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How do pixels in a digital camera sensor create a digital image?
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technology of photography
Figure 1: Sequence of negative–positive process, from the photographing of the original scene to enlarged print (see text).
At the core of a digital camera is a semiconductor device, such as a charge-coupled device (CCD) or a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) sensor. This sensor contains individual light receptors known as pixels.1
When light is transmitted through the camera’s lenses, it strikes these pixels. The sensor measures the light intensity and colour of the incoming light, the latter of which is determined using different filters. As light hits the pixels, an electric current is induced. This current is then translated into binary digits, which allows the image to be stored within a digital medium, such as flash memory.1