Digital Cameras

Description:  Digital cameras record images onto flash memory instead of onto film. 

Material Covered:  Guest speaker Photographer Peter Ferguson spoke on choosing digital cameras, the different settings on digital cameras and downloading photos to the computer.

What I learned:   When purchasing a digital camera there are three main questions to consider before making your decision.

1. How much can you afford to spend on the camera? Decide on your price range before going out to the store to shop for the camera.

2. The second question is the use of the camera. What kind of photos will you be taking with your camera? If you are taking nature photos you would need to have a zoom feature on your camera. To get really good photos you may need to purchase a Digital SLR camera so the lenses can be changed to add zoom lenses. Zoom lenses can be very expensive. Are you going to be taking photos of fast moving objects? For those types of photos you would need a Zoom range on the camera.

3. Are you going to be taking photos in low light -- for example, weddings in churches? To get really good photos in low light you would need to look for a camera that takes good photos in low light. There are a limited number of cameras that perform well in low light.  Best Cameras in Low Light review.

I also learned about Histogram settings. Histograms show the measurement of light and dark in a photo. If there is too much light the spikes of the histogram will all be to the right and if it is too dark the spikes of the histogram will all be to the left. I discovered on my camera settings that I can show the histogram on my camera display to help make adjustments before taking the photo.

Best Features:  The best feature of digital cameras is there is no film. You can view the pictures as you take them and delete those blurry ones. There is no waiting to take the entire roll of film before printing the photos. If you want a picture of your new kitten you can take the photo, download to the computer and E-Mail it to all your friends the same day you brought her home.

Problems/Limitations:  For me the only problem I had with my digital camera was getting used to taking photos without using a view finder.  

What I would still like to learn:  I would like to learn more about Histograms and how you can use them to make better photos. Also I would like to know more about what the different settings in my camera mean. I can go to the settings for the different functions but once I am in the various settings for that function I am not sure what the best setting would be for that function.