From the invention of the first still camera to the movie camera, the camera’s evolution has been constant and, very recently, rapid. The most significant revolution in the long process has been digital photography, which has come with many advantages to picture taking, as well as a few disadvantages.
The many advantages of the digital camera include:
- The lack of film means you don’t have to wait for development. Images are instant. Plus you can take as many photos as you like without the slightest concern.
- Since you can take as many pictures as you like, you can choose the best ones to be printed with a better chance of getting exactly the image you wanted. It’s not just luck anymore, or hoping your 36 prints turned out; now you can ensure your images are perfect.
- And since you can ensure you’re capturing the perfect image, digital cameras eliminate a significant expense. Now you don’t have to buy expensive film.
- With the ability to preview images right on the camera screen, digital cameras let you delete the bad photos and keep only the ones you want.
- Digital images, whether photos or videos, can be taken directly from the camera and loaded onto your computer’s hard drive. You can easily edit your own images and share them online by emailing them to friends and family, adding them to your website, burning them to CD or DVD, and making slide shows which can be viewed on a TV or computer monitor.
- A digital camera can easily store up to 10,000 photos, depending on the size of the memory card. This storage capacity is far greater than that of the traditional film camera.
- Nowadays, most digital cameras take both still photos and video. There is no longer a need to buy a separate device to record home movies.
- Digital cameras have advanced so much in recent years that anyone can inexpensively buy a camera that will produce amazing images. A high megapixel camera that will deliver film camera quality resolution is not a thing of the past.
- Most importantly, digital cameras are more environmentally-friendly. As we move forward in the effort to build a greener planet, eliminating the toxic chemicals in film processing is an important step.
Some disadvantages of the digital camera:
- While digital cameras offer large storage space, the images they produce can be quite large as well and take up a significant chunk of space. No matter what, you will eventually reach the storage limit, leaving you to buy another memory card or increase your hard drive memory. This can get pricey.
- The battery consumption of a digital camera can also be quite high. Since they can eat up your batteries pretty quickly, it’s always a good idea to keep extra batteries on you when shooting.
- Digital cameras are more sensitive to weather changes than film cameras. Extreme heat, cold or moisture can cause your camera to malfunction.
The amazing and rapid technological advancements out there today are continually creating better options for the digital camera. It won’t be long before the disadvantages of using a digital camera no longer exist. Digital photography is also becoming less expensive so almost anyone can afford a decent digital camera. For many, however, digital cameras don’t compare to the traditional film camera and will never replace the romantic side of photography and filmmaking. In this case, there’s still the option of transferring film to digital, without trading in your film camera.
Tags: analog to digital, camera advancements, convert to DVD convert to HDD, digital video, film storage, film to dvd