Glossary of Terms

Burst Rate

This is the speed at which the camera can shoot one image after another and then get ready to take the next shot.

CCD

A Charge Couple Device replaces film. It is smaller than film so focal lengths for lenses are shorter.

CF card

Compact Flash card. This is a popular media storage device. This is where your images are stored in your camera.

Computer connector

To use your digital images you need to transfer them to a computer. This can be done via:

USB – Universal Serial Bus

Fire Wire

SCSI – Small Computer Systems Interface

Digital Zoom

Digital Zoom is different to Optical Zoom. Digital zoom is performed electronically and although it produces an enlarged image does not improve image quality.

JPEG

Joint Photographic Experts Group. JPEG is a very efficient method of file compression. It enables large file sizes to be made smaller for storage and emailing. Some quality is lost in the process.

LCD

Liquid Crystal Display. The LCD is your viewing screen. It enables you to see your image and menus. The LCD is a heavy user of power and drains your battery quickly.

Pixel

Each pixel is a unit of information. A megapixel is one million pixels. If an image is described as 1200x1800 it means it is 1200 pixels wide and 1800 pixels high. If you multiply these two figures together:

1200 x 1800 = 2,160,000 pixels.

(This is a 2 million pixel image or a 2 megapixel image).

Shutter lag

This is the time it takes from the moment you press the shutter and the actual moment when the shutter opens. On many digital cameras this seems to take an eternity and can be quite annoying. On better quality cameras the problem is non-existent.

TIFF

Tagged Image File Format. TIFF files are uncompressed and generally of higher quality than JPEG but they take up much more space. TIFF can also slow your camera down as you wait for the camera to ‘process’ your image.