- published: 10 Jan 2014
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A digital camera (or digicam) is a camera that takes video or still photographs by recording images on an electronic image sensor. Most cameras sold today are digital, and digital cameras are incorporated into many devices ranging from PDAs and mobile phones (called camera phones) to vehicles.
Digital and film cameras share an optical system, typically using a lens with a variable diaphragm to focus light onto an image pickup device. The diaphragm and shutter admit the correct amount of light to the imager, just as with film but the image pickup device is electronic rather than chemical. However, unlike film cameras, digital cameras can display images on a screen immediately after being recorded, and store and delete images from memory. Many digital cameras can also record moving video with sound. Some digital cameras can crop and stitch pictures and perform other elementary image editing.
Steven Sasson as an engineer at Eastman Kodak invented and built the first digital camera using a charge-coupled device image sensor in 1975. He received the National Medal in Technology and Innovation for this invention in 2009.
James Daniel May (born 16 January 1963) is an English television presenter, journalist and writer. He is best known for his role as co-presenter of the award-winning motoring program Top Gear alongside Jeremy Clarkson , and Richard Hammond.
On Top Gear, May has the nickname "Captain Slow" for his careful driving style, a love of small underpowered cars and habit of getting lost and distracted while driving. However, in a July 2010 episode of Top Gear he drove a Bugatti Veyron Super Sport, reaching a speed of 417.6 kilometres per hour (259.5 mph). After his attempt the Bugatti test driver Pierre-Henri Raphanel took the car to 430 kilometers per hour (267.5 mph).
May has presented a variety of other programs on themes including science and technology, toys, cars, wine culture, and the plight of manliness in modern times. In addition he has released a variety of DVDs and books with similar themes, and wrote a weekly column for The Daily Telegraph's motoring section.
James May was born in Bristol, one of four children; he has two sisters and a brother. May attended Caerleon Endowed Junior School in Newport, then in Monmouthshire. He spent his teenage years in South Yorkshire where he attended Oakwood Comprehensive School in Rotherham and was a choirboy at Whiston Parish Church. He was also at school with Life On Mars and Ashes to Ashes star Dean Andrews. A keen flautist and pianist, he later studied music at Pendle College, Lancaster University. After graduating, May briefly worked at a hospital in Chelsea as a records officer, and had a short stint in Her Majesty's Civil Service.