Once upon a time, digital cameras did not exist. In those days, people bought a thing called film. The film came on rolls in metal containers that were inserted into cameras. As photographers took photographs, images would be captured on the film.

The photographer would take pictures until the 12 or 24 or 36 exposures on a roll had been exposed. That process could take a few minutes or a few months. Then the exposed film would be taken and left somewhere. The film might be developed there or might be sent to a laboratory.

Later in the day, or later in the week, the photographer would return and pay some more money to receive the developed photographs. And buy some more film. I’m not making this up.

Over the course of decades, the technology of cameras had improved. Lens became better and more powerful. Film became more reliable. But the overall process remained the same. That is because the chemical process of film development had not changed.

Then, one day, digital cameras were invented and offered for sale. They were not exactly an immediate success.

Consumers did not like the higher price. The traditional cameras cost much less. And buyers were skeptical of this concept of taking pictures without film. How could a photographic image be recorded on a hard drive or memory chip?

But after a while they figured out that the ongoing cost of paying for film and development was far more than the cost of a digital camera. Soon everyone wanted to buy a digital camera.

That is when the sales of digital cameras increased and the sales of traditional cameras dropped. Manufacturers went into mass production. Now you can even get cheap digital cameras.

Based on their new experiences, consumers also came to realize that digital cameras had much better picture quality than traditional film cameras. The digital cameras had sharper resolution. Also, the colors could be altered. And on your computer you could alter and edit the images yourself.

To make things even better, many digital cameras also had limited (30 seconds or so) video recording capabilities. Not exactly what a digital camcorder could do. But something a traditional camera could not do.

As the technology advanced, you could take digital photos with other devices. I use my mobile phone.

You can even purchase a waterproof digital camera and take digital pictures underwater.

So if you don’t already have one, go buy one. But be sure to compare digital cameras before you buy.