It was only relatively recently in our history that the first digital cameras for consumers went on sale. The Apple QuickTake came out in 1994 followed by the Kodak DC40 in ’95. It seems like they’ve been with us forever. Basically, the more expensive your camera is, the more complex are the electronic components and flexibility. Every single digital camera has the same few main electronic components – a lens (obviously), a view finder, a sensor chip, shutter button and usually a flash. More advanced electronic components offer Memory card slots and an LCD screen.
Perhaps the most important electronic component in your camera is the Lens. Most Digital cameras have a built-in lens nowadays. Cameras get more expensive when they have a higher lens power – and can be rated for optical and digital zooming. One of the latest electronic components offers “Stabilization”. This limits the shake of your camera lens as you shoot and will result in clearer images. Another electronic component in some cameras is what’s called a “Microlense”, which focuses the incoming light onto the photosite.
Every single digital camera image sensor- is made up from the same electronic components. They are an aid to the true recording of light in the final photo. There are currently two kinds of sensor chips, the CMOS and the CCD. Without getting too technical, the digital sensor chip captures the subject and converts it into digital information. That is then sent to the camera’s memory card. All that remains is for you to point, shoot and print.