The world of digital cameras has its own vocabulary

By Gregg Ellman
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
11-26-2005

Holiday shopping has begun, and just as in the past few years, digital cameras are going to be one of the most popular items. Often, first-timers to digital photography encounter some words that are new to their vocabulary. So here are some definitions to help you as you get started. Many of these terms affect the cost of digital cameras and the quality of the pictures you will take, while some others have a direct reference to the performance and the look of the camera. Buffer: This is what holds the images immediately after you take the photo, until the camera processes them to the memory card. Often this is the culprit when you are trying to take consecutive photos and the camera won’t let you. Once the buffer is cleared and all the holding images are transferred to the card, you will be allowed to take another photo. Card reader: A device used to transfer digital images from your camera to your computer. It is a much better way to transfer your images (quickly and reliably) than connecting your camera directly to your computer. Card readers can be external devices on most computers, but some laptops have them built in. External card readers connect to your computer via the USB or firewire ports. Compact flash: A common type of digital storage that is about the size of a matchbook. Compact flash cards are reliable and won’t erase the digital images on them unless told to by the user via a camera or computer. Digital noise: Digital noise is the equivalent to film grain in film photography. It’s often caused by shooting in low-light situations or with higher ISO settings in your camera. In digital images, noise appears as colored spots. Available software can help eliminate digital noise. Digital zoom: A feature in many digital cameras that enlarges a portion of the image. Often, when using the digital zoom feature, you will sacrifice some image quality. DPI: A measurement that describes the image resolution in dots per inch. The DPI is what creates the image; the higher the DPI, the higher the resolution and the better the quality of your image. Download: Transferring your images from your camera to your computer or printer. Dye sublimation: A high-quality way of making digital prints. Dye sublimation is a heat transfer to bind dyes onto photographic paper. Dye sublimation printing is generally much more costly than ink-jet printing. Ink jet: A process by which prints are made by droplets of ink being sprayed onto photographic paper. This is by far the most common type of printer in use. The printers are cheap, and the replacement ink is widely available. Jump drive (sometimes called flash drive): USB removable storage device that is small enough to be carried on a key chain. It ranges in size from very small to up to several gigabytes. Jump drives are a handy way to transfer your images to the self-service printers in many retail stores these days. LCD screen: The liquid crystal display screen on the back of your camera, which allows you to review your digital images immediately after they have been shot. Megapixel: The standard of measurement that digital cameras use to measure the quality of the images. One megapixel is 1 million pixels. The higher the megapixel, the better the quality. With better quality comes higher prices. Megabits: This is used to measure the amount of data you can transfer between your digital media and your computer. Optical zoom: Magnifying an image with an adjustment of the lens on your camera without reducing the quality. Digital zoom does sacrifice quality. RGB (red, green, blue): The primary colors of light. Digital cameras use these to create the colors in digital images. USB (Universal Serial Bus): A standard way to connect a camera or a printer to your computer. Most cameras have connections built in to hook up a USB cable that will allow you to connect directly from your camera to your computer. USB has two standards: USB 1.1 and USB 2.0. USB 1.1 transfers at a rate of up to 12 megabits per second, and USB 2.0 can go up to 420 megabits per second.