CHARLESTON AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. –
The multimedia center's ability to serve the Team Charleston community in some areas is often limited and, because of this, many squadrons on base have chosen to purchase their own digital cameras as recommended by local Charleston AFB Instruction 33-117.
As the base multimedia center manager, I receive many questions related to the technology side of purchasing a camera. Simply speaking, without moving into the realm of electrical engineering, there are basics to any digital camera to consider before making a purchase. The biggest advertising tool used to attract buyers to a particular model is the number of pixels the camera uses on its sensor or "chip." While the number of pixels can be an indication of the camera's ability to take higher resolution pictures and is an important consideration, there are other factors to consider.
Before the advent of the digital camera, photographers purchased a camera body that would generally last many years or even decades. The quality of the lenses used was the primary interest, and that remains an important consideration even with a point and shoot camera today. Point and shoot camera lenses vary widely both in their quality and zoom range. While most camera manufactures tout the long zoom range offered, most new photographers will be frustrated by the lack of a "wide angle" view and that the far end of the zoom range is rarely used. The quality of a lens is often expressed in its ability to gather light. Generally, my advice is to buy the camera with the widest field of view and the lowest "F-stop" value, which allows light into the camera.
The size of the camera's sensor, generally stated as a fraction, is another consideration. Without getting into too much esoteric detail, the smaller the chip size the more electrical "noise" it generates. The camera's electronics deal with noise simply by removing as much as possible of it. Unfortunately, part of the picture you just took is also removed in the process. A smaller chip may also have difficulty under low-light conditions, but this is more directly related to the lens than the chip. Again, speaking in the broadest terms, a one-quarter inch chip is better than a one-sixth inch chip.
The type of chip is another advertising tool used to differentiate between competitors' models. The two types of chips used in cameras today are the Charged Coupled Device and the Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor. The differences to the average photographer are slight; the CMOS chip uses less power to operate, so batteries usually operate longer. The CMOS chip is a much newer technology, is less costly to manufacture and may eventually replace the CCD -- but both are capable of producing excellent quality photographs.
Recording media is the last item of interest. Flash media of one kind or another is the most common type of recording media used for digital cameras with Secure Digital cards, the most common non-proprietary type in use. Unfortunately, using flash media such as "thumb drives" creates serious vulnerabilities to Department of Defense networks, and the use of any flash media on a DOD networked computer is currently not allowed. Data on compact flash cards and SD cards used only in cameras can only be downloaded to a stand-alone computer that is not connected to the network.
For more detailed instructions regarding current guidance, contact the 437th Airlift Wing Public Affairs Multimedia Center at 963-7189.
As with all multimedia related purchases, please submit your request for approval through the Project Workflow Requirements and Resources Manage Program prior to purchase. Any organization which has purchased equipment without authorization should submit the PWRR request now to stay in compliance with the Air Force Instruction. This is an inspectable item for the upcoming unit compliance inspection.