The digital camera has become an amazing everyday tool for many of us. I became interested in the technology in the early 90s … the Apple QuickTake 150 digital camera had arrived, one of the first consumer digital cameras. I started using the device to produce “on the fly” operator and user manuals, and no longer had to wait for film to be processed, then scanned. The time-saving utility of the digital camera was readily apparent to me. So too, was its’ disappointing lack of image quality. To my way of thinking back then, the digital camera would never approach the quality of film cameras.
Obviously, the digital camera did improve, and in ways never imaginable. My once essential OM-1 35mm SLR film camera now sits in permanent storage, while the digital variants are in daily use.
Digital image file management is sometimes an area that isn’t given much thought …. until the photographer gets a “Kodak Moment” frame … and later down the road, the image file isn’t up to snuff. If this has happened to you … here’s some pointers
• Set your camera to the largest file size and image quality. Storage media is inexpensive, and there’s false economy thinking you’ll double or triple the storage by going to a lower quality or resolution.
• After downloading your images, resist opening, viewing and editing the photo set. Instead, make a duplicate folder of the images and then open the copied image files. Place the originals on an inexpensive CD or DVD disk for archival purposes, or “lock” the files where they can no longer be altered.
If your camera has the ability to shoot in RAW mode, these last steps are not necessary, as the RAW (uncompressed) mode is not editable and must be converted to TIFF or JPEG first. Just save the RAW files as archives. However, most cameras, particularly the point & shoot variety, save the image file as a JPEG. The JPEG format employs what is known as “lossy” file compression in order to keep file sizes smaller. This means that data is thrown away with each save, causing a degradation of image quality each time the image is edited and saved.
Having an unaltered original image file may someday be worth its’ weight in gold ….
