Tag Archives: James May

How digital cameras work – With James May

How Digital Cameras Work?

• How Do Digital Cameras Work •
You don’t have to know how your digital camera works to enjoy it. But knowing a little helps you to enjoy it better.
[Image taken from the video].

Understanding your camera better…

You don’t need an in-depth know how. Just enough to make it easy to learn more. Knowing a bit about how digital cameras work is really useful. Here is a quick and easy intro…

A few words from me

Those who know the world famous TV show, Top Gear How do digital cameras work: link to Top gear on Wikipedia - External link - opens new tab/page know James May External link - opens new tab/page. He has a zany sense of humour. Recently he’s been doing simple science videos. In the video he shows how digital cameras work. Off-hand jokes and jibes at Richard Hammond How do digital cameras work: Richard Hammond - Jibes - External link - opens new tab/page make the fast-paced video fun. Watch and learn how your camera works.

How digital cameras work. With James May.

Head Squeeze  How digital cameras work - from Head Squeeze :: External link - opens new tab/page

Some things to think about…

The history in the video is a bit misleading. How digital cameras work was worked out in the 1970s. By the 1980s sensors were quite advanced. But, it was not until the 1990s that digital image sensors became consumer items. Then camera makers made them small and cheap. To find out more see: A History of Photography (pt.6). The Digital Age.

Mr. May gets the idea of a pixel wrong too. He talks about pixels being on the sensor. Many people have this idea. Pixels are in images on screen. Data for digital images is collected on a digital image sensor. Each point where the data for each pixel is collected is called a photosite. Just remember, photosites collect data on the sensor. Pixels display the data in the image on the screen.

For more information about pixels check these links…
Definition: Pixel; Pixels
Definition: Photosite; Photosites
Definition: Sensor; Image Sensor; Digital Image Sensor

For some more context on pixels in your images check this: Getting down to pixel level.

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Damon Guy - Netkonnexion

Damon Guy (Netkonnexion)

Damon is a writer-photographer and editor of this site. He has run some major websites, a computing department and a digital image library. He started out as a trained teacher and now runs training for digital photogs.
See also: Editors ‘Bio’.
By Damon Guy see his profile on Google+.