Digital Camera use and applications

“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?

Personally I prefer digital cameras in every way but here are some of the issues that others brought up and my response to them:

I like to have the actual photos not just have them on a disc or on the computer….
Get them printed out, just like you would with a film camera, except you can choose not to waste your money on printing the duds, or you can improve your photos by getting rid of red eye, cropping, enlarging etc.

I like the suspense of waiting til the photos are printed to look at them.
Turn the display off and don’t look at them til you load them on the computer, or take the SD card straight to the shop and get them printed out like you do with film.

The batteries are always flat.
Film cameras need batteries too.

I run out of memory.
It’s the same as running out of film, except you can upload the photos then take more or if you haven’t got anywhere to upload it to you could delete the photos you don’t like to make space for new photos... you can’t do that with film.

What if the computer crashes or gets stolen and I loose all my photos.
Back them up on disk, It’s actually safer than storing photos or negatives, which can be destroyed in a fire or flood, plus have you ever tried to print a photo from an old negative… the image gets all discoloured after a few years.


And here are some other reasons I like digital better:

You can be snap happy and take as many photos as you want and you don’t have to worry about wasting film or how much it will cost to print them all out.
You can check that the photo looks good... like that no one has their eyes closed and if it sucks delete it and take another one.
You can share your photos with friends and family over long distances easily and cheaply.
And the list goes on but that will do for now.





List some of the ways that digital images can be stored transferred and manipulated using other communications technology.

Images can be stored on an SD card or a flash drive or mp3 player or CD or DVD or on your hard drive. They can be shared on the internet on various sites such as flickr, my space, bebo, facebook, blogger and other blog sites or in devices such as hand held picture viewers and digital picture frames. They can be manipulated in photo editing programmes such as Adobe Photoshop.

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.

The prevalence of image capturing devices especially pxt capable phones, means that people are able to take photos reasonably discretely this raises ethical issues around the use of cell phones in public toilets / changing rooms, in most cases all cell phones are banned from these places.

Also people are taking photos without permission and then posting them on the internet, in most cases people do not mind (depending on the content of the photo) but some people feel this is an invasion of their privacy.

Briefly discuss some of the ways that digital images could, or are, being used in occupational therapy practice.

Digital cameras are sometimes used on home visit assessments to take photos of the environment, these can be included in the notes/report and give a more accurate picture than a written description alone. This can be especially helpful when an area needs to be modified.

Digital cameras could be used to take photos of each step of a task that is being taught to a client to aid in the teaching process. For example teaching a client how to use a piece of equipment, a compensatory technique or a new skill.

Digital images could also be used to create training resources or information pamphlets about your service.

Provide a brief summary of the services offered by Flickr.com

Flickr.com is a website where you can store, manage and share photos. Once you create an account you can upload your photos to the site and organise them. Photos can be sorted by tags, locations or dates.You can control who gets to see your photos by changing the privacy setting so that photos can be viewed only by yourself, by invite only, or by anybody. On this site you can join a group so you can share photos and videos, and chat using the discussion boards with people who have similar interests to you. Other tools available on Flickr are prints, greeting cards, photo books, postage stamps, calendars and slideshow DVDs.

Name one other photo storage website which offers a service similar to Flickr.com

Photobucket.com

Explain what the difference is between a digital and an optical zoom

Optical zoom is the ability to zoom in closer before capturing an image.
Digital zoom is the ability to enlarge an image once it has been captured.
A camera with good optical zoom is better than one with good digital zoom.

Explain what is meant by the term mega pixel

A pixel is a single point of an image. The word pixel is short for “picture element.” When an image is enlarged too much, the pixels can sometimes be seen as squares or dots.
A mega pixel is equal to one million pixels. The more mega pixels the higher the quality of the image.