by Barnaby Meins

Created on: January 07, 2008

A digital camera is an electronic device used to capture pictures without the use of films. It has a computer incorporated and records the images it captures in a digital or electronic form, with power supplied from a battery. The digital camera does not depend on mechanical and chemical processes to capture the image unlike the conventional film camera. With the advancement of technology, digital camera are fast replacing conventional film camera to capture unforgettable moments.

Before we find the best camera to capture unforgettable moments, we should understand the fundamentals of how it works so that we know what are the desired features required. The images captured by a digital camera are in electronic form, which can be read by computers. In fact, the image is a matrix of colored dots, known as pixels, which are seen as zeros and ones that make up the image taken. While a digital camera is similar to a conventional camera in that it possess a series of lenses that focus the light rays coming from the object to from the image, the major difference is that a digital camera focuses the light on a semiconductor device but the conventional camera focuses its light on a film. The semiconductor device in the digital camera electronically records the light signals and sends it to the computer which then process and stores the images.

Also, another distinguishing feature of the digital camera is that it contains a sensor that converts light into electrical charges. Low-end digital cameras use complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) as the image sensor while a charge coupled device (CCD) is found in higher-end digital cameras. The CCD is basically a collection of tiny diodes, which congregate electrons when they are struck by light particles (photons). Each CCD diode is sensitive to light, in which more electrons will congregate when light falling on it is brighter the light. A CMOS sensor works the same way at first, by converting the light intensity into electrical current in the diodes. In short, a digital camera works by capturing light and converting it into electricity for each diode and together they form the whole image.

If you are shopping for a digital camera nowadays, you will realize that the price of a digital camera is falling. This is mainly because of the emergence of CMOS sensors, which are less expensive and are easier to manufacture than CCD sensors. However, you also need to take note of other key features when looking for the best digital

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