing. It can be transferred to a computer for processing with special software that will perform all of the processing functions of the camera but with much greater control.

Posted by DigitalCamera at 12:14 PM | Comments (0)

June 16, 2006

Advantages of Digital Photography

Digital technology is finding a place in almost everyone's lives. From digital music to digital movies we are constantly exposed to images and sound that have passed from the traditional analog domain into the new digital formats. Digital photography is one of those formats and is becoming more popular every year.

There are lots of reasons for that popularity. Digital photographs are incredibly versatile. You can send them to friends and family by email, post them on a web site, transfer them to CD, store them on your computer, and use them for slide shows which can be viewed on your TV or computer monitor. They can of course be printed, and not just as traditional 4x6 pictures. They can be used to make personalized calendars, greeting cards, and even be printed on objects like coffee mugs and t-shirts.

For many people, the biggest advantage of digital photography is that it eliminates the need for picture processing. No more trips to the photo store – pictures can be viewed almost instantly on the display screen of the camera. Since there is no developing, digital photography doesn't need dangerous chemicals that could end up in our water supplies.

Another big advantage of digital photos is the ease with which they can be edited. Computer software allows digital images to be altered in any way imaginable. They can be cropped, the colours can be changed or enhanced, the contrast can be adjusted, imperfections can be removed, and images can be combined to create startling new designs. All this can be accomplished in a few seconds with just a few key strokes or mouse clicks.

Using a digital camera is the best way to take advantage of all the features of digital photography, but you can also use a traditional film camera and convert your negatives to the digital domain. If you are uncertain about whether or not to take the digital plunge, converting negatives allows you to get a taste of the wonders of digital photography without investing in new equipment. Most photo developing stores offer this service.

Digital cameras, however, offer so much more than film cameras. They have a viewing screen which functions as both a view finder and a picture viewer. This means you can preview pictures you've taken just seconds before. If you don't like it just delete it, or if there is a section that is good, crop it before saving it back to the camera's memory. Many digital cameras also function as simple video recorders that can capture video along with sound - anywhere, anytime.

All this must come at a hefty price tag, though - right? Wrong! Digital photography is becoming more affordable every year, and the technology to make fabulous photos is well within the reach of the average consumer. Add in the money you'll save in development costs and you have an affordable, practical, solution for all your photography needs.

Posted by DigitalCamera at 02:32 AM | Comments (0)

June 14, 2006

Digital Photography Lighting

A photograph is essentially a record of the light conditions at a certain point in time and space. We recognize the patterns of colors and shapes in a photograph because they resemble what we see in daily life. Light is so common that we take it for granted, but the photographer (and the painter) needs to be attuned to the subtlety of light in order to make effective pictures.

What we consider to be 'white' light is actually made up of all the colors of the spectrum. This is easy to demonstrate with a prism – let light shine through it and it will refract into all the colors of the rainbow. In fact, we see rainbows because water droplets are acting as prisms by breaking up the white light from the sun and splitting it into colours.

Objects have different colors because they reflect those colors while absorbing the others. Black absorbs all color – it is the absence of colour.

Even though all light may look alike to us, different light sources emphasize certain parts of the color spectrum. Bright sunlight from about 10 am to 2 pm, for example, has a bluish tinge. Early morning and late afternoon sunlight is red because it is filtered through the earth's atmosphere.

Artificial light also has distinct color characteristics. Incandescent light brings out red colors while florescent light is greenish-blue.

The photographer can take advantage of these different characteristics when taking shots. Either the camera can be adjusted to compensate for the light source or the special characteristics of the light can be used for artistic effect.

Most digital cameras can be adjusted for color balance. There may be several options – auto, manual, daylight, incandescent and flash. They can be used to compensate for the light source so that white is truly white. This allows the colours to be reproduced accurately.

In some cases you may wish to get a special effect by altering the white setting to a different colour. You can preview how this will look on the LCD monitor.

The direction of the light source is a very important consideration in photography. Light can come from above, behind, below or the side of the subject and each produces a different effect. Generally speaking, a diffuse light coming from the sides will be a good starting point when photographing people. This kind of light occurs in the early morning and late afternoon, or can be produced in the studio with an umbrella reflector.

Of course, all kinds of special effects can be produced by lighting your subject in different ways. Backlighting can create a halo effect, while overhead lights can create strong contrasts between light and shadow.

Another factor which affects photography is the strength of the light. Direct light creates strong shadows while diffuse light can create a warm atmosphere by reducing the contrast between objects. The beauty of digital photography is that you can experiment to your heart's content without running up film or processing costs. Get ideas for lighting by looking through photography books and trying out various types of lighting to see what works for you.

Posted by DigitalCamera at 12:36 PM | Comments (0)