Camera Equipment

To be effective in documenting child abuse cases, camera equipment should have the following capabilities:

• Be easy to use and require little training.
  
  
• Offer accurate color balance.
  
  
• Provide automatic exposure and the capability for film advance and rewind.
  
  
• Have a built-in flash with quick recharge (flash recharges within 2 to 3 seconds).
  
  
• Offer comfortable operating distance from subject.
  
  
• Be able to produce life-size reproductions of trauma sites and to show much larger areas of the body or the device believed to have caused the injury.

Camera systems for photographing abused children range from expensive and sophisticated colposcopic (a specialized camera/examination unit used specifically by medical examiners for viewing or photographing subtle abnormalities or injuries to the vagina, cervix, or anus) and 35mm closeup systems to less expensive and simpler "bridge" cameras and instant or self-developing cameras. Table 1 lists the types of cameras and their advantages and disadvantages.