History

• The first completely digital cameras commercially available in the United States appeared in 1990, according to Digital Photography magazine. The Dycam Model 1 and the Fotoman stored 32 compressed images in black and white, had a fixed-focus lens and a built-in flash and included software within the cameras to help transfer images to a personal computer. Digital cameras became more advanced with the development of the JPEG and MPEG standards that allowed image and video files to be compressed for storage.
  
  

Significance

• Digital cameras offer instant picture review--no waiting for film to be developed--and the technology to share images easily with family and friends. This immediacy has opened photography to users of all generations.
  
  

Features

• More pixels per inch, 150 to 300, produce higher-quality resolution. Unlike traditional photography, digital photography has minimal ongoing costs for users, typically printer ink and photographic paper. Digital cameras can store hundreds of images, where film cameras need fresh film after 24 or 36. Some digital cameras can be hooked to a TV to show the images to an audience.
  
  

Benefits

• Digital photography allows photographers to experiment with images through editing software instead of a darkroom. They can print and enlarge images, create photo essays and merge text with images more easily than scanning in traditional photographs. They also can convert color photos to black-and-white, shoot a variety of speeds under different conditions without changing film and store images in a compact space.
  
  

Considerations

• Most digital cameras depend entirely on batteries or some other electrical supply. A film camera can be completely manual. Some fine details in images can be lost using software to remove speckles in the image--what might be seen as film grain in traditional photography.