A method and system allow a hand-held digital camera to access and store large volumes of digital image data utilizing a wireless communications link between a host computer and the camera. In an embodiment of the invention, imaging optics and a photosensor array capture image data that represents an image of a subject. A transceiver integrated into the hand-held digital camera then transmits the image data to a host computer via a wireless communications link. The host computer stores the image data, or a copy of the image data, and retransmits related image data or, alternatively, the same image data back to the hand-held digital camera via the wireless communications link. Once the image data is received by the hand-held digital camera, an electronic image is formed by a display device that is integrated into the camera. The host computer may process the digital image data into enhanced digital image, thereby enabling the camera to display an enhanced electronic image of a subject. The communications link between the hand-held digital camera and the host computer can transfer data at a sufficiently high bandwidth to provide virtually real-time feedback to a computer operator.