Digital Camera

What is Digital Camera?

A digital camera or digicam is a camera that

captures photographs in digital memory. Most cameras
produced today are digital, and while there are
still compact cameras on the market, the use of
dedicated digital cameras is dwindling, as digital
cameras are now incorporated into many devices
ranging from mobile devices to vehicles. However,
high-end, high-definition dedicated cameras are still
commonly used by professionals.
 HISTORY
The history of the digital camera began with Eugene F. Lally of the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory, who was thinking about how to use a mosaic photo sensor
to capture digital images. His 1961 idea was to take pictures of the planets and
stars while travelling through space to give information about the astronauts'
position. As with Texas Instruments employee Willis Adcock's filmless camera (US
patent 4,057,830) in 1972, the technology had yet to catch up with the concept.
The Cromemco Cyclops was an all-digital camera introduced as a commercial
product in 1975. Steven Sasson, an engineer at Eastman Kodak, invented and built the
first self-contained electronic camera that used a charge-coupled device image
sensor in 1975. Early uses were mainly military and scientific; followed by medical and
news applications. In 1986, Japanese company Nikon introduced the first digital single-
lens reflex (DSLR) camera, the Nikon SVC. In the mid-to-late 1990s, DSLR cameras
became common among consumers. By the mid-2000s, DSLR cameras had largely
replaced film cameras. In 2000, Sharp introduced the world's first digital camera phone,
the J-SH04 J-Phone, in Japan.[9] By the mid-2000s, higher-end cell phones had an
integrated digital camera. By the beginning of the 2010s, almost all smartphones had
an integrated digital camera.
 Image Sensors
Sensor resolution
- The resolution of a digital camera is often limited by the image sensor that
turns light into discrete signals. The brighter the image at a given point on the sensor,
the larger the value that is read for that pixel.

Image sharpness
- Final quality of an image depends on all optical transformations in the chain
of producing the image.

Methods of image capture

• Single shot capture systems use either one sensor chip with a Bayer filter mosaic,
or three separate image sensors (one each for the primary additive colors red,
green, and blue) which are exposed to the same image via a beam splitter.
• Multi Shot exposes the sensor to the image in a sequence of three or more
openings of the lens aperture.
• Scanning the sensor moves across the focal plane much like the sensor of
an image scanner.
 Types of Cameras
Compact - intended to be portable (pocketable) and are
particularly suitable for casual "snapshots".
Rugged compacts - Rugged compact cameras typically include
protection against submersion, hot and cold conditions, shock and
pressure.
Action cameras - ugged, small and can be easily attached to helmet,
arm, bicycle, etc.
360-degree cameras - can take picture or video 360 degrees
using two lenses back-to-back and shooting at the same time.
Bridge cameras - ensemble DSLRs, and are sometimes called
DSLR-shape or DSLR-like. They provide some similar features
but, like compacts, they use a fixed lens and a small sensor.
Mirror less interchangeable-lens cameras - simpler and more
compact than DSLRs due to not having a lens reflex system.
Modular cameras - the shutter and sensor are incorporated
into the lens module.
Digital single-lens reflex cameras use a reflex mirror that can
reflect the light and also can swivel from one position to
another position and back to initial position.
Digital rangefinders - device to measure subject distance, with
the intent to adjust the focus of a camera's objective lens
accordingly
Line-scan camera systems - traditionally has a single row of
pixel sensors, instead of a matrix of them.
Stand alone camera - can be used as remote camera.