A digital camera has an image sensor system, a first compression system, a frame buffer, a first decompression system, and an image processing system. The image sensor system provides n pixels of initial image information. The n pixels each have m bits of intensity information of one color from three component colors. The initial image information is thus n×m bits in size. The first compression system compresses the n×m bits of the initial image information into r bits of secondary image information. The frame buffer is at least r bits in size for storing the secondary image information. The first decompression system decompresses the r bits stored in the frame buffer to provide tertiary image information. Finally, the image processing system accepts the tertiary image information to generate processed image information. The pixels of the processed image information each have intensity information for each color of the three component colors.