Digital Cameras Digital Imaging Fall 2009

When you buy a digital camera, consider: Megapixels LCD screen Memory sticks (cards) Recycling time (lag time) USB port Battery life/type –Rechargeable type –Standard type Editing software (bundled with the camera)

Digital Image Size * Please note that resolutions given are ballpark figures, there are slight fluctuations between brands and models. Megapixels vs. Resolution and Print Sizes MegapixelsResolution * Print 300PPIPrint 150PPI x9604.3x3.2"8.7x6.4" 21600x x4"10.6x8" 32048x x5.1"13.6x10.2" 42272x x5.7"15.2x11.4" 52592x x6.5"17.2x13"

Monitor Resolution Determined by the number of pixels in each row and column. 640 pixels horizontally and 480 vertically = A 640 x 480 resolution monitor Other common monitor sizes: 800 x 600 1,024 x 768 1,280 x 1,024

What will you get? Number of Images per Memory Card and Megapixels Card size1.2 MP2 MP3 MP4 MP5 MP 16Mb Mb Mb Mb Mb

Camera Settings Picture –Color –Black and white –Sepia WB (White balance) –Daylight –Fluorescent: corrects for the greenish cast of fluorescent lighting. –Tungsten: corrects for the orange cast of light bulbs. –Auto setting ISO (Light Sensitivity) –The higher ISO, the less light is needed –The higher ISO, the more noise –Auto setting

Tips for taking digital pictures Have your audience close to you / try for a close-up shot Use Rule of Thirds ngenecker/Rule_of_Thirds.htm ngenecker/Rule_of_Thirds.htm

Tips for taking digital picture (continued) Do not cut natural cutoff lines of the body: neck, elbows, waist, knees and ankles. Check the background -path=317&pq-locale=en_US Privacy issues

Cameras can... Creating stories with pictures Taking pictures –What is this picture telling you? –Sharing the information with others (virtual filed trip) Documenting learning process (visual journals) Publishing newsletters and flyers Developing presentations Exploring visuals –Taking objects with the same color –Taking a part of the objects What else?

Image Size TIFF (uncompre ssed) JPEG (high quality) JPEG (medium quality) 640x MB300 KB90 KB 800x MB500 KB130 KB 1024x MB800 KB200 KB 1600x MB1.7 MB420 KB Storage To make the most of storage space, almost all digital cameras use some sort of data compression to make the files smaller. Two features of digital images make compression possible. No matter what type of storage they use, all digital cameras need lots of room for pictures. They usually store images in one of two formats -- TIFF, which is uncompressed, and JPEG, which is compressed. Most cameras use the JPEG file format for storing pictures, and they sometimes offer quality settings (such as medium or high).