DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY
Digital cameras use an electronic image sensor which records images as a series of electronic data, rather than chemical changes which is the case with film.Until relatively recently, photographers had to work in remote locations without any convenient access to film processing facilities and photo journalists were obliged to carry portable laboratories with them so that they could speedily process images.
Then in 1981 Sony produced the first camera which used a imaging device which removed the need for a film. The images had to be displayed on a television screen, and in 1990 Kodak launched the first commercial, fully digital camera, the DCS 100, which due to it’s high cost was initially only used by photo journalists and other professional photographers.
A key difference between traditional or “analogue” photography and digital photography is that the chemical process cannot be manipulated as it involves film, and photographic paper, whereas digital images can be electronically altered. The extent to which a digital image can be altered or edited, has opened up a whole new range of applications and uses for this form of photography, and the old adage that “the camera never lies” is no longer an accepted truism.
Digital photography is fast replacing film photography in both amateur and professional markets, and inexpensive ‘compact” or “point and shoot” cameras, with additional features such as video and audio recording have become extremely popular in the mass market. Digital cameras are now hugely outselling film cameras, and traditional camera manufactures, such as Kodak, no longer produce film cameras, and others, such as Nikon and Canon have announced a reduction in their film camera range.