Say cheese, the digital or analog way!

NEW DELHI: Want to own a camera, but undecided on which to go for — the

analog or the digital? Then its time to acquaint yourself with the pros and cons

of photographic cameras, the roots of which can be first traced to the 19th

century when light sensitive films, first came into use. The films used in

analog cameras, captures the negatives of the image which that can then be

processed and developed.

But with the ever-changing technology, somewhere in 1990, a device called

digital camera hit the market. This modern innovation does not require light

sensitive film roll. Instead, it uses a concept of CCD (Charge Coupled Device).

CCD sees through the lens of the camera and converts the captured image into

data and stores it on a memory card in a file format. This captured image can

then be viewed immediately on the display screen plugged within the camera.

Individually, if we talk of both the devices, they have their own advantages

and drawbacks. For instance, analog cameras offer a much better resolution in

the final images.

In technical terms, any reasonably priced 35-mm 100-speed camera would have

the picture quality up to 25 million pixels, which is fairly good. The images

can be placed in an album and are very convenient to share and handle. Again the

development of the roll is easy, so one really would not want to have the whole

package of electrical gadgets to see the image.

On the other hand, digital cameras use memory cards, which are as good as a

hard disk, and can be used over and over again. The photographs can be viewed

immediately on a display screen or a PC and can be redone if not satisfactory

(and of course using the same space of the memory card).

The image taken can be altered, edited and retouched. The pictures can also

be developed at zero cost. Multiple copies can be made absolutely free of charge

and distributed in seconds via the email. The photographs can be preserved

indefinitely in its original state.

But there are certain negative aspects that have to be taken into

consideration. For instance, a roll used in an analog cannot be reused. With the

roll being light sensitive, retaining the image on the film is an uncertain

task. On the other hand, developed films too have a finite shelf life and are

very vulnerable to light, heat and humidity.

For the digital camera, e-mailing an image or two images is fine, but doing

the same for something like a wedding album is not a viable alternative. If you

need pictures of superior quality, it will be hard on your purse. The quality of

the image also depends on the file size. Any reasonably priced consumer model

digicams that are currently available have a resolution capability of only 1.5

million pixels (a great compromise in the quality).

So what's the bottom-line? Film based photography, as of now, is a very

mature technology. It is not likely that there can be a huge advancement in

coming future. Film companies continue to improve the technology to improve the

existing film chemistry, to enhance photos or slides with enhanced colors and

better resolution.

Electronic cameras can be made to measure lighting conditions and distance to

the subject and make all the necessary adjustments, 'automatically' to take a

perfect photo. It is therefore likely that there will be further technological

improvement in traditional photography, though it might not be very fast.

On the other hand, digital photography is already gaining popularity for its

convenience and advantages over analog camera. However, there are two issues

that need to be addressed, to make digital truly 'replace' the analog. First,

the cost of digital cameras has to come down substantially. Secondly, the

resolution of digital photos will have to improve substantially, to make it

comparable with those from an analog camera. Many professionals and amateurs

would not be willing to settle for lower quality, if the cost is also higher.