The famous photographer Douglas Kirkland recently commented about the digital vs. traditional film photography debate. He said, "Imagine a world where images have always been captured digitally, not on film." Then he asked us to further imagine that film was the "new" technology.

The features that make a good camera for product photography are not necessarily the features that are important for other types of photography like portraits or everyday family photos. That's not to say that the camera you choose for product photography won't work well for other uses, but you may weight the relative importance of the various features differently.

I use a digital camera as I find there are many advantages of using digital equipment for wedding photography. With digital photography I can shoot more pictures, get immediate feedback on images whilst shooting, and retouch them easily after the day with image editing software.

Digital photographic equipment has significant advantages over film not only in image quality but also in zero reloading time, no processing or scanning, and better shadow details. Plus, digital cameras use the same great lenses as non-digital gear. It also allows more flexibility in the moment.

Our images are printed on archival photographic paper by the respected Frontier Printer. You won't be able to tell the difference between a digital print and a regular print. The photographs last just as long as normal prints because the paper is exposed to light, processed, and washed just like a normal print from a film camera. We do not print our images on a inkjet printer, they are professionally printed by a digital lab.

This is a question that we hear constantly … especially from film photographers who are being blitzed by advertising and feel that they are somehow being left behind by not "going digital." So, just for the record, we'd like to state that prints and enlargements you take on your ten-year-old film camera are likely to be as good … or better … than prints made from a digital camera you purchased last week.

The features that make a good camera for product photography are not necessarily the same as the features that are important for other types of photography such as portraits or everyday family photos. That's not to say that the camera you choose for product photography won't work well for other uses, but you might weight the importance of the various features differently.

We use Canon and Nikon 35mm-style digital SLR camera bodies and SLR-compatible lenses for all of our work, but these are generally too expensive for the average user. For digital cameras under $1,000 we have been impressed by the Nikon Coolpix and Minolta D'Image series of cameras.

Answer: Most people have 35mm SLR's but digital technology is catching up fast. 35mm SLR cameras produce excellent quality photographs and have a very wide range of film and lenses. Digital cameras are being used by more and more professionals because of the incredible flexibility offered, the ability to view the shot immediately and the ease of exporting the image to manipulation software such as Photoshop. You can obtain compact and SLR digital cameras.

In reality, there is no "best brand." Each camera has its pros and cons, but whatever camera is best suited to you as far as ease of use and budget will provide the vehicle for you to get ghost photographs. Preferably, if you choose a film-type camera, it is best if you get a 35 mm. As far as the digital vs. film debate I find that the two can not be compared as they are both technologically different and utilize two different types of media to record images.

Some cameras are designed for this, so you should check your manual. It's rare to find this feature in high quality digital cameras, but lower quality multifunction cameras with CMOS sensors sometimes offer this. See, for example, AipTek. If your camera doesn't already support some webcam features, you may still be able to do it if you have a video capture card (or USB device) of some kind, by connecting the video out from your camera to the video in on your PC.

The good news is, unless you are shooting close-up pictures of jewelry, you don't need an expensive camera to take good product shots. If you are shooting pictures for use on websites and not for print, you can get a good camera for less than $200. The quality of your images is going to depend much less on the sophistication of your camera and much more on your lighting and how well you operate the camera.

It is quite difficult to answer this question in an objective manner. The first challenge is bringing the film image to the PC so that the both digital and film images can be compared side by side. this introduces several variables: The choice of scanning hardware, and the parameters of the scanning software. The next challenge is that digital and film images fall apart in different ways at the limits.

There are many good digital cameras on the market. Look for at least 1-2 mega pixel resolution, flash, macro capability and a preview screen. SLR cameras are more accurate for close-up photos. Some (Sony for instance) also capture short video clips. Transferring the photos to the computer can be time consuming - look for a "Sans-disk" adapter or USB connection.

Almost all the tourist gift shops sell film and camera batteries. Disposable and underwater cameras are also available many places if you find yourself needing one. Same day, or next day processing is available at two photo centers if the timing is right.

Digital cameras have a sensor that converts light into electrical charges. The image sensor housed in most digital cameras is a charge coupled device (CCD). The CCD is a collection of tiny light-sensitive diodes, which convert photons (light) into electrons (electrical charge). These diodes are called photosites. Each photosite is sensitive to light. The brighter the light that hits a single photosite, the greater the electrical charge that will accumulate at that site.

Yes, the EF-500 DG SUPER and the EF-500 DG ST can both be used with the Sigma SA300n, SA-5, SA-7, and SA-9 film cameras. No, Sigma flashes are designed to provide an angle of coverage that accommodates the picture area of a standard 35mm film camera. The area covered by the flash will, therefore, be larger than the recorded image due to the 1.7X focal length multiplier of SD9 and SD10.

The concourse screening stations utilize multiple technologies for detection of illegal objects. The "arch" you walk under is a magnetometer that detects metal. The belt where you put your carry-on items utilizes x-rays, the strength of which is less than emitted from a color television set. Photographic film less than 1000 ASA is safe going through this procedure. It is recommended that film faster than 1000 ASA be hand inspected.

Although it seems no new ones had been manufactured by anyone for some years, very recently one has come on the market with what the manufacturer says is a revised optical design. I don't have any experience with this particular one, but you can find information about it at www.camera-lucida.com/.

If you read the discussion in the section on Scientific and Technical Questions you will see that a camera obscura is something to make, not something to buy, since all that is needed is a lens (or concave mirror) and some cloth to minimize extraneous light. Several years ago my daughter Amelia Falco, now an architect in New York, designed a portable camera obscura that is small enough to travel as checked luggage.

There are many camera specs that are important to the end user, including size, resolution, sensitivity, frame rate, ease-of-use, cost etc. Different camera technologies often excel at different applications. For a more detailed comparison of various x-ray sensor technologies such as amorphous silicon, CCDs and CMOS sensors, please see our white paper titled "Large Area Digital X-ray Specific Imagers" (application note AN02).

Probably, but depending upon your camera's support for standard external flashes, it may require some persistence and some workarounds:

Many manufacturers offer proprietary lithium ion battery systems with their cameras. These are very sophisticated batteries with very long life. Sony's Infolithium battery system is perhaps the best example of this technology. In addition to offering very long life, this system can give an accurate measurement of the amount of operating time left on a charge. The negative side of lithium ion battery systems is that these proprietary systems tend to be very expensive.

Camcorders can only be checked out for school projects with permission from the Audio-Visual Supervisor. Currently there are no digital cameras to check out. Tape recorders are for building use only. The CopyCat in the Learning Commons has digital cameras and camcorders you can rent. For pricing and other questions please call their extension at 2990. Do you have a color printer? How much does it cost? There is a color printer available to print to in the Learning Commons.

Any good still camera with S-Video will be okay. You will also need a video card with the S-Video / Composite input (for example Radeon 9200) or a USB adapter(for example Belkin F5U208).