Digital Cameras, How do they work?

Thanks to technolgy, sending  a picture  by e-mail  is common these days.  It will be interesting to examine what real process takes place behind the scene when you actually email a photto to your friend.

For you to  take a picture and send it to your friend, it is essential that the image needs to embody the  language used by computers.   While the computer’s language represents in bits and bytes, the digital image is formed by a collection of colored dots represented  by  a long string of 1s and 0s. This language is called as pixel which is recognized by computers.

In simple words, a digital camera is a devise used to capture pictures without the use of films and operates without any mechanical and chemical processes.  This defferentiates a digital camera from a conventional camera. And the  innovation of taking photographs without the use of films has proved revelutionary, a you get rid of   an entire process that were essential for the develoment of an image in a conventional camera.   This includes processing the film chemically, print it onto photographic paper and then use a digital scanner to sample the print. With a digital camera you don't have to worry about these processes any more.

The best part is that a digital camera can do all these processes at their most basic level. Unlike conventional cameras,  digital cameras can display images on a screen immediately after they are recorded. It can store thousands of images on a single tiny memory device and record video with sound, or delete images to release storage space.

Just like a conventional camera, a digital camera is furnished with a series of lenses that focus light to create an image of a scene, you want to capture. However, the similarity ends here. While a conventional camera focuses its light on a film, a digital camera focuses the light into a semiconductor device that records the light electronically.

Another thing is that instead of film, a digital camera has a sensor- charge coupled device (CCD) - that converts light into electrical charges. Certain digital cameras apply a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology. Although both serve the same purpose, i.e., convert light into electrons. there are differences in the way they function. While CCD sensors create high quality, low-noise images, CMOS sensors are generally more vulnerable to noise.