Digital Cameras

Digital cameras were first developed in the 70s. These early digital cameras were based on technology used for video camera tubes. Digital cameras have made giant leaps since then to the point where nowadays only enthusiasts even consider using traditional film for their photography needs.

Part of the reason for the popularity of digital cameras is the extra capabilities they have enabled. In the beginning digital cameras fought tough and hard to compete against the dominance of film. Early digital cameras were slow to take pictures, the cameras themselves lacked in quality, they were exhorbitantly expensive and the final pictures were not as good.

Well time presses on, technology improved, and along with the improvements in technology, so did the quality of digital cameras.

The features we take for granted in our digital cameras were not available only a few years ago. LCD screens now allow instant playback of captured images. Images can be deleted immediately if they are not suitable. Spools could only handle up to 36 picturs or so, even though top digital cameras still produce massive files for their images, the easy availability of large storage cards has outpaced the size increase of the pictures produced by the cameras.

The post-processing of images is another reason for the pupularity of digital cameras. Although there is a certain amount of nostalgia in developing film by hand, new technology will continue to push forward, and the digital manipulations we do now will be considered “old hat” in a few years time.

Photo sharing has exploded in the last decade. The availability of photo sharing websites and the ease of creating pictures with digital cameras have both fueled each other beyond anything that could have been imagined. With even the most inexpensive of mobile phones you can take pictures and put them online for the world to see.

There is not doubt the digital cameras will continue to push on in the years to come. Capacities of storage cards will continue to grow, the picture quality will continue to improve to a point where it will be have even better definition than our own eyes can perceive, and digital cameras will shrink to almost nothing. Digital cameras with great quality that are almost unnoticeabale. Coming soon.

The Vivitar Mini digital camera offers features that are usually only found on more expensive cameras. The 7.0 megapixel resolution and video capabilities give the Vivitar mini digital camera quite a spread of features.

For me, the main thing that makes this camera unique is the “handgun” style of taking pictures. It is actually quite comfortable in general use and the buttons are all within reach of your thumb, which naturally falls over the button positions.

Before I go on, here are some of the main features:

• 7.0 megapixels
• 3840 x 2880 max picture resolution
• 720 x 480 max video resolution
• 3.0 inch screen

Besides the “handgun” style of the camera, another feature that stand out is the standby feature. When the camera is on and the viewer is open (it folds in the rest of the time) then it’s ready to take pictures or videos. When the camera is one, but the viewer is folded in, it enters a standby mode. The standby mode uses a lot less power, mostly because the viewer screen is off. It takes only a moment to open the viewer and camera is ready to take pictures again. For extended non-use, just turn the camera off with the power button.

The maximum resolution is enough for 8 x 10 prints from the camera store, and more than enough for the Internet. The movie feature can take movies that are slightly wider than usual at 3:2. This is wider than 4:3, but not as wide as 16:9 or 16:10, so its a little strange, but the normal options are also available. One downside with the video is the use of MPEG-4. In fact, this should be an upside because of quality, but with much lower adoption compared to AVI, there is a good chance you will need to download updated video software to playback the videos.

For the price I love Vivitar digital camera, the design is good and the placement of buttons is comfortable.

The Powershot Canon digital camera offers a few extra features over a standard consumer digital camera, offering a few extras without adding a lot to the price.

Canon digital cameras are well know and the Powershot range gets a lot of good press. Canon digital cameras tend to place the Powershot strictly in the consumer range, offering the standard features expected. The Powershot A590 Canon digital camera gives a little extra with more zoom, higher resolution and more solid look and shaping.

Here are the main features of this Canon digital camera.

• 8.0 megapixels
• 4x optical zoom
• 4x digital zoom
• 16x zoom (total)
• 2.5″ LCD screen
• Flash
• 3264 x 2448 maximum picture resolution
• 640 x 480 maximum movie resolution
• ISO 80/100/200/400/800/1600

The extra zoom will come in handy for taking long shots on the Canon digital camera. Most Canon digital cameras tend to have up to 3x optical zoom and the 4x zoom will give that little bit extra closeup.

8.0 megapixels gives plenty of resolution, especially for pictures that are going to be printed. At maximum resolution you can safely print up to 8.2″ x 10.9″.

The wide range of automatic settings allow very easy point-and-shoot pictures with this Canon digital camera. To get the best shots however, take some time to get used to the manual settings.

Overall this is a good camera offering higher specs without giving up the usual consumer digital camera goodness.