Friday, July 13, 2007

Inside a Digital Camera

Digital cameras have now fully completed their coup of the camera industry. If you recently got one yourself, it can be useful to have a bit more understanding of how they work. Simply put, digital cameras contain a lens or series of lenses that allow light passing through them to focus on a sensor, rather than traditional film. The sensor then transfers the image data to the core electronics of the camera, where it is organized and converted into binary forms of data. Thus it can more easily be stored onto reusable memory units for later viewing by a computer.

Most digital cameras' sensors are charge-coupled devices, or CCDs, although some cameras instead have a complementary metal oxide semiconductor, or CMOS. Either way, light is converted into electrical charges, which are transferred to the brain, and finally onto the storage media.

As we all learned in grade school, there are three primary colors. Digital cameras use filters to divide the light into those three colors during the conversion process. Good quality cameras have three separate sensors for filtering, with each sensor matching one strand of light.

The amount of light reaching the sensor is also controlled carefully. Cameras do this in two ways: aperture size, and shutter speed. Most of today's cameras have automated aperture settings, although some models allow manual control, which enthusiasts and professionals prefer. Shutter speed is generally set electronically.

Lenses for digital cameras come in four varieties: digital-zoom lenses; fixed-zoom lenses; replaceable lens systems; and fixed-focus. Fixed lenses, both zoom and fixed focus, tend to be found in the cheaper cameras. Optical zoom lenses can have both wide angle and telephoto options. Digital zoom lenses don't actually zoom a piece of glass, but rather take pixels from the central part of the image, and enlarge them. This appears to be a zoom, but if you look closely, you will notice that they are more grainy or fuzzy images than you get without invoking the zoom option.

An LCD screen is standard on most digital cameras today, and they help in previewing images and also checking them out after taking a shot. Many screens are rather small, because there is only so much space on a camera for them. It is always best to transfer the images to a computer for viewing. In terms of image quality in general, the higher resolution the camera, the better the image quality.

The potential size of the printed photographs is also decided by the camera's resolution. Because their resolution is relatively low, a 1-megapixel digital camera will produce images that are good for e-mailing or posting on the Web, and little else. The images taken by a 2-megapixel camera are suitable for 4x5 inch prints while good-looking 16x20 inch prints can be produced by a 4-megapixel camera. Better to get a 6 megapixel or higher model if you love working with photos.

Early digital cameras stored images on memory resources built into the camera. Images were then transferred to computers with the help of cables. Most modern digital camera makers utilize reusable and removable storage devices. These devices include SmartMedia cards, CompactFlash cards and other memory sticks. Other, less common removable storage devices include hard disks or microdrives, and writeable CDs or DVDs. These options have considerably enhanced the volume of visual data that can be stored as well as the overall flexibility of the modern digital camera.

Wilfred Ursley is a writer for a variety of popular Internet magazines, with information on consumer electronics and alternative health subjects.
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http://www.articlepeak.com/Article/Inside-a-Digital-Camera/51209

T5000 thermal FLIR binoculars

The T5000 thermal FLIR binoculars are ideal for applications like military and law enforcement. Before you put in your money, you would obviously want to know what kind of a weapon you are buying and the quality and features so you get the worth of your money. You can always ask for the demo or pre-owned model in stock. When we say it’s used in military and law enforcement, we can easily understand that it is one tough weapon as it can survive in the tough conditions and atmosphere. The T5000 is a long range handheld FLIR Infrared imager which has Dual Field of view optics as well as digital zoom. Packing 320x240 resolution sensor technology, the T5000 delivers crisp robust imagery in pitch darkness, harsh environments and adverse weather conditions. The T5000 has an internal electronic digital compass as well as selectable crosshair and Mil-Dot sights.

This FLIR camera is made to assist in the identification and targeting of opposition forces. This device is blind to water, dust, fog, dew, and especially darkness. It can see things which our naked eye cannot. It can detect and interpret emissions and provide the user with an image, even in complete darkness. Naval vessels could still detect and target enemy ships, even on the darkest nights or under foggy conditions. As one might imagine, these early systems were large, heavy, and expensive. The FLIR system is very easy to understand and operate. All you have to do is point, spot the target and shoot. A helicopter equipped with FLIR sensor could assist ground vehicles in a high-speed pursuit of a stolen automobile. FLIR sights, scopes, and cameras may also be used to take a thermal image of a person, luggage, buildings, automobiles, trucks, or boats (generally in an effort to search for drugs).

It weighs less than 3.75 lbs. recognition range is 750 meters. The wave band is 8-12Mm and can be operated in smoke, fog and sand. The power, battery is 4AA and external 12 volts DC. The operation time after charging is 6 hours. It has an electronic zoom, 2x in addition to 2FOV optical zoom. The accessories which are given out are AC to DC convertor, video cable, and tripod. It is water resistant and abrasion resistant. The operating temperature is -20 to 49 degree’s. it has a tripod mount stand. The adjustments that are there are diopter, zoom (FOV), and interpupilary.

Author- 7bInfrared Products The company is into thermal Infrared products and night vision equipment like night vision goggle, night vision binocular.infrared camera.

Author- 7bInfrared Products The company is into thermal Infrared products and night vision equipment like night vision goggle, night vision binocular.infrared camera.


http://www.articlepeak.com/Article/T5000-thermal-FLIR-binoculars/51222