Using the LCD Menus
If you think of the camera as being a mini computer, the LCD screen becomes a computer monitor that allows you to make a number of changes and settings with a variety of menus. Typically, the LCD can display a series of menus, called in-camera menus, often in a tree structure like MS Windows, which allow a number of choices. There may, for instance, be one menu for shooting or taking pictures and one for reviewing.
An inexpensive Kodak camera displays a wealth of information on the LCD screen.
As cameras have evolved, the functions found in menus have evolved as well. Capabilities that were once in menus now might be found as a switch or a button on the camera and vice versa. Each camera will be different and these controls will change as cameras become more sophisticated.
Shooting menus confine themselves to controls that you will need to take the picture. These often include setting the picture size (resolution) and quality, the flash setting, and the exposure mode. Still cameras with video modes often put these settings under the shooting menu. Some cameras may even allow you to shoot with special effects, such as taking pictures with a sepia tone or in black and white.
While each manufacturer is different, and more expensive models will have more features, reviewing menus usually allows you to view what you have just shot, delete pictures, tag pictures, protect pictures from being deleted, mark pictures for printing, rotate pictures, set auditory beeps, and resize pictures.
Many cameras allow you to see a thumbnail view of the images stored on your memory card. A quick scroll through these images can help you find pictures. Some reviewing menus will allow you to select pictures and then print directly from the camera. Some cameras even have basic editing capabilities that allow you to change brightness and color and even crop photos. This is most useful if you want to print an image directly from the camera as quickly as possible.
Unless you are in a hurry to print a picture, it makes more sense to edit a picture on the computer where the software will be much more sophisticated and you will have a better view of the photograph, rather than use the in-camera editing tools and the tiny LCD display.
