Moore’s Law that see a doubling in capability for the same price in computing and memory chips every 12-18 months has arrived in the SLR camera world. And really that should be no surprise. In 2006, more than half the new cameras sold were digital and that market share has since swept to the 85-90% range. And because digital photo CPUs and Flash memory are two of the most important components in a camera, literally controlling all the cameras features including shutter setting and aperture openings for exposures plus storing ever larger images at ever faster rates. And the CPU controls many other functions such as filtering shots in a metaphor on how our eyes work depending on shooting conditions such as nighttime, sunset, shady, fluorescent or other common lighting situations. In sum, its getting harder to take a bad photo.
So go to our central website, thePhotoFinishes.com, which is featuring an article a)examining the latest features of the 2008 wave of new Prosumer SLR cameras and b)looking at the image quality one can expect when taking quick snapshots with such cameras. The capabilities of these new SLR cameras are quite stunning. One can now shoot at higher ISOs with less noise and greater sharpness than film cameras. Plus image stabilization both in camera and on the lens give users steadier shots at ever lower speeds or higher apertures. In short digital cameras are earning their keep – including now much closer to 100 year archival storage on appropriate CD/DVD media.