Digital Photography

An Introduction to Digital Stills
Digital photography has become immensely popular in a relatively short space of time. The reason for its success is quite easy to explain. Put simply, digital cameras can do everything a normal everyday film based camera can do, and much more besides.
Digital photography allows for unlimited flexibility whilst keeping all the modes and features that have become commonplace on traditional cameras. The beauty of digital is that it allows an instant decision to be made on whether an image is to be kept or not. How many times have you taken a photo only to find out, months later after development, that your finger was over the lens or the subject decided to blink just as you pressed the shutter button. Digital photography allows you to spot your mistake quickly and easily and before the moment has gone giving you the opportunity to capture it again.

Add to that the ability to create your own filter style effects and set up your own easy to use home photo lab, digital photography really does offer unlimited flexibility that can be used either in the home or at work.

How Digital Photography Works
The main difference between a digital camera and a traditional one is the absence of photographic film. Taking a photograph is done in exactly the same way. The subject is viewed through a viewfinder or LCD, the 'shutter' or capture button is pressed and the image which has been projected, by the lens, onto the Charged- Coupled Device or CCD is then stored electronically. The CCD is covered with a number of pixels that have the ability to measure light. It is a safe assumption that the more pixels there are on the CCD the more detail the camera can capture, resulting in a better, sharper image. When a digital stills camera has over one million pixels it is said to have MegaPixel capability. Cameras are now available with up to 8 Million pixel resolution. Once a high quality image is captured it is stored on to a removable storage memory device of which there are many types. One of the most popular is the Sony Memory stick.

Memory Stick
Memory Stick allows you to record, playback and transfer all kinds of data for use with any compatible digital product. Images can be easily and quickly transferred from a digital camera onto the hard drive of a personal computer for long term, album like, storage. The Memory Stick can also be plugged directly into a dedicated printer to obtain high quality prints of images taken on a digital stills camera. The main advantages of using this sturdy shock proof storage medium is that it is remarkably small, about the size of a stick of chewing gum, which in turn allows the actual product it is used in to be streamlined in size making it more convenient to carry and store away. Memory Stick offers a method of moving all kinds of data, not just images, among a wide variety of audio, visual and IT based products. Memory sticks now come in with storage capacities ranging from 16mb up to 1 Gigabyte.

Connectivity
PC connection, especially with Cyber-shot, is an important issue and nothing to be afraid of. Attaching the camera to the computer is comparable to connecting a mouse. It's done using the Universal Serial Bus or USB connector which Windows 98, 2000 and ME computers have been optimised to work with. Some of the range are also powered via the USB socket during download, therefore saving valuable battery life. Once the camera has been connected to the computer, and the necessary software has been loaded, it's simply a case of using it in the same way you would a disk drive. Images can be uploaded, copied and deleted from the Memory Stick using the Windows Explorer programme. The camera will even be identified on screen as a removable disk drive.

Printing
Home printing is a distinct advantage of digital stills photography and Sony has the ability to furnish you with a complete home photo lab that isn't as difficult or complex to set up as you would have perhaps imagined. All that is required is a digital stills camera, a Memory Stick, a dedicated Memory Stick printer and a television set or PC.

From there you simply take a picture, remove the Memory Stick from the camera, insert it into the printer, select the image and hit the print button. It's as easy as that. There is no need for any extra software, chemicals or a dimly lit room.

It is also possible to use a standard inkjet printer to print out photo quality images. To do this the images first need to be uploaded onto the PC and then onto a software package before they are printed out. It is important to note however that images printed out on the Memory Stick printer are specially sealed they will have a longer shelf life than those printed on a desktop printer. Home printing will allow you to select what you do and don't what to print, create your own enlargements and make multiple copies. Digital imaging really does offer unlimited flexibility.

Points to Remember Digital Stills Cameras are ...

FLEXIBLE
Images can be tailor-made to capture varying amounts of detail in a wide range of different picture sizes.

REUSEABLE
The storage media can be used over andover again.

COMPATIBLE
Images from Mavica and Cyber-shot cameras are easily viewed and printed in software packages like Microsoft's Internet Explorer, Word and Power Point.

CONNECTABLE
Cyber-shot cameras can be easily connected to PCs using the USB port to offer extremely fast file transfers.

TRANSFERABLE
Images and movies can be moved from the storage device and directly onto a PC where they can be easily sent around the world using the internet and e-mail.

PRINTABLE
Digital stills photography will allow you to print out you own high quality images in the home either by using Sony's Memory Stick or a normal desktop printer.

LONG LASTING
Sony's Stamina technology reduces the products power consumption and maximises battery power. This ensures that the camera will remain in use for as long as possible before the battery needs recharging.