Going digital

One of the most popular gadgets around these days is the digital camera. These devices have recently dropped in price and improved in quality to attract consumers. Imaging technologists also predict that they may soon replace the conventional camera. The question now is, will consumers find these new products superior to conventional cameras?

Today's digital cameras are relatively cheap, easy to use, and can produce images, which rival traditional film photography in all areas. Digital cameras, according to imaging technologists are the future of photography. Instead of recording pictures onto film, they save them into a memory card in digital form.

So, just how popular is the digital camera? According to Mr Ang, professional photographer at a leading photo studio in Brunei, more and more consumers are going digital. The sale of digital cameras has rocketed threefold compared to 2001 and for the first time ever, digital camera sales have surpassed conventional cameras. Mr Ang added that consumers can now find cheaper digital cameras because competition has forced prices to drop dramatically.

Consumers who are in the market for digital cameras are likely to come across new terms such as 'megapixels', which refers to the level of sharpness the photo will be once it is taken. Consumers should know that the higher the megapixel, the better the resolution of the picture. But that also means the price for the camera will be more.

Consumers can be very price-sensitive and are easily influenced by trendy and fashionable designs. Digital cameras vary in price from under $200 to more than $3,000. Most digital cameras fall in the range of $200 to $1,200. If you are looking for a basic digital camera with minimal features, yet provides good image quality, you should expect to pay between $350 to $500.

A member of the public told RTB Consumer researchers that she switched to digital cameras after growing tired of using film. She said it seemed like every roll she developed, no more than 20 out of 36 pictures would be worth keeping. With the digital camera, however, she can take and review the pictures and delete those she doesn't like and pay to have the ones she does developed.

Both film and digital cameras have their advantages and disadvantages, but the digital camera does offer a number of advantages; No cost of paying for film, the ability to preview images, which allows you to take photographs you are satisfied with, thousands of digital pictures will take up only a fraction of the physical storage space it would require to store conventional photos, effortless transfer to computer for further digital processes and applications, the camera memory is re-usable and many more.

However, digital cameras do have certain disadvantages such as it is far more expensive than conventional cameras, in low-price digital cameras the print quality tends to be poor, higher cost of printing, shorter lifespan for the prints compared to printouts of conventional cameras, wears out batteries very quickly, LCD screens are hard to see in bright sunlight and dark environments and with film you can enlarge photographs without fear of image quality loss. Digital images can be enlarged, but only so far before they become pixilated.

Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin