Unless you’ve been trapped in a Tora-Bora cave for the last decade, you can’t say you haven’t heard of digital imaging. It is now the fastest-growing area of photography. It is growing so rapidly in fact that Kodak – arguably, the leader in photographic advancement – has decided to sell off their stock of film cameras and invest exclusively in digital imaging.

With so many new products being launched every week, a new generation of people have become interested in photography. Within conventional circles, however, opinions vary. Many purists insist that film “the best” for producing clear shots. Other traditionalists feel they will lose the craftsmanship and art that goes into processing. But many disagree with these pretentious notions of photography: speed and efficiency in producing an image has taken priority, and if there is any pretense, it comes with the thought that the resulting image – how it makes us think and feel – is more important than “how you got the shot”. After all, photos are meant to be shown for what they are, in and of themselves. The photographer is secondary. 

But in reality, film-based photography is likely to be around for generations to come. In fact, the two technologies work verywell in tandem with one another, and you can truly master your digital techniques using your film camera.

In film, images are formed by millions of light-sensitive, silver halide crystals that darken in proportion to the intensity of light falling on them. In digital imaging, these crystals are replaced by light-sensitive “pixels”, each of which produces an electrical current in proportion to the light falling on it. In film, the image is processed in chemicals. In digital photography, it is processed via a computer.

At the heart of the digital imaging universe lies the computer. It is the control center into which most of all your digital accessories are connected, and almost all digital data passes through the computer at some stage. In order to get the best out of your digital images, it is important to understand how your digital camera works and how the camera works in relation to the computer.