Digital Photography and Computing For The Plastic Surgeon's Office
This section will not repeat the material from my PRS editorial (August
1998), but will rather seek to keep it updated. The arguments for "going
digital" with your photo-documentation are becoming increasingly powerful.
The recurring cost of film/chemistry is presently much more than that of
storage space/printing materials for a digital system. Digital imaging
is improving rapidly in quality just as it is becoming less expensive (the
effect of new players in the marketplace). The frequently asked question
by the physician considering the "jump" to digital photo-documentation
is: "Is digital as good as 35 mm?"
The answer is a qualified "Yes." It really depends upon what you intend to do with the images. Digital photography has many levels at which the surgeon can enter the medium. Photographic professionals in the magazine/publication side of things can spend upwards of $10,000 on a camera alone. Several years ago, many surgeons followed what they believed to be the wave of the future and invested $20,000 - 30,000 to get into a system like that of "Mirror Image." They might have waited a year or so to find many inexpensive camera systems popping up. The surgeon primarily needs to document and index patient outcomes for both practical and legal purposes. This can be accomplished for well under the $20,000 price tag of that Mirror Image system. As I am not personally an advocate of the morphing aspect used in many marketing systems, I will not address it here. This column (I will endeavor to keep it updated as time permits) will continue to review the items of which a physician looking into (or maintaining) a digital system needs to accomplish documentation, indexing, and outputs.
We will also be addressing the concept of the digital office with scheduling
programs and digital charting. Fortunately many of the contacts I made
during the research phase for the PRS piece are predominantly willing to
continue to supply material for this feature. New items will be reviewed
as they arrive.
A Digital System...First the Camera
When choosing a digital camera, there are a few features that determine
suitability:
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Image Resolution/Quality: Camera quality is usually proportional
to the resolution of the images it produces. This is not always the case,
for example when the quality of the lens and/or digital recording/compression
algorithm are quite different between cameras. As we tend to ake the majority of our images indoors, the quality of focussing in low light as well as the utility of the macro mode are important.
-
Image Storage: Digital images can be stored on the camera (onboard
memory) and/or on removable memory (cartridges). The latter is preferable
especially when a large number of images may be taken before they are to
be uploaded to a computer system. The number of high quality images a camera/cartridge
can store is similarly important. With the falling price of memory, increasingly
larger memory cards (upwards of 128 MB) have been used as the cartridge memory of choice. You wil want your camera to use either compact flash memory or smart memory cards.
-
On Camera Viewing Screen: When digital cameras were first introduced,
these were rarely found. Now they are standard. A viewing screen affords
the opportunity to assess image suitability such as to discard inadequate
images replacing them with better images. This is a key feature in clinical
photography. A high quality screen is a hallmark of a good camera. Take into account however that the use of this screen will drain battery power. You'd rather not have to use it to adequately focus the camera or frame the image.
-
Facility Of Image To Computer Transfer: Images on the camera or
on storage cards need to get to a computer at some point for display and
long term storage. Different camera systems have used different techniques
to facilitate this transfer. Some are smooth and reliable and others are
not. A USB port or a card system docking using a USB connection will make your life easier here.
Which Cameras Do I Recommend?
- I am asked this not infrequently - Click if you want to check them out
* Olympus 510 Zoom Digital Camera - a nice "point and shoot plus" camera for clinical digital photography
PROS:
* Takes standard AA battery format - but you'll need a Ni-Mh battery system
* Very intuitive menu system - easy to learn
|
CONS:
* Comes with alkaline batteries - you'll use them in a day
* Pictures are OK but a bit muddy at times
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* Nikon Coolpix 775 Digital Camera - a more compact model
PROS:
* Small Size
* Comes with rechargable Lithium Batteries/Charger
* Crystal clear pictures
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CONS:
* Hard to focus using viewfinder - monitor sucks battery life
* Takes non standard battery format - harder to replace
* Kinda confusing menu system
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* Nikon Coolpix 885 Digital Camera - the next model up with a few more features
* Nikon Coolpix 995 Digital Camera - a better model with higher resolution
©1996-2002 John Di Saia, M.D.
