| Digital Photography has been around for a good | | | | There are many solutions given for this for |
| few years now and the days of film cameras | | | | cameras which have no self cleaning mechanism. |
| must surely be numbered. Of course there will | | | | Microscopic dust particles can get on your digital |
| always be those who do not want to embrace | | | | SLR sensor when you remove the camera lens. |
| the 'new' thing, but for most 'digital photography' | | | | This dust shows up in every photo that you take. |
| is the only way forward. There is a continual | | | | Self-cleaning sensors vibrate to prevent and |
| advancing of technology in the digital camera field | | | | eliminate digital SLR sensor dust. This self cleaning |
| and I have noted a few of the newer concepts | | | | was added a few years ago and does away with |
| below. | | | | the need to remove lenses and get cleaning |
| Megapixel count | | | | materials etc. to remove the dust which can be |
| Not too long ago (a few years) my 1.3mp digital | | | | very awkward for the aspiring photographer. |
| camera seemed to do the trick and took some | | | | Live View |
| good photographs which I could print out on A4 | | | | This is where you can get a view of the intended |
| paper. As time went by the amount of | | | | photograph on the large LCD window on the back |
| megapixels on cameras started to rise and 5mp | | | | of the camera in contrast to being able to look |
| was considered really good. The camera I use | | | | through the viewfinder. |
| now has 6mp and does a great job. However, | | | | For many years the function of live view was the |
| the megapixel count used in dslr cameras | | | | feature of all compact digital cameras. There was |
| continues to grow and the standard amount has | | | | no popular SLR with this function. That has now |
| now gone past 10mp to 12mp and some have | | | | changed and a few of the main manufacturers |
| 15mp or even 20mp !! When will it end, or will it ?? | | | | are introducing it to their SLR ranges. |
| It is said that you should buy a camera that has | | | | JPEG & RAW capability |
| at least 6mp and I think that if you can afford | | | | JPEG is probably the most popular type of image |
| one that has 10-12mp you have the capability to | | | | used on digital cameras now. One of the |
| take really great photos which can be enlarged | | | | drawbacks is that it is a lossy image which means |
| quite substantially without any loss of quality. | | | | that you get degradation of the photo the more |
| Camera shake reduction | | | | cropping and resizing is done on it. RAW on the |
| This is a fairly recent addition to digital cameras | | | | other hand is the digital equivalent of the old |
| and works really well when you find that hand | | | | 'negative' and allows far more scope for |
| movements start to cause camera shake as you | | | | adjustment on the photograph. RAW files are big |
| go to take a picture. There are 2 main methods | | | | and can take up a fair amount of room, so large |
| of providing the shake reduction. One is to have | | | | storage mediums are essential. One good thing |
| the mechanism in the lens being used, and the | | | | that a few of the better digital SLR's have is the |
| other to have it in the camera body itself. If using | | | | ability to take a RAW and JPEG file of each photo |
| a camera body which has the shake reduction | | | | you take. This gives you the option of keeping |
| incorporated within then that means that it can be | | | | the JPEG as is or doing some work on the RAW |
| used with any lens whereas if using stabilised | | | | image as required. |
| lenses each lens used on the camera would need | | | | These are some of the more recent innovations |
| to have it. | | | | to DSLR cameras. There undoubtedly will be |
| Sensor self-cleaning | | | | more and it will be interesting to see the next |
| The heart of the digital camera is the sensor and | | | | few advances in the technology in the |
| eventually some dust will find its way onto it. | | | | foreseeable future. |