(Semi) hardcore technology reading recommendations?

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

"Alan Meyer" <ameyer2@yaho0.com> wrote in message
news:ZHkvd.2183$Ny6.3551@mencken.net.nih.gov
> I'm looking for something to read that will explain the technology
> of digital photography and imaging. I want to understand things
> at fundamental levels, be it bits and bytes, wave-lengths and
> frequencies, electrons and photons, or springs and shutters.
> I'd like to get answers to questions like:
>
> How does a CCD sensor work?
> How is data read from it?
> What kind of optical and digital filtering is applied in camera,
> how does it work, and what are its positive and negative effects?
> What is an "electronic shutter" and how does it work?
> How does automatic white balancing work?
> How is the CCD used to drive both the LCD on the back
> of the camera and simultaneously take an image?
> How does autofocus work?
> What are the steps in converting a RAW image to a finished TIFF
> or JPEG?
> etc.
>
> I say "semi" hardcore technology because if I have to read pages
> of differential equations it's going to go over my head. But I'm
> hoping there are books or, better still, websites, that will still
> explain the nitty
> gritty without getting too mathematical. Or if they are
> mathematical, they still provide enough conceptual information that
> a reader can follow the concepts even if he can't follow the
> equations.
>
> I know I can work a camera without knowing all this, but having
> the knowledge always enhances the experience for me.
>
> Can anyone make recommendations?

I recommend www.google.com :-)

Seriously though, the first result from typing "How does a CCD sensor work?"
seemed pretty good.

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"scott" <spam@spam.com> wrote in message
news:wtlvd.1041$UP6.992@newsfe4-gui.ntli.net...
> I recommend www.google.com :-)
>
> Seriously though, the first result from typing "How does a CCD sensor
work?"
> seemed pretty good.

That is a good web page, though I've read it before and am looking for more
in depth info.

Some of the other pages retrieved by that search do give additional useful
information.

Before posting my message I tried Google, but I can see that my searches
were much too broad. I searched on "digital imaging technology" and
"digital
camera technology" - which brought up very little. What I was hoping for
was a website devoted to the whole subject - as the short course series is,
though it's not quite as technical as I'd like.

Thanks for your reply.

Alan

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

You might look into the literature on CCD astronomy (e.g., Ron Wodaski's
book). Amateur astronomers were building their own CCD cameras before 1990.

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

"Alan Meyer" <ameyer2@yaho0.com> wrote in message
news:ZHkvd.2183$Ny6.3551@mencken.net.nih.gov...
> I'm looking for something to read that will explain the technology
> of digital photography and imaging. I want to understand things
> at fundamental levels, be it bits and bytes, wave-lengths and
> frequencies, electrons and photons, or springs and shutters.
> I'd like to get answers to questions like:
>
> How does a CCD sensor work?
> How is data read from it?
> What kind of optical and digital filtering is applied in camera,
> how does it work, and what are its positive and negative effects?
> What is an "electronic shutter" and how does it work?
> How does automatic white balancing work?
> How is the CCD used to drive both the LCD on the back
> of the camera and simultaneously take an image?
> How does autofocus work?
> What are the steps in converting a RAW image to a finished TIFF
> or JPEG?
> etc.
>
> I say "semi" hardcore technology because if I have to read pages
> of differential equations it's going to go over my head. But I'm hoping
> there are books or, better still, websites, that will still explain the
> nitty
> gritty without getting too mathematical. Or if they are mathematical,
> they still provide enough conceptual information that a reader can
> follow the concepts even if he can't follow the equations.
>
> I know I can work a camera without knowing all this, but having
> the knowledge always enhances the experience for me.
>
> Can anyone make recommendations?
>
> Thanks.

This is probably far too fluffy for you, bit it does go into some good
detail

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/digital-camera.htm

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

"adm" <adm1@fastmail.fm> wrote in message
news:9eqdnQ-hj8ozayDcRVn-uA@giganews.com...
>
> This is probably far too fluffy for you, bit it does go into some good
> detail
>
> http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/digital-camera.htm

It is a bit lighter than I'm hoping for. But thanks for the reference.

Alan

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

In article <ZHkvd.2183$Ny6.3551@mencken.net.nih.gov>, ameyer2@yaho0.com says
....
>
>I'm looking for something to read that will explain the technology
>of digital photography and imaging. I want to understand things
>at fundamental levels, be it bits and bytes, wave-lengths and
>frequencies, electrons and photons, or springs and shutters.
>I'd like to get answers to questions like:
>
>How does a CCD sensor work?
>How is data read from it?
>What kind of optical and digital filtering is applied in camera,
> how does it work, and what are its positive and negative effects?
>What is an "electronic shutter" and how does it work?
>How does automatic white balancing work?
>How is the CCD used to drive both the LCD on the back
> of the camera and simultaneously take an image?
>How does autofocus work?
>What are the steps in converting a RAW image to a finished TIFF
> or JPEG?
>etc.
>
>I say "semi" hardcore technology because if I have to read pages
>of differential equations it's going to go over my head. But I'm hoping
>there are books or, better still, websites, that will still explain the
>nitty
>gritty without getting too mathematical. Or if they are mathematical,
>they still provide enough conceptual information that a reader can
>follow the concepts even if he can't follow the equations.
>
>I know I can work a camera without knowing all this, but having
>the knowledge always enhances the experience for me.
>
>Can anyone make recommendations?
>
>Thanks.
>
> Alan

A good deal of what you are looking for is covered by Thom Hogan (www.bythom.
com) in his e-books. I have not looked at the list of cameras, that are
covered by these, but feel that this area, being similar, or the same, for
most camera models will be in most. If you have a specific camera, you will
benefit with info on that particular device, plus get the general info that
you seek.

Hunt

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

"Hunt" <noone@hunt.com> wrote in message
news:cpl1kd01cde@news1.newsguy.com...
>
> A good deal of what you are looking for is covered by Thom Hogan
(www.bythom.
> com) in his e-books. I have not looked at the list of cameras, that are
> covered by these, but feel that this area, being similar, or the same, for
> most camera models will be in most. If you have a specific camera, you
will
> benefit with info on that particular device, plus get the general info
that
> you seek.

Thanks Hunt.

In reading a bit in Thom's website I first thought - these are just more
camera
reviews - which they are. But the word "just" doesn't apply. His reviews
go
into useful depth and a lot of information can be gleaned from them.

Alan

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

"Alan Meyer" <ameyer2@yaho0.com> wrote in message
news:Kupvd.2195$Ny6.3416@mencken.net.nih.gov...
> "adm" <adm1@fastmail.fm> wrote in message
> news:9eqdnQ-hj8ozayDcRVn-uA@giganews.com...
SNIP
> > http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/digital-camera.htm
>
> It is a bit lighter than I'm hoping for. But thanks for the
reference.

There is not a single site covering all aspects, because the subject
is too broad to cover from a single angle. Maybe you'll appreciate the
following:
<http://www.photonics.com/dictionary/&gt; which will provide you with
short explanations and many search terms for additional digging with
Google as well.
<http://homepages.inf.ed.ac.uk/rbf/HIPR2/index.htm&gt; is also a rich
resource.
<http://www.photomet.com/library_enc_fwcapacity.shtml&gt; is useful for
terminology on the subject of sensors, as is
<http://www.ccd.com/ccdu.html&gt; .

Finally, for many subjects <http://www.dspguide.com/&gt; provides a
relatively accessible level to Digital Signal Processing in general,
and it comes as a free book.

Bart