How do digital cameras work?

How do digital cameras work?

1. Lens is used to bring light to a fixed focal point. It directs light to a digital sensor.

2. A CCD or CMOS, a photoelectric sensor, is used to convert the incoming light into digital image.

• A CCD or CMOS senser consists of thousands of light-sensitive elements.

• Each element is known as a pixel.

• The number of pixels of CCD or CMOS sensor determines the size of the digital image.

• The sensor measures the color and brightness of each pixel and they are converted into digital number.

• A digital image essentially is a matrix of such digital numbers

• These numbers are store as a file on the camera's RAM, usually  a JPEF file, a compressed file format.

A 2D dimensional scanner works the same way in essence. It uses the light sensor (photoelectric sensor) CCD to produce a digital image of a document, but usually in PDF format. The difference is that when the document is put on the glass panel and the cover is closed, a bright light is used to illuminates the document and the light is reflected back on the sensor and the color and brightness of each pixel is detected by the sensor and converted into digital numbers.