Digital Camera resolution

The amount of detail that the camera can capture is called the resolution, and it is measured in pixels. The more pixels a camera has, the more detail it can capture and the larger pictures can be without becoming blurry or “grainy.”

Some typical resolutions include:
256×256 - Found on very cheap cameras, this resolution is so low that the picture quality is almost always unacceptable. This is 65,000 total pixels.
640×480 - This is the low end on most “real” cameras. This resolution is ideal for e-mailing pictures or posting pictures on a Web site.
1216×912 - This is a “megapixel” image size — 1,109,000 total pixels — good for printing pictures.
1600×1200 - With almost 2 million total pixels, this is “high resolution.” You can print a 4×5 inch print taken at this resolution with the same quality that you would get from a photo lab.
2240×1680 - Found on 4 megapixel cameras — the current standard — this allows even larger printed photos, with good quality for prints up to 16×20 inches.
4064×2704 - A top-of-the-line digital camera with 11.1 megapixels takes pictures at this resolution. At this setting, you can create 13.5×9 inch prints with no loss of picture quality.

Photo courtesy Morguefile
The size of an image taken at different resolutions
High-end consumer cameras can capture over 12 million pixels. Some professional cameras support over 16 million pixels, or 20 million pixels for large-format cameras. For comparison, Hewlett Packard estimates that the quality of 35mm film is about 20 million pixels [ref].

Next, we’ll look at how the camera adds color to these images.
How Many Pixels?
You may have noticed that the number of pixels and the maximum resolution don’t quite compute. For example, a 2.1-megapixel camera can produce images with a resolution of 1600×1200, or 1,920,000 pixels. But “2.1 megapixel” means there should be at least 2,100,000 pixels.

This isn’t an error from rounding off or binary mathematical trickery. There is a real discrepancy between these numbers because the CCD has to include circuitry for the ADC to measure the charge. This circuitry is dyed black so that it doesn’t absorb light and distort the image.

GTA IV Synopsis

Official Synopsis

What does the American Dream mean today?

For Niko Bellic, fresh off the boat from Europe, it is the hope he can escape his past.

For his cousin, Roman, it is the vision that together they can find fortune in Liberty City, gateway to the land of opportunity.

As they slip into debt and are dragged into a criminal underworld by a series of shysters, thieves and sociopaths, they discover that the reality is very different from the dream in a city that worships money and status, and is heaven for those who have them and a living nightmare for those who don’t.

Developed by Rockstar North, Grand Theft Auto IV will be simultaneously available for Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system and PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system and will be in stores worldwide on April 29, 2008.

More Plot Details

Niko comes to America after receiving word from his cousin Roman. Roman brags of a fantastic lifestyle with 15 sportscars, two beautiful women and hotubs galore. All of this is a lie and nothing Roman claims is true. He is only covering for his own embarassing failure at living the “American Dream” so he dupes Niko into travelling across the world to clean the mess he has gotten himself into.

Niko finds himself in America with Roman as his only contact. Roman is heavily in debt and needs Niko’s help as he runs a failing Taxi Depot business in Broker. You are lowlife European immigrant, and you must fight for survival in Liberty City. Rockstar Games claim that you can ‘choose you destiny’. This means that how you play the game and the outcome of your choices affect what happens between Niko and his friends/foes.

How Digital camera works

In the past twenty years, most of the major technological breakthroughs in consumer electronics have really been part of one larger breakthrough. When you get down to it, CDs, DVDs, HDTV, MP3s and DVRs are all built around the same basic process: converting conventional analog information (represented by a fluctuating wave) into digital information (represented by ones and zeros, or bits). This fundamental shift in technology totally changed how we handle visual and audio information — it completely redefined what is possible.

The digital camera is one of the most remarkable instances of this shift because it is so truly different from its predecessor. Conventional cameras depend entirely on chemical and mechanical processes — you don’t even need electricity to operate them. On the other hand, all digital cameras have a built-in computer, and all of them record images electronically.

The new approach has been enormously successful. Since film still provides better picture quality, digital cameras have not completely replaced conventional cameras. But, as digital imaging technology has improved, digital cameras have rapidly become more popular.

In this article, we’ll find out exactly what’s going on inside these amazing digital-age devices.

Understanding the Basics
Let’s say you want to take a picture and e-mail it to a friend. To do this, you need the image to be represented in the language that computers recognize — bits and bytes. Essentially, a digital image is just a long string of 1s and 0s that represent all the tiny colored dots — or pixels — that collectively make up the image. (For information on sampling and digital representations of data, see this explanation of the digitization of sound waves. Digitizing light waves works in a similar way.)

If you want to get a picture into this form, you have two options:
You can take a photograph using a conventional film camera, process the film chemically, print it onto photographic paper and then use a digital scanner to sample the print (record the pattern of light as a series of pixel values).

You can directly sample the original light that bounces off your subject, immediately breaking that light pattern down into a series of pixel values — in other words, you can use a digital camera.

At its most basic level, this is all there is to a digital camera. Just like a conventional camera, it has a series of lenses that focus light to create an image of a scene. But instead of focusing this light onto a piece of film, it focuses it onto a semiconductor device that records light electronically. A computer then breaks this electronic information down into digital data. All the fun and interesting features of digital cameras come as a direct result of this process.

In the next few sections, we’ll find out exactly how the camera does all this.

Cool Facts

With a 3-megapixel camera, you can take a higher-resolution picture than most computer monitors can display.

You can use your Web browser to view digital pictures taken using the JPEG format.

The first consumer-oriented digital cameras were sold by Kodak and Apple in 1994.

In 1998, Sony inadvertently sold more than 700,000 camcorders with a limited ability to see through clothes.

Top 5 Digital Slr Cameras

Ready to move up from the point-and-shoot minor leagues? Here are our top five digital SLR cameras.

Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT
A great camera for amateur digital SLR photographers, the EOS Digital Rebel XT offers the easiest operation in its class. It features an 8.0-megapixel CMOS sensor, Canon’s own DIGIC II Image Processor and compatibility with more than 50 EF Lenses. Improving on its predecessor, the Digital Rebel, the Digital Rebel XT has an all new lightweight and compact body, nearly as small as digital SLRs get, with the responsiveness of a bigger semi-pro model.

Canon EOS-5D
The new Canon EOS 5D boasts a full-frame 12.8-megapixel CMOS sensor in a relatively compact magnesium-alloy body. Canon’s DIGIC II Image Processor provides outstanding image quality, and “Picture Style” color control gives you superior command of color balance, contrast and sharpness. Pictures look great from almost any angle on the large 2.5-inch LCD, and easy-to-use menus simplify shooting operations so you can focus on your vision.

Olympus EVOLT E-500
Never worry about dust on the image sensor interfering with your pictures with the Olympus EVOLT E-500. This easy-to-handle digital SLR camera uses an exclusive vibrating filter to eliminate dust and produce spotless pictures no matter where you change lenses. It has an 8-megapixel CCD and 25 shooting modes so you can take great pictures with a minimum of effort. A high-resolution, 2.5-inch LCD lets you view and share your shots from a wide viewing angle. And it’s all housed in a lightweight, portable chassis.

Konica Minolta Dynax 5D
It’s called the Maxxum 5D in North America, the Dynax 5D elsewhere, but no matter which name it goes by, this is a great little digital SLR camera from Konica Minolta. It employs an exclusive built-in anti-shake technology, enabling blur-free shooting in just about any situation, even at slower shutter speeds. Its 2.5-inch LCD displays detailed, easy-to-read information about settings and exposure values. And it has a wide variety of customizable settings so you can control color balance, contrast, saturation and sharpness in every shot.

Nikon D50
Compact and lightweight, the Nikon D50 can go anywhere you do, and its lithium-ion battery lets you shoot about 2,000 images before needing to be recharged. It has a high-performance 6.1-megapixel CCD and is compatible with Nikon’s wide variety of high-quality Nikkor lenses. High-speed continuous shooting allows you to shoot for up to 137 uninterrupted frames, depending on the type of SD card used, and a new small-picture function lets you choose the resolution you want when saving each shot, maximizing your storage capability.