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Check out the different photos to learn what each type of photo looks like.

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Check out the different photos to learn what each type of photo looks like.

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WHAT'S IN MY CAMERA BAG? Travel Photography / Filmmaking

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What's in my camera bag as a travel photographer and filmmaker. Check out all the camera equipment, accessories and technology I use for my Canon 7D Mark II, Sony A7R II and GoPro Hero4 whilst travelling around the world. Links to all the items are listed below!

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This is a moving object photo, with a blurred background

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Free Image on Pixabay - Portrait, Bali, Old Woman

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Download free images about Portrait, Bali, Old Woman from Pixabay's library of over 1,110,000 public domain photos, illustrations and vectors - 1771396

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How do you edit Photos? Don't know? watch this.

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How do you edit Photos? Don't know? watch this.

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How to make your photos LOOK BETTER FAST! Photoshop Tutorial

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5 Essential TIPS for TRAVELLING WITH GEAR!!

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Colour Graded with my PM LUTS Pack : https://sellfy.com/p/EaHg/ The Music I use: https://goo.gl/IMZC9A My BackPack : http://amzn.to/2m8jnaT VARIABLE ND FILTER : http://amzn.to/2nwyihB Camera Pouches : http://amzn.to/2lvuEB7 These are my TOP 5 TRAVEL TIPS when travelling anywhere around the world with my camera gear.

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Choosing a digital camera used to be a simple process that was heavily dictated by the amount of money in your pocket. Now the same money can buy you different benefits and compromises, making the decision much more complex. Here's a look at your camera-buying options, the pros and cons of each, and some specific suggestions to help you pick the perfect camera for your needs.

This is a long guide and not every section is relevant to everyone. If you want to skip to the type of camera that interests you, just use these links:

If you're not sure what you want, however, do feel free to read the whole thing.

Cellphones and Smartphones

If you have a phone, you may not need a camera at all. The quality of the photos you can take with some phone cameras are good enough to rival what you'd get with a standard point and shoot. So why by a camera at all if you're already carrying one in your pocket? Maybe you shouldn't.

Because cellphones and smartphones are comparatively tiny, they use tiny sensors. Bigger sensors will generally produce better pictures, but the sensors you'll find in a compact point and shoot camera is often negligibly larger. If your phone has a great camera and you don't like porting around an extra device, don't.

On the other hand, if there are times when you do want better image quality you're probably better off getting something nicer than a point and shoot. Point and shoot cameras definitely have their advantages over cellphones, but sometimes those advantages just aren't worth the money. What you really need to figure out is if your phone is good enough. First, let's take a look at who this type of camera is for.

This type of camera is for...

...people who only want to carry around one device.

...people who just want to take casual photos of friends and family.

...people who care more about the sharing a moment than the quality, composition, and technical aspects of the photo.

...people with smartphones who like using apps to edit their photos in post to apply fun effects and styles.

...people without the extra money to spend on a dedicated camera.

Of course, even if you fall into one of these categories there are pros and cons worth considering.

Pros:

Image quality is usually at least passable and good enough for a 4x6 or 5x7 print.

It is the most social camera you can get. Even basic feature phones often offer some photo sharing features like MMS. Smartphones can upload your photos to practically anywhere via third-party apps.

It's always with you.

It can do a lot more than just take pictures.

If your phone has GPS, you can geotag your photos.

Cons:

In most cases, it provides the poorest image quality of any camera.

Not a dedicated camera, so the camera conforms to the use of the device. This means no dedicated buttons and often a lack of features you'd find in a proper camera.

When your phone's out of battery, so is your camera.

It's not made to handle accessories (although that doesn't necessarily stop companies from making them).

Basically, your cellphone camera probably shouldn't be your primary camera in most cases unless you have a really good one and don't take a lot of photos. That probably doesn't describe you, however, since you're reading a buying guide for cameras. Nonetheless, if you do care about photography, you probably want to have a pretty good camera in your phone if possible.

What to Buy

Apple's latest iPhone, the iPhone 4, has a very nice camera. You finally get a flash, plus it has a front-side low-resolution camera if you just need to take a quick snapshot of yourself. People have taken amazing photos with the iPhone and the iPhone offers some incredible camera apps. While it may not be the best phone-based camera on the market, what you can do with it is pretty amazing.

Many Android phones have great cameras (some of which are better than others) and they're often made by HTC. The Sensation (T-Mobile), EVO 3D (Sprint), Incredible S (Verizon), and Inspire (AT&T) all pretty much have the same 8 megapixel camera and it does a very good job.

That said, most recent smartphones have good (or good enough) cameras. The important thing is how you use them. If you're taking lots of pictures with your phone, be sure to brush up on your smartphone photography skills.

Point and Shoots

As the smartphone market continues to grow, the point and shoot camera market will shrink. Phones are becoming better and better photography tools because they're connected to the internet and have apps-things dedicated cameras will never be able to do as well. So why buy a point and shoot? Let's take a look at who this type of camera is made for.

This type of camera is for...

...people with crappy cellphone cameras who want better image quality but don't want to/can't upgrade their phone.

...people looking to buy a small camera that can take decent photos and video in easily-uploadable formats.

...people who want a dedicated camera but can't afford much.

...people who don't care about interchangeable lenses or accessories and just want a camera that takes pretty good photos all by itself.

Now let's weigh the pros and cons.

Pros:

Easy to use. Geared towards novices.

Largest range of size options, letting you pick from cameras as small as your cellphone, almost as large as a small DSLR, and everything in between.

Packed with features you generally won't find in higher-end cameras for several years (if ever).

Many-but not all-point and shoots offer a very large zoom range.

Decent quality, often HD video modes that record to easily-uploadable formats.

Cons:

Lack of/poor manual controls.

Image quality generally isn't much better than a good smartphone camera.

Generally tiny and unusable viewfinders, if they have viewfinders at all.

Hard to use for people with large-ish hands.

Poor audio quality in video recording mode.

It's not made to handle accessories (although that doesn't necessarily stop companies from making them).

New camera models are added all the time and so yours will become obsolete pretty quickly.

What to Buy

There are so many point and shoot options it can be really difficult to figure out what you should get. Many of them are very good, and we can't recommend every single option available, but here are a few that stand out, ordered by size from small to large.

When you want to go tiny, the Canon SD4000 IS is a good choice. With any small camera you're not going to get amazing photos, but it still manages to perform pretty well in low light and can record 720p video. It'll fit in your pocket, even if you wear skinny jeans, and only set you back around $225.

The Sony Cybershot DSC-HX9V attempts to do just about everything for $350, and it's mostly successful. Despite packing 16.2 megapixels into its tiny sensor, it actually performs well in low light (for a compact). It records 1080p video at up to 60 frames per second. Like most Sony cameras, it offers sweep panorama and 3D photo modes. It corrects backlighting, has a very long, stabilized zoom range (24-384mm), and is overall a great little camera.

The Olympus XZ-1 offers a fast lens (meaning its better for producing a more shallow depth of field and helpful low-light situations) and a wide zoom range of 28-112mm, which is an option you won't even find on a DSLR. Image quality is good for a compact, and there's really nothing else you can buy that offers such a versatile zoom lens. (~$400)

For more money, you can pick up the larger Canon G12. Canon's G series has always offered remarkably good image quality in a compact form, but for about $500 you can pick up a nice EVIL camera (covered in the next section) like the Sony Sony α NEX-3 so it's really only a great choice if you don't want interchangeable lenses and DSLR-like features.

Overall, small point and shoots often lose out to cellphones where large ones often lose out to EVIL cameras. There are fewer and fewer reasons for buying a point and shoot these days, but if it's right for you then one of the above cameras should serve you well.

EVIL Cameras

What is an EVIL camera? EVIL stands for electronic viewfinder with interchangeable l enses. It describes a type of camera that exists between a point and shoot and a DSLR. Much like a DSLR, these cameras have larger sensors (sometimes they're even the same size), support interchangeable lenses, and provide better manual controls. Like a point and shoot, they're often easy to use and aim to be as compact as possible. You may have heard EVIL cameras described as micro-4/3rds, MILC (mirrorless interchangeable-lens camera), and CSCs (compact camera systems). Each type is a little different but they all attempt to serve the purpose of being more compact, consumer-friendly DSLR-like cameras.

Some people feel these cameras are the best of both worlds because they provide superior image quality in a very portable size. Others feel they compromise on everything, making them just a little too big to be portable and not provide enough image quality for their size. Personally, I think it depends on the model, but we'll talk about that more later. For now, let's take a look at who's best suited for this type of camera.

This type of camera is for...

...professionals who want a camera that's more portable than their DSLR but still provides excellent image quality and decent lens options.

...consumers who want the quality of a DSLR without the hassle and learning curve.

...consumers who want a high-end point and shoot with interchangeable lenses.

...consumers who want a DSLR-like camera with point and shoot-style features (e.g. sweep panorama, 3D images, etc.).

And, of course, let's weight the pros and cons of ownership.

Pros:

Almost all the benefits of a low-end DSLR in a compact size.

Far better image quality than even a high-end point and shoot. (The image quality is often on-par with or better than an entry-level DSLR.)

Small enough to be truly portable.

Interchangeable lenses.

Good low-light performance.

A great choice for beginners who want to step up to a better camera without making the leap to DSLR.

A great choice for pros who want a smaller camera with little sacrifice in the quality of their images.

Often offers good, high-quality HD video modes with proper automatic focus.

Good audio recording quality in video mode-at least when compared to digital SLRs, point and shoots, and cellphones.

Fairly high resale value.

Cons:

Won't fit in your pocket.

Paltry lens selection.

Using adapters to add additional lenses means losing automatic focus capabilities (or at least rendering them practically useless).

No proper viewfinder.

Accessories like flashes and viewfinders almost always come at an added cost.

In some cases you'll be paying as much or more than a DSLR and that added cost is primarily due to the camera's diminutive size.

I hated EVIL cameras when they first came to market. They were overpriced, not all that much smaller, came with a crappy lens selection, and just weren't as good as an entry-level DSLR. Then the second-generation came along and they got better. More manufacturers started creating these compact, mirrorless devices and prices went down. While lens selection is still pretty bad with virtually every EVIL camera on the market, they rival entry-level DSLRs in image quality while providing a smaller footprint and a lower cost.

What to Buy

When it comes to EVIL cameras, you're basically looking at four companies: Panasonic, Olympus, Sony, and Samsung. Sony and Samsung use APS-C sensors, which are the standard for most DSLR cameras. Panasonic and Olympus use the micro-4/3rds standard, which provides a sensor size that's a little smaller than APS-C. Generally larger sensors are better, but Olmypus' PEN, Pansonic's G, Samsung's NX, and Sony's α NEX lines all perform very well regardless. In general you're pretty safe choosing based on the price, feature set, and form-factor that appeals most to you. That said, I have a preference.

The Sony α NEX-3 is extremely simple to use without any lack of manual control (so it's great for beginners and pros alike), provides great image quality, has a really good video mode (with actually usable automatic focus), very good battery life, and does all of this in a very tiny package. It is also capable of creating panoramic images by sweeping the camera (neat!) and 3D images the same way (who cares). It's an excellent second camera for professionals and a great first camera for consumers. I bought one as soon as it came out and I've been recommending it to everyone since. This is not to say that you won't be happy with the other EVIL cameras on the market, but having tried them all and owned some I think Sony's done the best job. (Just don't get the NEX-5, as it costs $100 more and basically offers nothing for the price increase.)

DSLRs

While DSLRs may not always be the practical camera you want to have with you, they take amazing photographs. If quality is paramount to everything else, you want a DSLR. They offer so much control and customization that you have practically no limits on what you can accomplish-at least technically. Of course, there's a big learning curve and also a pretty big price jump when moving to the king of camera types. So what type of person should buy a DSLR? Let's take a look.

This type of camera is for...

...professionals.

...hobbyists who want to get the best image quality possible.

...people who need total control over the technical aspects of their photographs.

...people who need the option of exceptionally good low-light performance.

...filmmakers who want to take advantage of the excellent video modes in many newer models.

...people with money.

There are a lot of pros and cons when it comes to DSLR ownership, especially if you're not a professional. If you're not serious about photography, or serious about learning, it's probably not the type of camera for you. If you are, here are the pros and cons of ownership.

Pros:

Superior image quality.

Vast selection of interchangeable lenses.

Complete control over all technical aspects of your image, while still providing both partial and full automatic options.

Many models offer HD TV-quality video recording options.

Low-light performance is generally very good on the low end and shockingly exceptional on the high end.

Can be controlled by computer, and often a smartphone app.

Highly programmable (especially with higher-end models).

DSLR models are replaced infrequently, so your camera won't become obsolete as quickly.

High resale value.

You can purchase just the camera body without a lens.

Cons:

Often big and bulky, or at least they're the largest type of camera you can buy.

You'll find yourself carrying more than just the camera. You'll want your lenses, too. And while you're carrying such a large bag you might as well stuff it with additional accessories. Owning a DSLR usually means buying a nice camera bag and bringing everything with you.

The vast number of settings and buttons make for a much steeper learning curve than any other camera type. Even if you've used a DSLR before, switching to a new model (even by the same manufacturer) doesn't mean you'll immediately know what you're doing.

Generally lacks most or all of the fun features you'll find in a point and shoot camera, like special effects (e.g. color replacement) and modes (e.g. sweep panorama).

Video recording has either poor or no automatic focus capabilities.

Poor audio quality in video recording modes.

What to Buy

When it comes to DSLRs, you're generally choosing between Nikon and Canon and picking the best one you can afford (while bearing in mind that a cheaper one might suffice). There are other manufacturers than Canon and Nikon (such as Sony, Samsung, Panasonic, ) but they offer one of the largest selections of great lenses and it's hard to go wrong with any of their cameras. Generally you're going to get something good when buying a DSLR, so once you know your budget your choice will almost always come down to the specifics.

When making your choice you have to think about what you're going to use it for. Is low-light the most important thing to you? Do you want a full-frame, 35mm-equivalent sensor? What about video? Do you want a camera that takes SD cards or CompactFlash? How important is the autofocus system? First things first, you want to make a list of the features that are most important to you. Then go and read reviews of different cameras and see what's the best fit. Generally you should just get the cheapest camera that does the job you need it to do. It's easy to want a higher-end DSLR that promises magic wishes and world peace, but if you don't need it you can end up blowing a lot of your money on things that don't matter. Before you buy, keep that in mind.

While selecting the right DSLR is going to be pretty specific to your needs, we have a few favorites.

Entry-Level

The Nikon D3100 provides very good image quality at an entry-level price. It's a very good DSLR for beginners, as the interface isn't hard to understand and it has a lot of "hand-holding" features. That said, you don't lose any manual control. It's still a DSLR. It is a pretty low-end DSLR, however, so you shouldn't expect any fancy advanced features.

Alternatively, you could step up to the Nikon D5100, which offers more advanced features and excellent image quality for a few hundred dollars more, but it's not quite as user-friendly.

Around the same price point as the D5100, you have the Canon Rebel T3i (600D). It's a great starter DSLR as well. It takes great, 18MP photos, provides very good low-light performance, good 1080p and 720p video, has an external mic input for better audio when recording video, and great overall image quality. You'll just pay a little more for all of these things.

Mid-Range

The Canon EOS 7D and the Nikon D7000 are both the sweet spots of the mid-range. The D7000 has the advantage of being newer and cheaper, but aside from the small differences (that may or may not be important to you) they're both excellent cameras. They're fast cameras, handle low light situations admirably, and generally provide excellent image quality. I'd argue that the build quality and most automatic modes on the 7D tend to be a little better than the D7000, but you'll be paying for it as the 7D is more expensive. Regardless, they're both excellent choices.

High-End

Despite its age, I still consider the Canon 5D Mark II to be one of the best DSLRs ever made. It produces phenomenal images, offers video so good its been used in television productions and feature films, and can practically see in the dark. It is a full-frame camera, meaning its sensor is the digital equivalent of 35mm film, and that amounts to two relevant things: 1) it can't use any of Canon's EF-S lenses (which is bad, because it limits your lens selection), and 2) it doesn't magnify the focal length of a lens by 1.6x like APS-C-based DSLRs do (which is good, because a 50mm lens, for example, takes a 50mm photo and not an 80mm photo). Owning a full-frame camera is really only relevant if you're serious enough about photography to know why you want one, but the basic idea is that it comes about as close to film as you're going to get without needing to withdraw your life savings. That said, we're still talking about a $2500-3300 camera here.

Of course you've also got the Nikon D3X and Canon 1Ds Mark III if you really want to break the bank, but if you can or want to drop that much on a camera you probably don't need to be reading this guide.

Making the Decision

Hopefully this guide has helped you figure out which type of camera is the best fit for you. If you're still not sure, the most important thing to remember is that the best camera you can have is the one you'll take with you and use. Before you make any decisions, make sure you weigh what's important to you. Use that criteria to narrow down the type of camera (or cameras) that you want. From there you should be able to zero in on your best bet. Even a bad camera can take really good photos in the right conditions, so regardless of what you end up with you're best served by picking up some good photography skills. Need a place to start? Check out our Beginner's Guide to Photography.

You may have noticed that we didn't mention every camera ever made, and one of those cameras might be your favorite. If there's a particular camera that you love and know who it's best suited for, be sure to mention it in the comments.

You can follow Adam Dachis, the author of this post, on Twitter and Facebook. Twitter's the best way to contact him, too.

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How to Choose the Perfect Camera for Your Needs

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Choosing a digital camera used to be a simple process that was heavily dictated by the amount of money in your pocket. Now the same money can buy you different benefits and compromises, making the decision much more complex.

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by Chris Woodford. Last updated: November 1, 2020.

Digital cameras give a whole new meaning to the idea of painting by numbers. Unlike old-style film cameras, they capture and record images of the world around us using digital technology. In other words, they store photographs not as patterns of darkness and light but as long strings of numbers. This has many advantages: it gives us instant photographs, allows us to edit our pictures, and makes it easier for us to share photographs using cell phones (mobile phones), e-mail, and web sites.

Photo: A typical low-cost digital camera. The circle is the lens; the rectangle above it is a xenon flash lamp. You can see what this camera looks like inside in the photo lower down this page.

How ordinary film cameras work

Photo: An old-style film camera from the late 1980s. The film loads in a spool on the right and winds across to another spool on the left, passing in front of the lens on the way. When you take a photo, the shutter lets light enter from the lens and expose the film. It's all very 19th-century compared to digital photography!

If you have an old-style camera, you'll know that it's useless without one vital piece of equipment: a film. A film is a long spool of flexible plastic coated with special chemicals (based on compounds of silver) that are sensitive to light. To stop light spoiling the film, it is wrapped up inside a tough, light-proof plastic cylinder-the thing you put in your camera.

When you want to take a photograph with a film camera, you have to press a button. This operates a mechanism called the shutter, which makes a hole (the aperture) open briefly at the front of the camera, allowing light to enter through the lens (a thick piece of glass or plastic mounted on the front). The light causes reactions to take place in the chemicals on the film, thus storing the picture in front of you.

This isn't quite the end of the process, however. When the film is full, you have to take it to a drugstore (chemist's) to have it developed. Usually, this involves placing the film into a huge automated developing machine. The machine opens up the film container, pulls out the film, and dips it in various other chemicals to make your photos appear. This process turns the film into a series of "negative" pictures-ghostly reverse versions of what you actually saw. In a negative, the black areas look light and vice-versa and all the colors look weird too because the negative stores them as their opposites. Once the machine has made the negatives, it uses them to make prints (finished versions) of your photos.

If you want to take only one or two photographs, all of this can be a bit of a nuisance. Most people have found themselves wasting photographs simply to "finish off the film." Often, you have to wait several days for your film to be developed and your prints (the finished photographs) returned to you. It's no wonder that digital photography has become very popular-because it solves all these problems at a stroke.

(Incidentally, if you want to learn more about film cameras and traditional photography, see our main article on how film cameras work.)

How digital cameras work

Photo: A typical image sensor. The green rectangle in the center (about the size of a fingernail) is the light-sensitive part; the gold wires coming off it connect it into the camera circuit.

Digital cameras look very much like ordinary film cameras but they work in a completely different way. When you press the button to take a photograph with a digital camera, an aperture opens at the front of the camera and light streams in through the lens. So far, it's just the same as a film camera. From this point on, however, everything is different. There is no film in a digital camera. Instead, there is a piece of electronic equipment that captures the incoming light rays and turns them into electrical signals. This light detector is one of two types, either a charge-coupled device (CCD) or a CMOS image sensor.

If you've ever looked at a television screen close up, you will have noticed that the picture is made up of millions of tiny colored dots or squares called pixels. Laptop LCD computer screens also make up their images using pixels, although they are often much too small to see. In a television or computer screen, electronic equipment switches all these colored pixels on and off very quickly. Light from the screen travels out to your eyes and your brain is fooled into see a large, moving picture.

In a digital camera, exactly the opposite happens. Light from the thing you are photographing zooms into the camera lens. This incoming "picture" hits the image sensor chip, which breaks it up into millions of pixels. The sensor measures the color and brightness of each pixel and stores it as a number. Your digital photograph is effectively an enormously long string of numbers describing the exact details of each pixel it contains. You can read more about how an image sensor produces a digital picture in our article on webcams.

How digital cameras use digital technology

Once a picture is stored in numeric form, you can do all kinds of things with it. Plug your digital camera into your computer, and you can download the images you've taken and load them into programs like PhotoShop to edit them or jazz them up. Or you can upload them onto websites, email them to friends, and so on. This is possible because your photographs are stored in digital format and all kinds of other digital gadgets-everything from MP3-playing iPods to cellphones and computers to photo printers-use digital technology too. Digital is a kind of language that all electronic gadgets "speak" today.

Photo: Digital cameras are much more convenient than film cameras. You can instantly see how the picture will look from the LCD screen on the back. If your picture doesn't turn out okay, you can simply delete it and try again. You can't do that with a film camera. Digital cameras mean photographers can be more creative and experimental.

If you open up a digital photograph in a paint (image editing) program, you can change it in all kinds of ways. A program like this works by adjusting the numbers that represent each pixel of the image. So, if you click on a control that makes the image 20 percent brighter, the program goes through all the numbers for each pixel in turn and increases them by 20 percent. If you mirror an image (flip it horizontally), the program reverses the sequence of the numbers it stores so they run in the opposite direction. What you see on the screen is the image changing as you edit or manipulate it. But what you don't see is the paint program changing all the numbers in the background.

Some of these image-editing techniques are built into more sophisticated digital cameras. You might have a camera that has an optical zoom and a digital zoom. An optical zoom means that the lens moves in and out to make the incoming image bigger or smaller when it hits the CCD. A digital zoom means that the microchip inside the camera blows up the incoming image without actually moving the lens. So, just like moving closer to a TV set, the image degrades in quality. In short, optical zooms make images bigger and just as clear, but digital zooms make images bigger and more blurred.

Why digital cameras compress images

Imagine for a moment that you're a CCD or CMOS image sensing chip. Look out of a window and try to figure out how you would store details of the view you can see. First, you'd have to divide the image into a grid of squares. So you'd need to draw an imaginary grid on top of the window. Next, you'd have to measure the color and brightness of each pixel in the grid. Finally, you'd have to write all these measurements down as numbers. If you measured the color and brightness for six million pixels and wrote both down both things as numbers, you'd end up with a string of millions of numbers-just to store one photograph! This is why high-quality digital images often make enormous files on your computer. Each one can be several megabytes (millions of characters) in size.

To get around this, digital cameras, computers, and other digital gadgets use a technique called compression. Compression is a mathematical trick that involves squeezing digital photos so they can be stored with fewer numbers and less memory. One popular form of compression is called JPG (pronounced J-PEG, which stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group, after the scientists and mathematicians who thought up the idea). JPG is known as a "lossy" compression because, when photographs are squeezed this way, some information is lost and can never be restored. High-resolution JPGs use lots of memory space and look very clear; low resolution JPGs use much less space and look more blurred. You can find out more about compression in our article on MP3 players.

Most digital cameras have settings that let you take pictures at higher or lower resolutions. If you select high-resolution, the camera can store fewer images on its memory card -but they are much better quality. Opt for low-resolution and you will get more images, but the quality won't be as good. Low-resolution images are stored with greater compression.

Turning ordinary photos into digital photos

There is a way to turn photos from an ordinary film camera into digital photos-by scanning them. A scanner is a piece of computer equipment that looks like a small photocopier but works like a digital camera. When you put your photos in a scanner, a light scans across them, turning them into strings of pixels and thus into digital images you can see on your computer.

Inside a digital camera

Ever wondered what's inside a digital camera? What takes the photo? Where's it stored? What makes the flash work? And how do all these bits connect together? When you take electronic gadgets apart, they're much harder to understand than ordinary machines (things that work through a clear physical mechanism): you can't always see which part does which job or how. Even so, it can be quite illuminating to peer into your favorite gadgets to see what's hiding inside. I don't recommend you try this at home: opening things up is the quickest way to invalidate your warranty; it's also a good way to ensure they'll never work again!

The main parts of a digital camera

Photo: The parts in a basic digital camera. Were it not for the LCD screen and batteries (the two biggest components), you could probably make a camera like this as small as a postage stamp!

I've opened up the camera in our top photo-and these are the parts I've found inside:

1. Battery compartment: This camera takes two 1.5-volt batteries, so it runs on a total voltage of 3 volts (3 V).

2. Flash capacitor: The capacitor charges up for several seconds to store enough energy to fire the flash.

3. Flash lamp: Operated by the capacitor. It takes a fair bit of energy to fire axenon flash like this, which is why a lot of indoor flash photography quickly uses up your batteries.

4. LED: A small red LED (light-emitting diode) indicates when the self-timer is operating, so you can take photos of yourself more easily.

5. Lens: The lens catcheslight from the object you're photographing and focuses it on the CCD.

6. Focusing mechanism: This camera has a simple switch-operated focus that toggles the lens between two positions for taking either close-ups or distant shots.

7. Image sensor: This is the light-detecting microchip in a digital camera and it uses either CCD or CMOS technology. You can't actually see the chip in this photo, because it's directly underneath the lens. But you can see what it looks like in our article onwebcams.

8. USB connector: Attach a USB cable here and connect it to your computer to download the photos you've taken. To your computer, your camera looks like just another memory device (like ahard drive).

9. SD (secure digital) card slot: You can slide a flash memory card in here for storing more photos. The camera has a very small internal memory that will store photos too.

10. Processor chip: The camera's main digital "brain". This controls all the camera's functions. It's an example of anintegrated circuit.

11. Wrist connector: The strap that keeps the camera securely tied to your wrist attaches here.

12. Top case: Simply screws on top of the bottom case shown here.

Another important part, not shown here, is the LCD display that shows you the photos you've taken. It's mounted on the back of the electronic circuit board so you can't see it in this photo.

What are "mirrorless" cameras?

There are effectively four different kinds of digital cameras. The simplest, known as point-and-shoot, have a lens to capture light (which may or may not zoom), an image sensor to turn the pattern of light into digital form, and an LCD screen round the back for viewing your photos. At the opposite end of the spectrum, DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) cameras look like traditional, professional film cameras and have a moving, hinged mirror inside that lets you view the exact picture you're going to shoot through the lens (for an explanation of how SLR works, see our article on film cameras). The most recent innovation, mirrorless digital cameras, are a sort of hybrid of these two designs: they abandon the hinged mirror system in favor of a higher-resolution LCD viewfinder mounted nearer to the image sensor, which makes them smaller, lighter, faster, and quieter. Finally, there are smartphone cameras, which resemble point-and-shoot models but lack features like an optical zoom.

How do digital cameras compare with smartphone cameras?

From what I've said so far, you can see that digital cameras are great things-if you're comparing them to old-style film cameras, that is. Thanks to their superb, cutting-edge image sensors, there's really no good reason (other than a nostalgic preference for analog technology) to use film. You might be forgiven for thinking sales of digital cameras would be rocketing as a result, but you'd be wrong. Over the last few years, digital cameras have seen double-digit falls in sales in parallel with the massive rise of smartphones and tablets (which now sell more than 1.5 billion each year). Check out a photo-sharing site like Flickr and you'll find the most popular "cameras" are actually phones: in September 2019, at the time I'm updating this article, Flickr's top five cameras are all iPhones. Is there a good reason to own a standalone digital camera anymore or can you now do everything with a camera phone?

Photo: The pros and cons of digital cameras and smartphones summarized in three photos. Even point-and-shoot digital cameras like my old Canon Ixus have bigger, better, telescopic lenses (top) and sensors compared to the ones in the best smartphone cameras, like my new LG (middle). But smartphones undoubtedly score on connectivity and they have bigger, better, and clearer screens (bottom). Here you can see my smartphone's huge screen pictured in a preview photo on the Canon's tiny screen.

Sensors and screens

Step back a decade and there was no comparison at all between the rough and clunky snapshot cameras on cellphones and even the most mediocre compact digital cameras. While the digitals were boasting ever-increasing numbers of megapixels, cellphones took crude snaps little better than the ones you could get from a basic webcam (1 megapixel or less was common). Now all that's changed. The 10-year-old Canon Ixus/Powershot digital camera I use routinely is rated at 7.1 megapixels, which is perfectly fine for almost anything I ever want to do. My new LG smartphone comes in at 13 megapixels, which (theoretically, at least) sounds like it must be twice as good.

But wait! "Megapixels" are a misleading marketing ploy: what really matters is the size and quality of the image sensors themselves. Generally, the bigger the sensor, the better the pictures. Comparing the raw technical data, the Canon Ixus claims a 1/2.5" CCD while the LG has a 1/3.06" CMOS (a newer, somewhat different type of sensor chip). What do those numbers actually mean? Sensor measurements are based on needlessly confusing math that I'm not going to explain here, and you'll have take it on trust that both of these cameras have tiny sensors, about half the size of a pinkie nail (measuring less than 5mm in each direction), though the Canon sensor is significantly bigger. The Digital Ixus, though eight years older than the LG smartphone, and with apparently half as many "megapixels," has a significantly bigger sensor chip and one that's likely to outperform the LG, especially in lower light conditions.

The Canon also scores with a much better, telescopic lens (technically rated 5.8-17.4 mm, which is equivalent to 35-105mm)-better quality and telescopic to boot-that can take everything from infinity-distance landscapes to close-up macro shots of spiders and flies. But I have to upload my photos to a computer to get a sense of how good or bad they are because the Canon only has a tiny 6cm (2.5-inch) LCD screen. The LG is over twice as good on the diagonal screen dimension, with a 14cm (5.5 inch) "monitor." Where Canon estimates that the Ixus screen has 230,000 pixels, the LG boasts quad HD (2560×1440 pixels), or roughly sixteen times more. I might not be able to take better photos with the LG, but at least I can instantly assess and appreciate them on a screen as good as an HD TV (albeit still pocket-sized).

Bear in mind that my Canon is just a point-and-shoot compact, so this is not really a fair comparison between what you can achieve with a really good digital camera and a really good smartphone. My LG is right up at the better end of smartphone cameras, but the Ixus isn't anywhere near as good as the best digital cameras. A professional DSLR would have a much bigger sensor than a smartphone-up to 3.6cm × 2.4cm-so it would be able to capture really fine detail in even the lowest of light levels. It would also have a bigger and better screen and better (interchangeable) lenses.

Photo: This is a closeup of the camera inside the LG (with its cover popped off). What you're looking at here is the lens: the image sensor chip is directly underneath it. (In case it's not clear, the red thing is a pen I'm pointing with.)

Social media

Of course, where smartphone cameras really score is in the "smartphone" department: they're computers, in essence, that are pop-in-the-pocket portable and always online. So not only are you more likely to capture chance photos (because you're always carrying a camera), but you can instantly upload your snaps to the aptly-named Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter. And that's the real reason why smartphone cameras have surpassed old-school digitals: photography itself has changed from the digital-equivalent of the 19th-century Daguerreotype (itself a throwback to the portrait paintings of old) to something more off-the-cuff, immediate, and, of course, social. For the purposes of Facebook or Twitter, often viewed on small-screen mobile devices, you don't need more than a couple of megapixels, at most. (Prove it yourself by downloading a hi-res image from Instagram or Flickr, and you'll find it's seldom more than a couple of hundred kilobytes in size and 1000 megapixels or less in each dimension, making less than one megapixel in total.) Even on better photo-sharing websites like Instagram and Flickr, most people will never be browsing your photos in multi-megapixel dimensions: they simply wouldn't fit on the screen. So even if your smartphone doesn't have masses of megapixels, it doesn't really matter: most people flicking through your photos on their smartphones won't notice-or care. Social media means never having to say you're sorry you forgot your DSLR and only had your iPhone!

Smartphone add-ons

Now it's absolutely the case that photos taken with a top-notch Canon or Nikon DSLR will beat, hands down, snapshots from even the best smartphones-but that's often because it's not a like-for-like comparison. Often, we're comparing good amateur photos taken with smartphones to brilliant professional photos taken with DSLRs. How much of what we're seeing is the camera... and how much the eye of the photographer? Sometimes it's hard to separate the two things

Professionals can achieve amazing results with smartphones-but so can amateurs, with a bit of extra help. One of the drawbacks of smartphone cameras is the lack of manual control (generally even less than with a basic compact digital camera). You can get around that, to a certain extent, by using add-on apps that give you much more control over fiddly, old-school settings like ISO, aperture, shutter speed, and white balance. (Search your favorite app store for keywords like "professional photography" or "manual photography".) You can also add snap-on lenses to smartphones to get around the drawbacks of a fixed-focal-length lens (though there's nothing you can do about the tiny, poorer-quality image sensor). Once your photos are safely snapped, there are plenty of photo-editing apps for smartphones as well, including a slimmed-down, free version of PhotoShop, which can help you retouch your amateur "sow's ears" into professional "silk purses."

So why still buy digital?

Since many people now own a smartphone, the real question is whether you need a digital camera as well. It's very hard to see an argument for point-and-shoot compacts anymore: for social-media snaps, most of us can get by with our phones. For this website, I take a lot of macro photos-close-ups of circuits and mechanical parts-with my Ixus that I couldn't possibly capture with the LG, so I won't be jumping ship anytime soon.

If you want to take professional quality photos, there's really no comparison between smartphones and DSLRs. A top-notch DSLR has a better-quality image sensor (up to 50 times bigger in area than the one in a smartphone) and a much better lens: these two fundamentally important things make the "raw" image from a DSLR far better. Add in all those fiddly manual controls you have on a DSLR and you'll be able to capture a far greater range of photos across a far wider range of lighting conditions. If you really care about the quality of your photos, instant-uploading to sharing sites might be a less important consideration: you'll want to view your photos on a big monitor, retouch them, and only share them when you're happy. Having said that, you can now buy hybrid digital cameras with built-in Wi-Fi that offer similar instant-sharing convenience to smartphones. And, of course, there's nothing to stop you carrying a smartphone and a DSLR if you really want the best of both worlds!

A brief history of photography

Artwork: The original digital camera, invented in the 1970s by Steven Sasson, worked a bit like an old-style camcorder and needed a separate playback monitor. First (top), you took your photos with the camera (blue), which used a CCD to record them onto a magnetic tape (red). Later (bottom), when you got back home, you took out the tape, inserted it into a computer (orange), and viewed the pictures you'd taken on a computer monitor or TV (green). Artwork from US Patent 4,131,919: Electronic still camera by Gareth A. Lloyd, Steven J. Sasson courtesy of US Patent & Trademark Office.

4th century BCE: Chinese invented the camera obscura (a darkened room with a hole in the drapes that projects an image of the outside world onto a distant wall).

Late 1700s: Thomas Wedgwood (1771-1805) and Sir Humphry Davy (1778-1829), two English scientists, carried out early experiments trying to record images on light-sensitive paper. Their photos were not permanent: they turned black unless permanently stored in a dark place.

1827: French Joseph Nicéphore Niépce (1765-1833) made the world's first photographs. His method was no good for taking portraits of people because the camera shutter had to be left open for eight hours.

1839: French opera-house scene painter Louis Daguerre (1787-1851) announced the invention of photos on silver plates that became known as daguerreotypes.

1839: William Henry Fox Talbot (1800-1877) invented the photographic negative process.

1851: British artist and photographer Frederick Scott Archer (1813-1857) invented a way of taking pin-sharp photos onto wet glass plates.

1870s: British physician Dr Richard Maddox (1816-1902) developed a way of taking photos using dry plates and gelatin.

1883: American inventor George Eastman (1854-1932) invented the modern photographic film.

1888: George Eastman launched his easy-to-use Kodak camera. His slogan was: "You push the button and we do the rest."

1947: Edwin Land (1909-1991) invented the instant polaroid camera.

1963: Edwin Land invented the color polaroid camera.

1975: US electrical engineer Steven Sasson invented the first CCD-based electronic camera with Gareth Lloyd at Eastman Kodak.

1990s: Digital cameras started to become popular, gradually making film cameras obsolete.

2000s: Advanced cellphones with built-in digital cameras began to make standalone digital cameras redundant for everyday snapshot photography.

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The Smart Phone Photography Guide: Shoot, Edit, Experiment, Share by Peter Cope. Carlton, 2018. From selfies to VR, this book has lots of tips for getting the most from your smartphone camera.

Digital Photography For Dummies by Julie King. John Wiley, 2016. An illustrated, basic introduction.

Digital Photographer's Handbook by Tom Ang. Dorling Kindersley, 2016. A good, basic introduction to digital techniques, but experienced photographers may find it too simplistic. Presented in the very visual DK style.

The Digital Photography Book by Scott Kelby. Peachpit Press, 2006-2014. A series of five more detailed books exploring different aspects of practical photography.

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by Chris Woodford. Last updated: November 1, 2020. Digital cameras give a whole new meaning to the idea of painting by numbers. Unlike old-style film cameras, they capture and record images of the world around us using digital technology. In other words, they store photographs not as patterns of darkness and light but as long strings of numbers.