Tutorial Two: Digital Camera use and applications

Below are the questions we wish to address in this tutorial. Students are reminded that they will be posting this information to their individual blogs so will need to provide a context for potential readers

“A new technology is rarely superior to an old one in every feature”. Briefly discuss this statement in relation to digital camera technology. What would you consider to be some of the pluses and minuses digital camera technology holds in relation to more traditional film based cameras?
The above statement holds true only for new technology as technology progresses demand for a complete feature set often leads for the feature gap between the new and old technology to be closed within one to two years
Digital cameras pluses
- You can immediately see the picture
- You can manipulate the photos in the camera
- You can print hard copies
- You can erase the image
- You can download the photos and use advanced software for image manipulation
- Digital images are easily distributed to friends and colleagues via email etc
- The digital format of the pictures easily integrates with digital technology e.g. digital photo frames
Minuses
- They have higher power requirements than film based cameras
- The higher power requirements reduce the usage time of the camera
- The cost of the technology
- Digital cameras are usually more expensive than their film based counterparts
- Due to the complexity of the technology there are more points of failure
Film based camera pluses
- There are more accessories available- lenses etc
- Higher resolution film; although this gap is closing
- Higher shutter speeds
- These cameras can be on standby for months if not years with one set of batteries
- Better quality shots
Minuses
- Film is expensive to purchase
- You need specialized films for different situations
- Number of photos is limited by the availability of film i.e. the number of shots on the roll






List some of the ways that digital images can be stored transferred and manipulated using other communications technology.
Online i.e. flickr
Email
On the computer
Skype
Posted on sites i.e. facebook and bebo for friends to view





Given the prevalence of image capturing devices, and thinking about the issues discussed in tutorial one, consider what sort of ethical issues may arise with their use.
Privacy
Gaining consent before taking pictures or posting them to sites
Its easy to take photos without the subjects knowledge i.e. cell phones are discrete
What the subject sees may not necessarily be the final image that it is used for





Briefly discuss some of the ways that digital images could, or are, being used in occupational therapy practice (include reference and links to any web sites, or blogs you might come across)
Pictures of how to set up/use equipment i.e. for staff in rest homes, hospitals that are not familiar with the usage
Pictures of clients when they participate or attend activities, events or even within the care facility such as with the activities coordinator or when performers come in










Provide a brief summary of the services offered by Flickr.com
Flickr is a website that is used to host videos and images along with websites and service suites along with online communities. It is utilized for peopled to share with others their personal photos and is used by people that use blogs for a photo storage area


Name one other photo storage website which offers a service similar to Flickr.com
Shutterfly which is an internet based site that is used for posting personal images and data









Explain what the difference is between a digital and an optical zoom
A digital zoom is defined as the means of decreasing an angle of view of a digital image it is achieved by cropping the image to the same as the original, this is done electronically which means that nothing needs to be changed with the cameras optics ( Wikipedia, 2009) in comparison to an optical zoom which is defined as using optics i.e. the lens to bring a subject closer just like when using a magnifying glass


Explain what is meant by the term megapixel
A megapixel is defined as a million pixels, which are units of graphics data, transfer speed or image resolution. It can also be referred to when looking at the amount of image sensor elements within digital cameras or display elements within the digital display area