EDAD660 (2010)

The GigaPxl project (http://www.gigapxl.org/) is a community of digital imaging enthusiasts that use a standard digital cameras to create ultra high quality digital images.  Using a purchasable motor-driven frame, the GigaPxl system can document a space over a short period of time by taking multiple photographs and then “stitching” them together into one large, ultra-high quality file.

I haven’t tried to produce an image myself but the sample images on their site are breathtaking!

What to look for when purchasing a digital camera

The following items are, in my opinion, the most important characteristics to consider when purchasing a digital camera for personal use or use in your classroom.

Megapixel Rating

In a nutshell, Megapixels = quality.  Megapixels are rated in numbers from 1.0 and up, and this value represents the maximum size of the image that the camera can produce.  Megapixel ratings around 10.0 are commonplace these days, though most people don’t need nearly that level of quality.  Quality is generally important if you are planning on printing your images out – web delivery of images generally requires a much lower level of quality.  The actual number is derived by taking the resolution of the maximum size of an image produced and multiplying the two numbers together.  For example, if a camera can produce an image that is rated at 640 x 480 pixels, it would have a megapixel rating of 0.3.  An image size of 1440 x 960 would have a megapixel rating of 1.3.

Optical Zoom

Digital cameras boast two types of zoom – optical and digital.  Optical zoom describes the mechanical act of the lens zooming in on a subject.  It produces a very high quality image and is completely dependent of the hardware in your camera.  Digital zoom is handled by software and is created by the onboard computer in your camera – it uses complicated algorithms to “guess” what the zoomed in region should look like.  It produces a lower quality image than its optical zoom counterpart.

Storage

Cameras are generally dependent on external storage as most cameras don’t come equipped with much onboard memory.  Most cameras these days use a standard sized SD chip which is rated in gigabytes, though some older cameras use other chip variations such as XD.

EyeFi has produced a SD chip that has integrated wireless capabilities.  This means that your pictures can automatically upload themselves to your blog, website, flickr account or home computer as soon as your camera comes in range of a public wi-fi network.

EyeFi Wireless SD Card

For more information about all of these items, check out this great article from PC World that discusses each of these items in greater detail.

And just for fun, here’s a demo of the new Nikon Coolpix SJ1000pj camera that offers an integrated LCD projector!