The Increasing Popularity of Digital Photography
December 1st, 2011
Digital photography has become increasingly popular over the last 5 years, with most amateur and professional photographers replacing their old 35mm film cameras with modern digital alternatives. Their ease of use coupled with attractive compact and slim design has made this new technology a ‘must have’ buy. Being instantly able to view the picture just taken is a huge advantage for the amateur photographer, gone are the days of developing a film to find that every photo is out of focus or discovering a stray finger in front of the lens. Developing a 35mm film was always costly, now once the digital camera is bought, the photos can be printed at home, e-mailed or hundreds saved to a CD to send to a relative. Digital photography is surely the easiest way to capture life’s best moments, just make sure to back-up your digital photo collection in an external storage device, there is nothing worse than losing your favourite holiday snaps because your laptop decided to erase itself.
Digital cameras use light sensitive sensors to record an image focused by the lens, this new technology is more efficient than exposing light sensitive film. There is no tricky 35mm film to load into the camera, and no risk of accidently opening the back and exposing the entire film. Digital photography removes the need to pay someone else to develop your film in a range of nasty chemicals, which in itself is a risky undertaking as there are sometimes mishaps in the developing process. Photos can be deleted, retaken and resized with a digital camera, red-eyes can be removed, unwanted subjects can be cropped and this can all be e-mailed in a fraction of a section. Is it any wonder why digital photography has become so popular in today’s technologically friendly environment?
Even though digital photography technology is constantly evolving, with digital cameras improving while decreasing in price, some professional photographers still argue that classic 35mm film photography is the way to go. Digital cameras have a lot of ‘extras’ that need to be carried to a photo-shoot, for example: batteries, chargers and memory cards. They argue that when you know how to take a quality photograph there is no need to spend hours in front of a computer post photo session in order to alter all your hard work using Photoshop. The quality of print is still, in some cases, higher from a 35mm film than a digital image. Also, digital cameras can experience equipment failure in the field, while classic film camera problems can usually be resolved there and then. It is expected though that all professional photographers will make the switch to digital photography in the years to come.
Digital photography has become so popular because of camera diversity. As well as taking pictures, digital cameras can take videos with sound and can also be used as webcams. They can be directly connected to a printer or television without the need for a computer and have an abundance of software and extras available in order to improve your photographs which can even be printed onto mugs and T-shirts. It seems that the advantages of digital photography greatly outweigh the disadvantages, this is why it has become so popular in recent times.














