Single-lens reflex (SLR) camera In photography, the single-lens reflex camera (SLR) is provided with a mirror to redirect light from the lens to the viewfinder prior to releasing the shutter for composing and focusing an image. When the shutter is released, the mirror swings up and away, allowing the exposure of the
photographic medium, and instantly returns after the exposure is finished. No SLR camera before 1954 had this feature, although the mirror on some early SLR cameras was entirely operated by the force exerted on the shutter release and only returned when the finger pressure was released. The
Asahiflex II, released by Japanese company
Asahi (Pentax) in 1954, was the world's first SLR camera with an instant return mirror. In the single-lens reflex camera, the photographer sees the scene through the camera lens. This avoids the problem of
parallax which occurs when the viewfinder or viewing lens is separated from the taking lens. Single-lens reflex cameras have been made in several formats including sheet film 5x7" and 4x5", roll film 220/120 taking 8,10, 12, or 16 photographs on a 120 roll, and twice that number of a 220 film. These correspond to 6x9, 6x7, 6x6, and 6x4.5 respectively (all dimensions in cm). Notable manufacturers of large format and roll film SLR cameras include
Bronica,
Graflex,
Hasselblad,
Seagull,
Mamiya and
Pentax. However, the most common format of SLR cameras has been 35 mm and subsequently the migration to
digital SLR cameras, using almost identical sized bodies and sometimes using the same lens systems. Almost all SLR cameras use a front-surfaced mirror in the optical path to direct the light from the lens via a viewing screen and
pentaprism to the eyepiece. At the time of exposure, the mirror is flipped up out of the light path before the shutter opens. Some early cameras experimented with other methods of providing through-the-lens viewing, including the use of a semi-transparent
pellicle as in the
Canon Pellix and others with a small periscope such as in the
Corfield Periflex series.
Large-format camera The large-format camera, taking sheet film, is a direct successor of the early plate cameras and remained in use for high-quality photography and technical, architectural, and industrial photography. There are three common types: the view camera, with its
monorail and
field camera variants, and the
press camera. They have extensible bellows with the lens and shutter mounted on a lens plate at the front. Backs taking
roll film and later
digital backs are available in addition to the standard dark slide back. These cameras have a wide range of movements allowing very close control of focus and perspective. Composition and focusing are done on view cameras by viewing a
ground-glass screen which is replaced by the film to make the exposure; they are suitable for static subjects only and are slow to use.
Plate camera The earliest cameras produced in significant numbers were
plate cameras, using sensitized glass plates. Light entered a lens mounted on a lens board which was separated from the plate by extendible bellows. There were simple box cameras for glass plates but also single-lens reflex cameras with interchangeable lenses and even for color photography (
Autochrome Lumière). Many of these cameras had controls to raise, lower, and tilt the lens forwards or backward to control perspective. Focusing of these plate cameras was by the use of a ground glass screen at the point of focus. Because
lens design only allowed rather small aperture lenses, the image on the ground glass screen was faint and most
photographers had a dark cloth to cover their heads to allow focusing and composition to be carried out more quickly. When focus and composition were satisfactory, the ground glass screen was removed, and a sensitized plate was put in its place protected by a
dark slide. To make the exposure, the dark decline was carefully slid out and the shutter opened, and then closed and the dark fall replaced. Glass plates were later replaced by sheet film in a dark slide for sheet film; adapter sleeves were made to allow sheet film to be used in plate holders. In addition to the ground glass, a simple optical viewfinder was often fitted.
Medium-format camera medium format camera Medium-format cameras have a film size between the large-format cameras and smaller 35 mm cameras. Typically these systems use 120 or 220 roll film. The most common image sizes are 6×4.5 cm, 6×6 cm and 6×7 cm; the older 6×9 cm is rarely used. The designs of this kind of camera show greater variation than their larger brethren, ranging from monorail systems through the classic
Hasselblad model with separate backs, to smaller rangefinder cameras. There are even compact amateur cameras available in this format.
Twin-lens reflex camera Twin-lens reflex cameras used a pair of nearly identical lenses: one to form the image and one as a viewfinder. The lenses were arranged with the viewing lens immediately above the taking lens. The viewing lens projects an image onto a viewing screen which can be seen from above. Some manufacturers such as Mamiya also provided a reflex head to attach to the viewing screen to allow the camera to be held to the eye when in use. The advantage of a TLR was that it could be easily focused using the viewing screen and that under most circumstances the view seen on the viewing screen was identical to that recorded on film. At close distances, however, parallax errors were encountered, and some cameras also included an indicator to show what part of the composition would be excluded. Some TLRs had interchangeable lenses, but as these had to be paired lenses, they were relatively heavy and did not provide the range of focal lengths that the SLR could support. Most TLRs used 120 or 220 films; some used the smaller 127 films.
Compact cameras Instant camera After exposure, every photograph is taken through pinch rollers inside the instant camera. Thereby the developer paste contained in the paper 'sandwich' is distributed on the image. After a minute, the cover sheet just needs to be removed and one gets a single original positive image with a fixed format. With some systems, it was also possible to create an instant image negative, from which then could be made copies in the photo lab. The ultimate development was the SX-70 system of
Polaroid, in which a row of ten shots – engine driven – could be made without having to remove any cover sheets from the picture. There were instant cameras for a variety of formats, as well as adapters for instant film use in medium- and large-format cameras.
Subminiature camera Subminiature cameras were first produced in the twentieth century and use film significantly smaller than 35mm. The expensive 8×11mm
Minox, the only type of camera produced by the company from 1937 to 1976, became very widely known and was often used for espionage (the Minox company later also produced larger cameras). Later inexpensive subminiatures were made for general use, some using rewound 16 mm cine film. Image quality with these small film sizes was limited.
Folding camera The introduction of films enabled the existing designs for plate cameras to be made much smaller and for the baseplate to be hinged so that it could be folded up, compressing the bellows. These designs were very compact and small models were dubbed
vest pocket cameras. One of the smallest and best-selling cameras was the
Vest Pocket Kodak, sold in two generations between 1912 and 1934. Folding roll film cameras were preceded by folding plate cameras, more compact than other designs.
Box camera Box cameras were introduced as budget-level cameras and had few if any controls. The original box Brownie models had a small reflex viewfinder mounted on the top of the camera and had no aperture or focusing controls and just a simple shutter. Later models such as the Brownie 127 had larger direct view optical viewfinders together with a curved film path to reduce the impact of deficiencies in the lens.
Rangefinder camera c. 1936 As camera lens technology developed and wide aperture lenses became more common,
rangefinder cameras were introduced to make focusing more precise. Early rangefinders had two separate viewfinder windows, one of which is linked to the focusing mechanisms and moved right or left as the focusing ring is turned. The two separate images are brought together on a ground glass viewing screen. When vertical lines in the object being photographed meet exactly in the combined image, the object is in focus. A normal composition viewfinder is also provided. Later the viewfinder and rangefinder were combined. Many rangefinder cameras had
interchangeable lenses, each lens requiring its range- and viewfinder linkages. Rangefinder cameras were produced in
half- and full-frame 35 mm and roll film (medium format).
Motion picture cameras A
movie camera or a
video camera operates similarly to a still camera, except it records a series of static images in rapid succession, commonly at a
rate of 24 frames per second. When the images are combined and displayed in order, the illusion of motion is achieved. Cameras that capture many images in sequence are known as movie cameras or as cine cameras in Europe; those designed for single images are still cameras. However, these categories overlap as still cameras are often used to capture moving images in
special effects work and many modern cameras can quickly switch between still and motion recording modes. A ciné camera or movie camera takes a rapid sequence of photographs on an image sensor or strips of film. In contrast to a still camera, which captures a single snapshot at a time, the ciné camera takes a series of images, each called a
frame, through the use of an intermittent mechanism. The frames are later played back in a ciné projector at a specific speed, called the
frame rate (number of frames per second). While viewing, a person's visual system
merges the separate pictures to create the illusion of motion. The first ciné camera was built around 1888 and by 1890 several types were being manufactured. The standard film size for ciné cameras was quickly established as
35mm film and this remained in use until the transition to digital cinematography. Other professional standard formats include
70 mm film and 16 mm film whilst amateur filmmakers used 9.5 mm film, 8 mm film, or Standard 8 and Super 8 before the move into digital format. The size and complexity of ciné cameras vary greatly depending on the uses required of the camera. Some professional equipment is very large and too heavy to be handheld whilst some amateur cameras were designed to be very small and light for single-handed operation.
Professional video camera , a digital movie camera A
professional video camera (often called a
television camera even though the use has spread beyond television) is a high-end device for creating electronic moving images (as opposed to a movie camera, that earlier recorded the images on
film). Originally developed for use in television studios, they are now also used for music videos,
direct-to-video movies, corporate and educational videos, marriage videos, etc. These cameras earlier used
vacuum tubes and later electronic
image sensors.
Camcorders camcorder. A camcorder is an electronic device combining a video camera and a video recorder. Although marketing materials may use the colloquial term "camcorder", the name on the package and manual is often "video camera recorder". Most devices capable of recording video are camera phones and digital cameras primarily intended for still pictures; the term "camcorder" is used to describe a portable, self-contained device, with video capture and recording its primary function.
Digital camera A digital camera (or digicam) is a camera that encodes
digital images and videos and stores them for later reproduction. They typically use semiconductor image sensors. Most cameras sold today are digital, and they are incorporated into many devices ranging from mobile phones (called
camera phones) to vehicles. Digital and film cameras share an optical system, typically using a lens of variable aperture to focus light onto an image pickup device. The aperture and shutter admit the correct amount of light to the imager, just as with film but the image pickup device is electronic rather than chemical. However, unlike film cameras, digital cameras can display images on a screen immediately after being captured or recorded, and store and delete images from
memory. Most digital cameras can also record moving videos with
sound. Some digital cameras can
crop and
stitch pictures & perform other elementary
image editing. Consumers adopted digital cameras in the 1990s. Professional video cameras transitioned to digital around the 2000s–2010s. Finally, movie cameras transitioned to digital in the 2010s. , a
full-frame mirrorless digital camera The first camera using digital electronics to capture and store images was developed by Kodak engineer
Steven Sasson in 1975. He used a charge-coupled device (CCD) provided by
Fairchild Semiconductor, which provided only 0.01 megapixels to capture images. Sasson combined the CCD device with movie camera parts to create a digital camera that saved black and white images onto a
cassette tape.The images were then read from the cassette and viewed on a TV monitor. Later, cassette tapes were replaced by flash memory. In 1986, Japanese company
Nikon introduced an analog-recording electronic single-lens reflex camera, the Nikon SVC. The first
full-frame digital SLR cameras were developed in Japan from around 2000 to 2002: the MZ-D by Pentax, the
N Digital by
Contax's Japanese R6D team, and the
EOS-1Ds by
Canon. Gradually in the 2000s, the full-frame DSLR became the dominant camera type for professional photography. On most digital cameras a display, often a
liquid-crystal display (LCD), permits the user to view the scene to be recorded and settings such as
ISO speed, exposure, and shutter speed.
Camera phone In 2000,
Sharp introduced the world's first digital camera phone, the
J-SH04 J-Phone, in
Japan. By the mid-2000s, higher-end
cell phones had an integrated digital camera, and by the beginning of the 2010s, almost all
smartphones had an integrated digital camera. == See also ==