| Summary
Digital cameras have developed extremely rapidly since
their introduction in ##. Yet, they share many characteristics
with traditional 35 mm cameras. The main difference between digital
and traditional cameras is that the celluloid film has been replaced
with a digital sensor. Digital cameras fall into three general
categories: professional, pro-sumer and consumer. While the low-end
consumer cameras are appropriate for some limited applications
in dentistry, most dentists may find higher-end cameras more suitable.
Many digital camera controls, such as exposure, f-stop and exposure
metering modes, parallel those of traditional cameras. However,
digital cameras tend to be more complex because of their comparatively
richer functionality. Most digital non-SLR cameras provide an
LCD screen to assist in image framing and composition. Many digital
cameras provide additional functions, such as image review, direct
image printing and even limited video recording capability.
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Objectives
After studying this chapter, you should be able to:
- differentiate the three categories of digital cameras, and
list applications for each of them
- explain camera operating settings, such as f-stop, exposure,
exposure mode, exposure metering scheme and exposure compensation
- identify optimal methods of lighting in dental photography
- relate camera sensor resolution to image quality
- explain the parallax phenomenon and how to avoid it
- explain the difference between optical and digital zoom capability
- discuss ease-of-use aspects of digital cameras
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Benefits
Understanding the material in this chapter will increase
your ability to:
- assess your needs for a digital camera in light of your dental
photography needs and skills
- compare the feature set of different digital cameras in detail
- test and evaluate digital camera systems in practice
- assess ease-of-use aspects of a digital camera
|
Key Concepts
- digital camera types: professional, pro-sumer and consumer
- camera body and lenses
- focal length
- camera controls
- shutter speed, f-stop, exposure mode, exposure metering scheme,
exposure compensation, TTL metering
- depth of field
- automatic and manual modes
- types of lighting (such as daylight and artificial)
- interpolation
- viewfinder
- parallax
- optical and digital zoom
- pixelization
- image storage
- ease-of-use
- framing and focusing
- battery consumption
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