Digital Still Cameras, DSCs, have now supplanted conventional, photographic still cameras as first choice for an imaging system by consumers and most professional photographers. This course provides the attendee with a step-by-step guide through the Digital Imaging Chain (DIC), and offers a clear understanding of the technologies that support each component of the DIC. The course presents an overview of the crucial technologies of DSCs, including imaging optics and optical pre-filters, sensor architectures (full frame CCDs to the newer Foveon type buried photo-diode sensors), and various aspects of Color Filter Arrays (CFAs). An overview of essential imaging mathematical concepts including image transforms (Fourier, Cosine, and Hadamard), convolution, and the Modulation Transfer (MTF) function will also be provided. Once all aspects of the DSC's technologies have been covered, a system analysis will be presented that allows the user to "build" a digital imaging system to meet a desired need, such as a consumer camera, a professional camera or another well-defined use. Additionally, a review of color halftone technology will be presented to better understand how ink jet printers or electro-photographic printers can render images. The need for image compression will be studied and the basic concepts of JPEG compression will be outlined, and a brief review of color theory will be provided to give the basis for how to analyze the color reproduction of DSCs.

Digital still cameras, DSCs, have now supplanted conventional, photographic still cameras as first choice for an imaging system by consumers and most professional photographers. This course is designed to take the attendee through the digital imaging chain (DIC), step-by-step, and provide a clear understanding of the technologies that support each of the DIC. Once all aspects of the DSC's technologies have been covered, a system analysis will be presented that allows the user to "build" a digital imaging system to meet a desired need, such as a consumer camera, a professional camera or some other well-defined use. In addition to the above, a review of color halftone technology will be presented to better understand how ink jet printers or electro-photographic printers can render images. The need for image compression will be studied and the basic concepts of JPEG compression will be outlined. A brief review of color theory will be provided to give the basis for how to analyze the color reproduction of DSCs. The course topics will follow the digital imaging chain starting with a review of digital imaging systems relative to a film based imaging system. The mathematical basis of digital imaging will be reviewed including concepts like Fourier Transforms, Cosine Transforms, Hadamard Transforms, and convolution. Digital imaging optics will be covered including diffraction limited lenses, optical-pre filters to control aliasing, thin film interference on sensors and the use micro-lenses. The basic physics of sensors and imaging technologies will be presented along with sensor architectures (including Frame Transfer and Interline Transfer CCDs, CMOS sensors and the new Foveon type buried photo-diode sensors), and sensor "Photographic Speed." The fundamentals of sampling and aliasing in monochrome imaging systems will be presented along with the impact of optical pre-filters, sampling and aliasing when CFAs are used to encode color images on the overall image quality and introduction of artifacts. Other topics included in the course are interpolation methods used to de-mosaic CFA encoded color images, image enhancement techniques (enhanced sharpness and noise reduction, system analysis), how to define a DSC to meet a specified need, color reproduction for DSCs including white balancing and color correction, digital halftone technology, and compression for DSCs, such as JPEG.