Introduction
The advent of digital technology for recording still and moving pictures in other words, digital cameras and digital camcorders has made it easier than ever to take holiday snapshots, or to record family events, such as birthdays, weddings, etc.. Digital cameras and camcorders are often compact enough to slip into a pocket or bag, easy to operate, and provide results that can be viewed almost instantaneously. Digital images can also be easily transferred to a computer for editing, and distributed, or shared, via CD, DVD, email or the Internet.
Digital Camera & Camcorder Features
Digital images are all about “resolution” the number of individual picture elements, or “pixels”, of which an image is composed and this is a term that you frequently see bandied about in the specifications of digital cameras and camcorders. Unlike traditional, analogue devices, digital cameras and camcorders rely on a photosensitive chip either a CCD (”Charge Coupled Device”) or a CMOS (”Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor”) positioned behind the lens to capture an image, or series of images. It is the number of pixels, or “megapixels” shorthand for 1,000,000 pixels in the sensor, and the size of individual pixels, which determines the clarity, and overall quality of the image(s) produced.
Generally speaking, the higher the number of pixels the better, although the more pixels a digital image contains the larger the size of the file required to store that image. This may have a bearing on the type, and size, of storage medium that you choose for your digital images. Digital camera typically employ “flash”, or solid state, memory expansion cards ranging in capacity from 16Mb to 8GB, or more as storage media. A 3 megapixel (Mp) camera with a 16Mb memory expansion card is capable of storing just 6 digital photographs, at maximum resolution, so you need to think about your storage requirements. Digital camcorders are typically more flexible when it comes to storage media, and offer a choice of Mini DV digital cassette tape, Mini DVD an 80mm, or 3″, version of standard DVD and hard disk storage.
Digital Camera & Camcorder Reviews
From the current crop of digital cameras & digital camcorders on the market, two that stand out for compactness and versatility are the Coolpix P80 from Nikon and the Xacti VPC-CA65 from Sanyo. The Nikon P80 is a 10Mp digital camera with an integral storage capacity of 50Mb, compatible with SD, and SDHC, memory expansion cards. It also features an “18X” optical zoom lens one of the longest available on a compact digital camera but has dimensions of 79mm x 110mm x 78mm, and weighs in at just 365g. The Sanyo Xacti VPC-CA65, on the other hand, is a portable digital camcorder and digital stills camera, featuring an adjustable 150,000 pixel LCD, and capable of recording video at 640 x 480 pixels, 30 frames per second. The Xacti VPC-CA65 is also waterproof, to a depth of 1.5 metres
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