brightness The balance of light and dark shades in an image. Brightness is distinct from contrast, which measures the range between the darkest and lightest shades in an image. Brightness determines the intensity of shades; contrast determines the number of shades.
burst mode Also referred to as continuous shooting or rapid-fire shots, this feature allows you to capture multiple images in quick succession with one touch of the exposure button. This is a useful feature when shooting subjects in motion. The number of shots a digital camera can take in burst mode varies from camera to camera.
charging time or recycling time This time is measured between the flash and the point of time when the ready indicator is lit again. According to the DIN standard, the ready indicator can be lit as soon as 70% of the full charge is reached.
CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) A new digital camera technology. CMOS image sensors are less expensive to manufacture than CCDs (charged-coupled devices). CMOSs also require less power to operate, bringing down the cost of digital cameras that use CMOS technology. CMOS chips also can convert the analog image to digital and manage some basic camera controls, among other tasks.
CompactFlash Flash memory card measuring 1.5 inches square, developed by SanDisk; used in small portable devices such as digital cameras, MP3 players and PDAs, and available in a variety of multi-megabyte capacities. (See flash memory, Memory Stick, SmartMedia.)
continuous burst or capture mode The ability to take multiple pictures in a small amount of time. Great for action shots.
CCD (Charge-coupled device) A solid-state image pick-up device that converts light into an electrical charge; used as the image sensor in digital cameras and camcorders (analogous to film in a traditional camera) and in other digital imaging devices such as scanners. It is the chip within a digital camera or digital camcorder that converts the brightness and color information from the lens into digital data.
dynamic range The ability of the camera's CCD to capture the full range of shadows and highlights.
digital zoom Digital method to radically increase a camcorder's or camera's zoom ratio to focus in on a distant subject, as opposed to optical zoom, which uses lens movement and has limited range. Digital zoom enlarges the pixels in a digitized image, reducing its effective resolution. Digital zoom is a convenience, but optical zoom is the critical measure of a camcorder's or camera's magnification capacity.Some DVD players also have digital zoom.
filter A colored or specially coated piece of glass or other transparent material used over the lens to emphasize or modify the color or density of the entire scene or certain areas within a scene.
FireWire Apple Computer's proprietary name for IEEE 1394 connectivity. (See IEEE 1394, i.LINK.)
flash Gives you different lighting choices for your pictures.
flash memory Type of permanent RAM storage that is unaffected by power loss (and so is referred to as non-volatile); usually used in battery-powered or portable electronic or digital data storage devices, such as digital cameras, portable MP3 players and handheld PCs. May be permanently installed or in the form of removable media, such as SmartMedia, CompactFlash or Memory Stick. (See CompactFlash, SmartMedia, Memory Stick.)
flash range The maximum distance from which a flash can effectively illuminate a subject. Most built-in flashes are effective to about 12-15 feet. Range varies by brand, so check the specifications carefully.
GIF 89 The most recent GIF standard that allows the selection of area for transparency. Primary use is on the Internet and other online services. Like GIF, it is 256-color or 8-bit imaging.
GUI (graphical user interface) Pronounced Gooey, refers to the computer interface with a user-friendly appearance.
gain Gain, or “gain-up”, is the amount of ambient light that enters the iris of a camcorder. It electronically boosts the video signal level to make subjects appear brighter in low-light situations. (See gain-up control.) It is also the reflectivity of a projection screen. A gain of 1.0 equals the reflectivity of a matte white surface. A gain of 3.0 is high for a front-projection screen, whereas 7.0 is typical for rear-projection screens.
gray scale Black, white and shades of gray, as applied to computer graphics or imaging devices, such as a fax machine or photocopier; the variations in brightness that enhance clarity. In video, the manner in which the color temperature of a video monitor changes with the signal level (black being at a low signal level, white being at a high signal level, and gray being in between); tracking color accuracy. (See colorimetry, color temperature.)
i.LINK Sony's proprietary name for IEEE 1394 connectivity. (See IEEE 1394, FireWire.)
image capacity The number of pictures a digital camera can store in its internal memory. Of course, the more storage available, the more pictures you can take before having to "reload" (either by clearing the on-board memory or inserting a new memory card). The resolution of the pictures you take also directly affects image capacity. The higher the resolution of the picture, the more memory it requires and the fewer such images will fit into a given amount of memory.
ImageMate An external drive created by SanDisk to make downloading data from a CompactFlash card to a PC even easier. The drive connects to a PC's parallel port and allows the printer to piggy back on it.
image sensor The type of device used in digital cameras and camcorders to capture an image. The 2 most common types are known as CCD (charge-coupled device) and CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor).
Interface The method a digital camera uses to connect to a PC or notebook and download files. Common methods include CompactFlash external drives, SmartMedia floppy disk adapters, floppy disk drives, serial cables, USB cables, and infrared light.
ISO equivalent Conventional camera film is rated using the International Standards Organization (ISO), which determines the film speed. The higher the ISO number, the "faster" the film, meaning the less light needed to take a picture. Although digital cameras do not use traditional film, the industry uses an ISO equivalency rating to describe their light sensitivity.
megapixel Refers to one million pixels on the CCD. Cameras with a resolution of 1024 x 768 don't yet qualify
for the megapixel category as they only have 786,432 pixels. Cameras with a resolution of 1280 x 1024 and above do belong in the megapixel category. Double-megapixel refers to cameras with 2 million pixels on the CCD. These cameras yield near photo-quality prints and are the camera of choice for people who are concerned about printed output, including families,
business people and semiprofessional users.
Memory Stick A flash memory format that can be erase-protected; shaped like a stick of gum -- hence the name. Developed by Sony for use in digital cameras, camcorders and other small devices; a competitor of SmartMedia and CompactFlash flash media. (See CompactFlash, SmartMedia, flash memory)
movie mode In this mode, long sequences of low-resolution (160 x 120 pixels) images are captured in very rapid succession (at 0.1 or 0.2 second intervals). The resulting movies can be played back directly on the camera's screen, or downloaded as composite images to a host computer, where they can be assembled back into a movie via software.
MPEG movie mode Sony Mavica's ability to record full motion video and sound onto one floppy disk in MPEG file format.
MPEG (Motion Picture Experts Group) Pronounced EM-peg, an organization that establishes standards in computerized digital video compression and reproduction. MPEG schemes reduce the data stream by storing only the changes from one frame to another, instead of each entire frame. MPEG compression also removes some image data, but the reduction of data is generally imperceptible to the human eye.
picture effects Built-in programming modes such as Sepia and Negative Art create unique color and contrast settings for the pictures you are going to take.
pixelization The square-like pattern of a video image that becomes more apparent as the image is enlarged, revealing the individual pixels that make up the image.
PPI (pixels per inch) The amount of pixels per inch at which an image is displayed or printed affects its output quality. For example, if the image is to be displayed on a monitor, 72ppi to 100ppi is sufficient. If the image is to be printed, it should have at least between 150ppi to 300ppi to reduce the effects of pixelization. (See DPI and resolution)
pixel (picture element) A pixel is a single point in a digitized or digital image. Pixels are made up of elements to produce a specific color. In a digital image file, a pixel is made up of numeric values representing shades of three colors red, green, and blue (RGB). In a 24-bit image file each RGB color has a total of 256 shades possible, combining the 256 shades for each of the 3
colors with the possibility of up to 16,777,216 possible colors for each pixel.
resolution The density of pixels in an image that a
device such as a digital camera can achieve.
Higher pixels per inch (PPI) produces a finer level of detail.
Optical: This resolution
is most important. It is the maximum resolution that the camera’s chip can capture.
Interpolated: Software enhanced resolution. Interpolated resolution artificially creates more pixels in the image.
SLR viewfinder An SLR viewfinder allows the
photographer to see up to 95 percent of the captured image, clear and centered.
Serious photographers love an SLR's ability to frame precisely and create sharp,
focused pictures.
SmartMedia Flash memory card, smaller than either PC cards or CompactFlash cards. Originally developed by SanDisk but now available from a variety of manufacturers. SmartMedia cards are used in small portable devices, such as digital cameras, MP3 players and PDAs. They are available in a variety of multi-megabyte capacities. (See flash memory, Memory Stick, CompactFlash)
SmartMedia floppy disk adapter An adapter to make downloading files from a SmartMedia card to a PC even easier. Simply insert the SmartMedia card into the adapter and insert the adapter into the floppy disk drive to view, edit and print images.
S/N (signal-to-noise ratio) Comparison of maximum signal strength against the nominal background noise generated by a device or medium to indicate how clean the signal is -- for instance, how much background noise will be heard when a tape is played. Not actually a ratio; expressed as the difference between the 2 values in decibels. The larger the difference, the better the performance of the device or medium.
storage size Digital cameras store their images as electronic files, like the files on the hard drive of a computer. The more storage space, the more images the camera can store. Like computer storage, digital camera storage is measured in megabytes (MB). Most cameras have between 2 and 8MB of internal storage, but many offer removable storage devices that can store as much as 250MB or more.
storage There are 4 types of storage media for digital cameras: the 3.5-inch floppy disk, the SmartMedia card, the CompactFlash card and Sony's Memory Stick.SmartMedia, CompactFlash and Memory Stick media can store several megabytes of data which can be downloaded by connecting the digital camera to a PC with a serial or USB cable, or by using a special adapter (card reader). Disks are used in Sony Mavica digital cameras.
