When you switch from conventional cameras to a digital camera, it helps to understand a few key issues inherent in digital photography. Of course, you don’t have film-developing costs, but now you are responsible for your own photos. That means it’s a good idea to understand a few technological issues surrounding your pictures.
The first thing that you may notice is that digital images are a different size than conventional film images. A traditional 35-millimeter photo has an aspect ratio of 3:2 (in other words the ratio of the width to the height). In contrast, images from digital cameras generally have an aspect ratio of 4:3. So your old 35-mm photos are actually wider than a digital photo. When you get your digital photo reproduced using a photo service like Shutterfly, you may have to crop out some of the image if you want prints in standard photo sizes, such as 4×6 or 5×7.
When you’re taking digital photos, you will also find a few differences between a digital camera and a conventional one. The first is “shutter lag.” Basically, it’s the time between when you press the button and when the exposure is recorded. Many digital cameras auto focus after you press the button, so you may miss the shot you intended. On many cameras, you can avoid this problem to some degree by pressing the shutter button halfway down to lock the focus before you take the shot. (And yes, some 35mm cameras do have shutter lag, but it’s generally nowhere near as long.)
Another issue you may run into is the time it takes to save the image to the card. With many cameras, you can’t take second picture until the first one is written to the memory card. Sometimes this delay can seem like forever, if you’re trying to take action shots.
Digital cameras also introduce a feature called “digital zoom,” which is best avoided. In addition to traditional optical zoom used by conventional cameras, most digitals let you zoom in even closer. Unfortunately, it’s using the same technology you can use in your image editor to enlarge an image, which can degrade the quality significantly.
Finally, because your pictures are computer files, if you don’t understand how to create files and folders on your computer, you should learn. Every day, people accidentally overwrite or delete precious photos because they “didn’t know” what they were doing. Learn how your camera names photos, so you don’t accidentally lose them. Figure out a folder-naming scheme with meaningful names, and then stick to it.