Cool Camera Stuff Image Gallery
Cool Camera Stuff Image Gallery

Digital cameras focus light onto a semiconductor to create a digital image. See more pictures of cool camera stuff.

HowStuffWorks 2008

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 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.
