Columbus Photography

Columbus Photography

In order to help you along the way through the photographic world, here is a list of common camera terms you may see from time to time especially in my writing and what they mean. Some of this will get pretty technical, but I will have a link to further reading where I can. Lets get started:

Pixel Short for Element. Camera resolution is measured in millions of pixels, or In general, more megapixels are better than fewer.

Memory Card Memory card is the generic name for any removable card that stores images. The common types of cards are: Secure Digital SD, which includes Secure Digital High Capacity SD HC, Mini Secure Digital Mini SD, and Micro Secure Digital Micro SD, commonly found in cell phones and PDAs; xD which originally stood for extreme Digital, but has since lost that moniker; Compact Flash CF; Memory Stick proprietary to Sony, with the most common variant today being the Memory Stick Pro Duo; a smaller variant of the original Memory stick; MultiMedia Card MMC, similar to Secure Digital, however SD is more widespread.

Byte A unit of measurement of digital storage. A typical digital image is measured in millions of bytes, or Memory cards are typically measured in billions of bytes, or JPEG JPEG is a standard image type. JPEG stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group, the name of the organization that developed the protocol. The standard context is or All cameras will shoot standard image files in this format.

Compact Camera Also called cameras. Compact cameras are designed for easy operation. They normally have a zoom lens that is permanently attached to the camera, are generally easier to use than a single lens reflex camera, and do not normally give as much control over exposure to the operator.

Single Lens Reflex A single lens reflex SLR camera is a camera that lets the operator look at the exact image that is coming through the lens of the camera. This is achieved through the use of a reflex mirror, a mirror that diverts the light coming through the lens into the cameras viewfinder. This is important because it lets the operator see what the exact scene the camera is going to take a picture of. When the exposure is made, the reflex mirror swings up and out of the way to allow the film or image sensor to be exposed. Single lens reflex cameras SLRs are generally larger than compact cameras.

Image Sensor A digital cameras image sensor is the part of the camera that captures the image. It is the part that has replaced film. There are different types of image sensors, and each offer advantages and disadvantages, but the most common type is the Charge Coupled Device CCD.

Sensor Size With the introduction of digital single lens reflex DSLR cameras, camera manufacturers took the opportunity to make single lens reflex SLR cameras smaller by making the image sensor smaller than the imaging surface on a piece of 35mm film. This new size of image sensor is commonly referred to as for the size similarity to the less common APS size film Nikon refers to this size as Cameras that have an image sensor the same size as a 35mm negative are referred to as frame FF because their imaging surface is the same size as one entire frame imaging surface of 35mm film. The current models of Full Frame DSLR on the market are few: Canon EOS 1Ds Mk III, Canon EOS 5D Mk II, Nikon D3x, Nikon D700, and Sony A900. If you do not own one of these cameras, look for an upcoming 101 article in the coming weeks explaining the crop factor in DSLRs such as the Nikon D60, Canon Rebel T1i, Sony A330, and Olympus E30.

Exposure An exposure is a controlled amount of light that is allowed to hit the image sensor or film negative for a certain amount of time in order to make an image. There are three main factors that control an exposure each will be covered in after this heading: shutter speed; aperture; ISO sensitivity. Changing these three variables changes the amount of light the intensity of the light that is allowed to strike the image sensor. Exposure = Intensity x Time

Shutter Speed The shutter speed is how long the shutter the part of the camera that covers the image sensor or film negative opens and allows light to strike the image sensor. Shutter speed is generally measured in fractions of a second, such as second, and can generally be as fast as 1/8000 sec. and can be as long as a few hours. If you are shooting fast moving subjects, and want to freeze the action, the faster the shutter speed the larger the denominator is in the fraction of the second, the better.

Aperture The aperture is a circular diaphragm in the lens that controls how much light gets through the lens. A good analogy is to think of the iris of an eye. A way to measure aperture is with the f/stop number said: eff stop. These numbers generally range anywhere from f/1.4 to f/32. The smaller the number after the the larger the aperture will be. The larger the aperture is, the more light will be allowed to strike the image sensor. The larger the number after the the smaller the aperture will be, and the amount of light able to strike the image sensor will be reduced. The aperture also relates to the Depth of Field covered later in this article; the larger the opening of the aperture, the less Depth of Field DoF; the smaller the opening of the aperture, the more depth of field DoF.

Open Up Opening up a lens means making the aperture larger. This has the effect of letting more light hit the image sensor.

Close Down Closing down a lens also called down means making the aperture smaller. This has the effect of letting less light hit the image sensor.

Fast Fast is a lens term just to say that a lens has a large maximum aperture small f/ number.

ISO Sensitivity The International Standards Organization ISO set the guidelines of films sensitivity to light. The ratings are in whole numbers, and each jump doubles or halves that number, indicating a doubling or halving of the sensitivity of the film. Numbers such as ISO 100 or ISO 1600 give the rating, with the higher numbers being more sensitive to light. Digital image sensors try to mimic the same ratings, and use the same numbers to show this sensitivity.

Depth of Field Depth of Field is the amount of the image that has acceptable focus. There are three main factors that control your Depth of Field DoF: focal length the longer the focal length, the less/shallower the DoF; aperture the larger the aperture the smaller the number, the less/shallower the DoF; camera to subject distance the closer the subject is to your camera, the less/shallower the DoF. In portraits, you would want to utilize a shallow DoF to blur the background, isolating the subject as your main focus. For landscapes, you would want to utilize a deep DoF to get everything in focus, from the flowers in front of you to the mountains in the distance.

Focal Length The focal length of a lens is a measurement of how much magnification a lens has. The focal length is commonly measured in millimeters mm, with the smaller numbers generally meaning wideangle a large angle of view, capturing a wide scene in front of you, and the larger numbers meaning telephoto a narrow angle of view, capturing only a certain amount of what is in front of you Focal lengths can be as short as 4.5mm, and as long as 1,200mm and more!.

Zoom Lens A zoom lens is a lens that zooms from one focal length to another.

Prime Lens A prime lens, also called a fixed focal length lens, is a lens that has only one focal length, and does not zoom.

So there it is, a list of photography terms. I will update this list as time goes, and refer back to it when needed. If you have any ideas of terms you think are important that I left out, email me and let me know!