Parts of a camera Flashcards
What is the Camera Body
The basic or primary portion of the digital camera, which contains the controls, the LCD, the sensor, etc. It can be made of metal or plastic.
What is the viewfinder
What the photographer looks through to compose the picture and to focus the photo.
What is the sensor
A camera sensor uses a million arrays of light to capture an image. When you press the shutter button, the sensor receives the light coming from the lens and turns it into an image. It is very important to never touch the sensor or expose it to to dust particles.
What is the memory card
A small storage medium used to store data such as text, pictures, audio, and videos. Some well known memory cards in the market include SD and CF cards.
What is the shutter
A device that opens and closes to expose the film or the sensor in a camera to light. It is located in the body of the camera (not the lens). The speed at which the shutter opens and closes determines the amount of light that will reach the sensor. The longer it’s open, the more light (therefore brighter). The less time it’s open, the less light (therefore darker).
What is aperture
Aperture means the “opening” of the lens, and through which light travels to the sensor. The larger the aperture, (bigger lens opening, ex. f/1.4) the greater the amount of light enters the sensor and more shallow the depth of field becomes. The smaller the aperture (smaller lens opening, ex. f/22),the greater the depth of field would be, as less light would enter the opening to the sensor.
What is ISO
ISO is the level of sensitivity of your sensor to available light. The lower the ISO number, the less sensitive it is to the light, while a higher ISO number increases the sensitivity of your camera. Therefore, a photo with a lower ISO would be darker than a photo with a higher ISO.
What is the shutter button
The button used to take the picture. Also known as the shutter-release button. If you press it half way you will “wake up” your camera to see the settings!
What is exposure
The amount of light reaching the sensor. The exposure is determined by the shutter speed, lens aperture, and ISO (as well as the amount of light in the scene!). This can make the photo appear darker or lighter.
Wat is the lens
The lens, a clear piece of curved glass, focuses on a specific light source that allows you to see the scene you’re trying to capture. There are different types of lenses that allows you to capture different type of quality, ex. fish eye, wide angle, telephoto, prime, macro. There is also a wide range in the quality and price of lenses (from amateur to professional quality…)
What is a DSLR
Digital camera that combines the optics and the mechanisms of a single lens reflex camera. Comes with a digital imaging sensor, instead of photographic film. Lenses are interchangeable.
What is a point and shoot
A type of digital camera (or camera setting) that has been built for simple operation.
-With point and shoot the camera focus, flash and all settings are usually automatically set by the camera enabling users to simply point the camera at the subject and press the shutter button
What is the lcd panel
LCD panel is the screen embedded in the back of nearly all digital cameras. In a digital camera, the LCD works for reviewing photos, displaying menu options, and serving as a live viewfinder.
What is the mode dial
The dial that changes the mode the camera is shooting in. There are automatic modes (the green auto, plus anything below it!), semi automatic modes (above the green automatic symbol), as well as “M” which is manual mode. Manual mode will allow you to have complete control of your exposure.
What is the focus ring
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A ring on the lens of a camera that can be rotated to allow users to manually focus the camera. NOTE: the lens MUST be set to MF (manual focus) in order to turn the focusing ring, otherwise you risk breaking the lens. Only turn it to focus…don’t spin the focusing ring!
What is white balance
Is a process of eliminating unrealistic colour casts. It is important to have the correct white balance so that whites appear white, and colours are accurately displayed. Checking the white balance can be done in camera, or during post processing.
What is the exposure meter
An instrument used for measuring the amount of light falling on or being reflected by a subject. 0 represents perfect exposure, while negative numbers are underexposed and positive numbers are overexposed. You can check your exposure meter in the LCD panel or in the viewfinder.
What is a jpeg
JPEG files are “normal” digital camera images. In fact, they start out as RAW images in the camera, and then the camera will create a smaller more compressed version of the file, which is the JPEG file. It has already been sharpened, white balance has been adjusted, etc (therefore they may look better when they come “straight out of camera” or SOOC. JPEG files are smaller and contain less information than the RAW files.
What is a histogram
A histogram is a graphical representation of the tonal values of your image. In other words, it shows the amount of tones of particular brightness found in your photograph ranging from black (0% brightness) to white (100% brightness). The histogram (viewable in the LCD) is a excellent way to tell if you are properly exposing your shots.
What are megapixels
This term refers to the size of an image, usually in reference to a photo from a digital camera or camera phone. Megapixel means one million pixels. The resolution of digital cameras and camera phones is often measured in megapixels. For example, a 5-megapixel camera can produce images with five million total pixels.
What are focus points
These points will help the camera to focus automatically. If you activate all focus points, the camera will choose which points to focus on. When pressing the shutter half way, you will see the red focus points light up on different parts of the scene (usually what’s closest to the camera). You can also choose to activate just one single focus point, and place that focus point on your subject (and then the camera will do the focusing…)
What is manual focus
When you’re able to adjust the focus of your subject by hand on any specific area. Make sure you change the tab on the lens from AF to MF to manually focus. Don’t spin the focusing ring!!! :)
What is automatic focus
When the camera adjusts itself and focuses on your subject using either all focus points or just one single focus point. (You can change which focus points to use!)
What is automatic mode
Automatic mode has predetermined settings (for aperture, shutter speed and ISO, based on what the camera thinks the lighting conditions are). They are not changeable, and not always a good choice, but can be helpful for beginners.
What is manual mode
The user can completely control the exposure while shooting in Manual mode. They can change the ISO, shutter speed and aperture themselves, according to the exposure they wish to have as well as they type of shot they want (i.e. sharp, blurred, etc…)
What does ISO stand for
international standards organization
What does the ISO indicate
how much light is let into the sensor
