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Types
of Digital Cameras
"What's the difference between a PNS and an SLR?"
Point and Shoot
This is your portable, pocket size, camera. Like all
cameras made today, it is designed to record the amount
of light reflected back to the sensor or film.
How much
you "the human" can control the amount of light
depends on the make and model of the camera and the settings
available. Most are pretty automatic, but some have manual
settings as well.
These cameras have a display on the back
that shows you what you are taking a picture of. Some still
have a viewfinder that passes through the body of the camera
independent of the lens, but recently the trend seems to
be to exclude this feature to utilize the space in other
ways such as with a larger display.
Point and shoot cameras tend to come in three sizes: compact
(big pocket or handbag sized) , ultra compact (shirt
pocket) and "brick" sized
(too big to fit into a pocket, but smaller than a prosumer
camera.
Single Lens Reflex
This is the original camera of choice due to its interchangeable lenses. It also
means what you see is pretty much what you get since the viewfinder utilizes
a prism and mirror setup to see through the actual lens taking the picture.
Once
the firing button is pressed, the mirror moves out of the way and a focal plane
shutter opens to expose light through the lens (TTL) to the sensor or film. These
tend to use larger sensors yielding better image quality, especially in low light
situations.
Many prosumer cameras are SLR cameras with fixed lenses. They tend to be slightly
smaller than a true SLR but have similar features as a true SLR.
Twin Lens Reflex
This uses the same mirror setup as the SLR, but instead
of one lens, it has two; one to look through and focus, and another
to actually open the shutter.
The shutter is no longer in the camera
itself, but is instead built into the lens as a leaf shutter, giving
it the ability to sync with a strobe at any shutter speed, but
also making it more expensive to make.
Many high-end SLR cameras use a leaf shutter to get the same benefit
without the extra cost and size of a twin lens system.
The only production TLR
is the Rolleiflex Mini Digital which is sold as more of a nostalgia
piece than a serious option. You can find it here: http://www.rollei.jp
Range Finder
A type of camera fitted with a device (usually inside
the viewfinder these days) that gauges the distance by bringing
two versions of the image together into one as adjustments are
made. This is the
Epson R-D1. You can find out about it here: http://www.epson.com. Leica
also has one available.
Camera types diagrams downloaded from http://www.ted.photographer.org.uk/camera_types.htm
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