The Inside Picture Of A Digital Camera

Electronics greatest technological breakthrough insurrounded by blue and green pixels, then that
this modern age is the digitization of analog signals.red color pixel is treated as white color, since the
Digital information, which is represented by 1s andcolor white is a combination of the colors, red,
0s, is formed upon successful conversion ofblue, and green. After demosaicing is complete,
analog information, which is represented by athe image is further subjected to the
fluctuating wave. This conversion of analog tophotographer`s settings of the camera, like
digital has made the world of science andadjustments made for brightness, color saturation,
technology make great advances into the field ofcontrast, etc.
computers, Internet, satellites, and spaceHigh-end digital cameras usually do not do anything
research.more to the image thus produced. However,
On the consumer domain, the benefits of thisprofessional digital cameras have a sharpening
technological breakthrough can be witnessed inalgorithm, which heighten the sharpness and clarity
consumer electronic products like TVs,of the demosaiced and settings adjusted image.
computers, cameras, camcorders, CDs, DVDs,Professional digital cameras also have the option
etc. Digitization gave rise to microchips, whichof saving the image in its RAW data before any
could be programmed to perform any task. Withdemosaicing or adjustments are made by the
the utilization of the microchip, the digital cameracomputer chip. This is to give control to the
was born.professional photographers to make changes to
In a digital camera, the lens focuses the image,the RAW data as per their own choices.
the shutter allows the entry of light reflectingThe image can be saved in an uncompressed
from that image into the camera, for a fractionformat like TIFF or a compressed format like
of a second, and the aperture determines theJPEG. Uncompressed formats preserve greater
quantity of light allowed inside the camera. Wheninformation; thus, the detail of the photograph is
the light enters the camera, it does not fall on amuch more than a compressed format, where
photographic film as it does in a conventionaldetail is less, as lesser information is stored.
camera, rather it falls on an image sensor.Hence, compressed formats are also known as
The image sensor is an electronic device, alossy formats, since details are lost. An
semiconductor, made up of photosites thatuncompressed format increases the file size,
measures the light intensity. The photosite canwhereas a compressed format reduces the file
only measure the intensity of light and cannotsize. Depending upon the need, the image can be
recognize any color. To overcome this, eachsaved either in an uncompressed or a
photosite is covered with a color filter of red, or acompressed image format, as bits and bytes in a
green, or a blue color according to a patternmemory card. The stored image can be viewed
known as the Bayer pattern. Since the humanon the digital camera`s display screen as a digital
eye is twice sensitive to the green color, thephoto.
number of photosites having green color is twiceThis digital photo can then be transferred from
the number of photosites having red or blue color.the digital camera to the computer`s hard disk via
Millions of photosites are covered by this Bayerthe serial port or USB port or FireWire port or
pattern. Each color occupies a single photosite,Bluetooth wireless using Wi-Fi connectivity. RAW
which is known as a pixel.data and uncompressed data like TIFF take a
The more the number of pixels, the greater islonger time to transfer than compressed data like
the amount of detail that can be captured. TheJPEG or GIF.
detail of the image is called as resolution, which isOnce the data has been transferred to the
determined by the quality of the lens and thecomputer`s hard disk, any photo editing software
number of pixels in the image sensor. High-endcan manipulate and adjust it, as per the individual
digital cameras have about 12 million pixels,tastes and requirements of the photographer. The
whereas professional digital cameras have aboutdigital photo can then be printed on photographic
20 million pixels.paper, specially coated paper, or any other paper
The information of the pixels is recorded asvia a color inkjet or laser printer. Utilizing a plotter,
electrical analog signals, is amplified, and then is fedit can be printed in larger sizes, in any other
into a converter, which converts the amplifiedmedium like canvas, acrylic, vinyl, etc. The digital
analog signals into digital binary numbers, withphoto can be saved on a hard disk, pen drive or
respect to the color information of each pixel.a CD, for archival purposes.
These digital binary numbers are then fed into aWith passing time, more and more features are
computer chip residing inside the camera. Thebeing introduced in a digital camera. Nowadays,
computer chip analyzes the digital binary numbersaudio-video recording is also fused with the still
that have been made as per the color of individualimage capturing capability of the digital camera,
pixels. This information is known as RAW data.making them small camcorders (camera +
For analysis, the computer chip subjects thisrecorders).
RAW data using a technique known asThis article is under GNU FDL license and can be
demosaicing.distributed without any previous authorization
In this technique (demosaicing), the pixel color isfrom the author. However the author´s
determined as per the color of the neighboringname and all the URL´s (links) mentioned in
pixels. For example, if a red color pixel isthe article and biography must be kept.