Many photographers are hearing the word "digital" nowadays. Digital photography is innovative and new, still in its infancy, and it is a wonderful photographic tool.

Tourists, among other photographic amateurs, love digital cameras. Family photos, graphic design, security, advertising, fashion, and inventory control are only a few of the ways you can use digital photography.

If you are one of those who love to capture life at its best and worst, digital photography is the new wave. The family vacation is much easier to record, and you can take hundreds more photos to put in the family photo album!

The fundamentals of digital and film cameras are the same when taking a picture. The big difference is that with digital photography you get instant results, as you can view your picture on the LCD screen of the camera. With a conventional camera, you have to wait for film processing to get the pleasure of seeing what you have taken.

With a digital camera you can delete the pictures you don't like, while film again requires you to wait, as well as spend time and money, on processing photos that you may not even want.

Electrical information is processed into digital information by the use of electronic chips in digital cameras. Millions of tiny receptors convert the energy into a digital image.

The color elements used are called pixels, and the standard pixel is the megapixel (MP).  Megapixel identifies the number of sensors needed to convert the information into a digital image. A camera with 8 megapixels of resolution is equal to about 8 million sensors.

The higher the number of megapixels, the better resolution and better quality of the photo you will receive. Good quality 4 x 6 photos can be taken with a 1.9-megapixel camera.

The quality of the images on the new digital cameras, and the time limits that are so vitally important in the newspaper industry, have made digital photography the norm with most professional news photographers.

Many amateur photographers have also adopted the digital camera as their camera of choice. They enjoy the convenience of sending photos by email, being able to put them on the web, and displaying them in digital picture frames.  Many cell phones now have digital cameras included in them, even though the small lens size of these phones reduces the quality of the pictures, making them unsuitable for making prints.

The quality of pictures taken on even the best digital cameras is not considered to be anywhere near the quality of regular film. Therefore, many commercial photographers and even some artistic amateurs resist using digital technology for their photography purposes.

Film also has a much greater resolution than even the best of digital projectors. Other professionals have embraced with enthusiasm the digital cameras, believing that the lower long-term costs in flexibility outweigh the initial high costs.

Unlike film photography, which requires constant expenditures to update and maintain equipment, nearly all expense in digital photography is the initial cost of the equipment.  However, film equipment lasts longer and doesn't become obsolete as quickly as digital cameras.

Many professionals have changed to digital photography because of the advantages of editing on a computer. This includes the ability to balance the color and manipulate images in a way that are not possible with conventional film photography.

A further disadvantage to digital photography is the need to have electrical outlets to charge batteries on digital cameras. Digital cameras are also much more sensitive to climate, extreme cold, and moisture than standard cameras, which cause photographers who work in remote areas to prefer the more conventional film camera.

Some fear that the changing technology of computers will eventually make the digital photography taken today inaccessible in the future. Digital photography in the courts is also held to be very questionable because of the inability to prove the photograph's authenticity.

There are many advantages when comparing digital photography to traditional film cameras. These include:

* Data can be stored on the image including date and time, type of camera, film speed and shutter speed (this is great for vacations); this assists in reviewing photos at a later date.

* The use of a tripod is all but eliminated due to the anti-shake tools in digital cameras.

* You can capture hundreds of photos for emailing and graphic uses without the need to print all of them and scan them into your computer.

* You print only the pictures you want, so you can take a lot of pictures. And, by changing the settings slightly, you can take as many shots as you want choosing only the best quality to keep.

* Storing photos on a computer is a lot cheaper than storing them on film, and they are much easier to access.

* With a consumer-grade printer, you can communicate directly with your camera or its memory card and print your own pictures.

* You can immediately view your pictures. If you don't like the picture, just take it over again!

* Film cameras are much larger than digital cameras with equal quality.

* Without the expense of developing film, you can experiment with the settings on a digital camera, allowing you to learn new techniques with no additional cost.

* Film cameras require a change of film every 24 to 36 pictures, with digital photography you can store hundreds of images on the same media device.

* Digital cameras can now be hooked up to your television, allowing you to review your photos with an audience.

* You have a home color darkroom for editing your pictures without the expense of a darkroom and its many chemicals.

* No more scanning of photos to view them on your computer.

* You don't have to pay the high cost of film processing and store many, many rolls of film and photographs.