Gone are the days when you needed to hire a professional photographer to click pictures on festivals and family occasions like birthdays and weddings. With the digital camera you can click A-grade pictures and even video record events. There are no hassles of developing pictures and no need to wait for weeks to view them.

A digital still camera helps to obtain pictures in digital format. It has a rear LCD screen to view pictures that are taken and its quality is specified in megapixels. Photographs are transferred to a computer using USB. Another type of camera, compact digital cameras or digicams permits limited motion photography. They are easy to operate and focus and enable a larger depth of focus. They are great for taking pictures of landscapes and for casual use.

The camera sensor determines the resolution of the camera. It converts light into digital data and has done away with the role of film that is used in traditional cameras. The sensor collects light in a feature called buckets. Each bucket is a pixel and is turned into an RGB image where each pixel represents several colors. Cameras are in fact compared on the basis of pixels. While pictures are commonly transferred to PCs and cell phones using USB, infrared and Bluetooth are also gaining popularity as seamless methods.

Digital cameras are so popular that even mobile phones include a digital camera. Some these permit only still photography while others enable short video clips as well. Some laptops and PDAs contain integrated digital cameras and some camcorders also have one built into them. Unlike traditional cameras, digital cameras require memory to store data. Flash memory, floppy disks, and CDs are some storage devices.

Digital cameras require high powered batteries to power them for a significant length of time. Some batteries are intended for single use, while others are rechargeable. The rechargeable ones, however, cannot provide power to the camera for a very long time.

Modern digital cameras have made it possible even for the layman to take perfect pictures. This is because they contain features for red eye reduction, trimming, and monochrome, as well as anti-dust caps and vibrators. As some television ads show, you can record your child's first steps or first words using a digital camera. With digital cameras you can also delete pictures that haven't been clicked properly or in which you don't look good. This is another plus over traditional cameras.