FILM CAMERA AND DIGITAL CAMERA

Film Camera and Digital Camera

Film Camera and Digital Camera

Digital versus film photography has been debated since the 20th century when digital cameras were invented. Both digital and film photography have advantages and drawbacks. 21st century photography is dominated by digital operation, but the older photochemical methods continue to serve many users and applications.

The quality of digital photographs an be measured in several ways. Pixel count is presumed to correlate with spatial resolution. The quantity of picture elements (pixels) in the image sensor is usually counted in millions and called "megapixels" and often used as a figure of merit. The resolution of film images depends upon the area of film used to record the image - 35 mm, Medium format or Large format - the speed of the film and the quality of lens fitted to the camera.

Digital cameras have a variable relationship between resolution and megapixel count; other factors are important in digital camera resolution, such as the number of pixels used to resolve the image, the effect of the Bayer pattern or other sensor filters on the digital sensor and the image processing algorithm used to interpolate sensor pixels to image pixels. Digital sensors are generally arranged in a rectangular grid pattern, making images susceptible to moire pattern artifacts, whereas film is not affected by this because of the random orientation of grains.

Estimates of a photograph's resolution taken with a 35 mm film camera vary. More information may be recorded if a fine-grain film, combined with a specially-formulated developer are used. Conversely, less resolution may be recorded with poor quality optics or with coarse-grained film. A 36 mm x 24 mm frame of ISO 100-speed film is estimated to contain the equivalent of 20 million pixels.

Many professional-quality film cameras use medium format or large format films. Because of the size of the imaging area, these can record higher resolution images than current top-of-the-range digital cameras. A medium format film image can record an equivalent of approximately 50 megapixels, while large format films can record around 200 megapixels (4 × 5 inch) which equates to around 800 megapixels on the largest common film format, 8 × 10 inches, without accounting for lens sharpness.[7] A medium format DSLR provides from 42 to 50 megapixels, which is similar to medium format film quality.

The medium which will be used for display, and the viewing distance, should be taken into account. For instance, if a photograph will only be viewed on a television or computer display, which can resolve approximately .3 megapixels[8] and 1-2 megapixels, respectively, or HDTV sets of 1080p that can display 2MP, the resolution provided by inexpensive digital cameras may be sufficient.

Almost all compact digital cameras, and most digital SLRs, have sensors smaller than a 36 mm x 24 mm frame of 35 mm film. This affects aspects of the captured image and the way the camera is used. These effects include:

Increased depth of field;

Decreased light sensitivity and increased pixel noise;

For digital SLRs, cropping of the field of view ...