Introduction to Digital SLR camera technology & care

This section has been prepared to assist with the understanding, care and feeding of your digital SLR camera.

After a few introductory notes we will look at testing, cleaning, and care in more detail on the pages that follow.

The Image Sensor device (pictured above) is the electronic equivalent of the film and requires power to operate. The sensor is made up of thousands of pixels, each of which is like a silver grain in a conventional film.

Although the image sensor is capable of producing remarkable results, a conventional fine grain 35mm film negative still produces greater detail and tonal range. However, the gap is closing and for most general purpose photography is would be difficult to distinguish a digital and a conventional image.

Mechanically the Digital SLR camera is very much like its film relative. That is, it has a shutter, mirror mechanism and a prism viewfinder, but the film transport and film has been replaced with an CCD Image Sensor and associated electronics necessary to capture and store images.

The Image Sensor in the digital SLR camera is a stationary device. Because there is no film moving across the focal plane each time a frame is exposed, dust particles are more likely to accumulate, thereby causing spots on the images.

Keeping the digital camera body, mirror chamber, and lenses clean is therefore more important than with a conventional film camera. Although many later camera models feature some sort of ‘dust removal’, non, so far succeed completely and it is up to you to inspect and clean the sensor in order to avoid annoying spots on your photos.

Next page > Sensor test images

If you need to clean the sensor in your D-SLR camera we have a
free two-page guide listing all the steps.

Click image below to download a copy.