What Are the Benefits of a Digital Camera Over a Disposable Camera?

by Amanda Holden
Digital cameras offer ease of use and instant images.

Digital cameras offer ease of use and instant images.

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From disposable cameras that use reels of film to digital cameras that use tiny storage cards, the face of photographic technology has changed dramatically over recent years. You can find digital cameras almost everywhere today, while disposable cameras have been fading in popularity. This change in the tide represents several key advantages digital cameras hold over their disposable competitors.

Ease of Use

For everyone from a beginner to an expert, digital cameras have a much lower learning curve than disposables. For those who don't know very much about photography, digital cameras provide ease of use for "point and shoot" type photography without requiring very much technical knowledge. For experts, digital cameras offer an easy way to change the shutter speed as opposed to having to carry around a variety of disposable cameras loaded with different speed films.

Number of Pictures

Digital cameras can hold far more pictures than a disposable camera. While disposable cameras limit themselves by how much film they can hold, digital cameras only meet their limits in data storage on removable SD cards. Once the SD card fills up, it's easy to replace it with another card. A disposable camera may hold enough room for anywhere from 12 to 48 pictures, depending on the model and brand. A digital camera with a 1GB SD card can hold hundreds of pictures -- possibly thousands depending on the quality of the images.

Control Over Images

Digital cameras offer many aspects of control over images. With digital cameras, you can copy and duplicate the same picture over and over again, which you won't find as easy with a disposable. You can also instantly delete images that didn't come out well, whereas with a disposable, you're stuck with the picture. Digital cameras also let you pick and choose which images to share with friends, to post online and to email far easier than its competition. While it's possible to do this with disposable cameras, you'll have to pay a photo lab extra money to put your pictures on a CD.

Costs

At first glance, digital cameras seem far more expensive than disposable cameras. The savings, however, shows up over the life of the camera itself. Unlike a disposable camera, you can reuse the digital camera over and over again and don't need to buy another unless it breaks. The digital camera doesn't require repeated film purchases, which benefits you since you can only use film once. Beyond the initial purchase of a removable SD card, you can reuse that card over and over again, saving its contents to your computer and then replacing it within your digital camera. Digital cameras also allow you to choose which pictures you want to print, unlike disposables, where you must print all pictures at once through a photo lab.

About the Author

Amanda Holden has over 17 years of experience in writing, both professionally and for fun. She is trained in computer programming and currently studies geophysical engineering at a major university. Holden writes for various websites on subjects such as computer science, technical specifications, education, science and math.

Photo Credits

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