Glossary
Revision as of 21:12, 2 October 2006 by Rebollo fr (talk | contribs) (→L to Q: link to the light-value system)
This is a growing glossary of common camera and photography terms. Feel free to add items that aren't listed by using the "edit" tab at the top of the screen.
0 to 9
- 2-way head - A tripod head that moves along 2 axes; this design is older but is still often used in sports photography or by others using long, heavy lenses.
- 3-way head - A tripod head that moves along 3 axes allowing the camera to be placed in just about any position relative to the tripod.
- 35mm - A film 35mm wide with large perforations at each edge; most commonly this is used for 24×36mm frames on a roll of film wound from and subsequently back into an easy-to-load cassette.
A to E
- air release
- aperture - An opening in a lens that controls the amount of light passing through it.
- aperture priority - A metering method that recommends a shutter speed based on a desired aperture.
- aspherical
- autofocus - The ability of any camera/lens to focus itself electronically.
- auto exposure - An in-camera exposure system that attempts to set the aperture and shutter speed (and CCD sensitivity in many digital cameras) to get the best exposure for the current lighting situation.
- autographic - a feature allowing hand-written comments on the negative. 1914-1934
- auxiliary lens - a lens that attaches to the front of another lens to change the field of view (narrower, wider) or focusing characteristics (able to focus more closely).
- back - The back of a camera, containing the recording media.
- bakelite - an early form of plastic, used in camera making from the 1930s to the 1960s.
- ball head - tripod head based around a lockable, free-moving ball.
- barn doors
- barrel
- Bay I - Bayonet type I. A type of filter mount commonly used on TLRs.
- Bay II - Bayonet type II. A type of filter mount used on some TLRs.
- body cap
- bounce flash
- bracket (exposure/white balance)
- bridge camera - usually a SLR with a fixed zoom lens, intermediate between the point-and-shoot compact and the system SLR
- brilliant finder - a very small, simple finder designed to be looked down into
- brolly - Another name for an umbrella.
- cable release - An attachment that screws into a shutter release that allows you to trip the shutter mechanically while not otherwise touching the camera.
- CCD
- center-weighted - an in-camera light-meter system that favors the center of the frame although it does take into account the rest of the frame to a lesser extent.
- click stops - See also detents.
- coated - See lens coating.
- color balance/temperature
- compact camera
- Compur - a brand of camera shutters, made by the F. Deckel company of Munich, Germany.
- contact print
- contrast
- Copal - a brand of Japanese camera shutters.
- coupled rangefinder - A rangefinder which is mechanically coupled to the focus adjustment on a lens.
- cross processing
- data back - a camera back for film cameras that imprints (or burns) information onto a film frame.
- dark slide
- depth of field - The range of distances (from near to far) within which a scene will be considered to be "in focus" (within which the circle of confusion will be acceptably small)
- detents - Positions on a moving dial (e.g. shutter speed or aperture dial) from which movement needs some friction.
- diaphragm - The mechanism in a camera lens that creates a variable aperture.
- diopter - An optical adjustment that allows someone to adjust the viewfinder's magnification to their vision.
- double exposure - intentional or unintentional action of exposing the same film frame twice.
- DSLR - Digital Single Lens Reflex camera
- element - An individual piece of glass within a lens.
- E-TTL -
- EVF - Electronic View Finder: commonly found on prosumer digicams.
- exposure - The combination of shutter speed, aperture, film sensitivity, and light used to create a single photograph.
- exposure compensation
- extension tubes
F to K
- f-stop - The measure of the aperture setting on a lens.
- field camera - A large format camera, slightly stripped down to make it more portable.
- field of view - The diagonal measure of the part of a scene that is visible with a given lens.
- filter
- filter rings
- film advance - Mechanism for moving the film from one spool to another, usually one frame at a time.
- film plane - The plane onto which light entering a lens is focused.
- finder - Short for viewfinder.
- fisheye - Fisheye lenses have a very wide field of view, usually around 180 degrees.
- flare - occurs when light enters the lens that isn't part of the image and then subsequently hits the camera's film or digital sensor.
- flash
- flash meter
- flash sync - The manner by which a flash is fired while the shutter is open.
- flash trigger
- fluid head - A tripod head often used in video production that attempts to dampen sudden movements to ensure smooth panning.
- focal plane - The flat plane onto which a lens focuses its image.
- focal plane shutter - A shutter, usually consisting of fabric or metal "curtains", that operates at the focal plane (right in front of the film).
- focus
- focus rail
- focus screen
- frame counter - A mechanism for recording the number of exposures made or for calculating the number of exposures remaining on a roll of film or memory card.
- front curtain sync - In an SLR, firing of the flash at the moment when the front curtain is open.
- Fungus - a fungus that can grow between lens elements resulting in feathery or hazing damage to a lens,
- GOST - A measurement of film speed used in the former Soviet Union.
- grain
- grain focusser
- guide number
- half-frame
- handle mount flash
- histogram
- hot lights
- hot shoe
- infity focusing
- image stabalization
L to Q
- large format - A film format larger than medium format, in which negatives are loaded one at a time rather than in rolls.
- leaf shutter - A type of shutter mechanism that uses small metal blades in a leaf pattern.
- Leica nipple
- lens - One or more glass elements used to focus an image onto the focal plane.
- lens barrel - The tube that contains the lens elements.
- lens cap - Hard, protective cover that clips over the front lens element when the lens is not in use.
- lens coating - A microscopic antireflection coating applied to lenses that reduces flare and increases contrast. All modern camera lenses are coated.
- lens hood
- lens mount
- lens speed - refers to the largest aperture available on a lens. Anything f2 or under is fast; f5.6 is slow.
- light box
- light leaks - Any light, other than that focused through the lens, that gets inside of the camera body.
- light meter - A device that measures light to determine the proper exposure settings for a scene.
- light-value system
- lomography - movement that promotes (and exploits) the use of Lomo cameras (predominantly the LC-a) and a "shoot from the hip" attitude.
- loupe
- macro
- medium format - A film format larger than 35mm but smaller than large format (typically 120 film) wound onto spools.
- metering - measuring the amount of light for an exposure.
- mirror box
- mirror lens
- mirror lockup - A feature on some SLRs that allows the reflex mirror to be locked in the up position to eliminate vibration.
- mirror slap - The vibration caused by the mirror in an SLR flipping out of the way before a shot.
- monopod - A one-legged camera support.
- multicoated - See lens coating.
- multiple exposure - creative/experimental technique
- neutral density filter - A filter used to reduce tha amount of light enetering the lens.
- noise (sensor)
- normal lens - the "normal" lens for any film format has a focal length the size of the diagonal of the format (for 35mm, a "normal" lens is about 50mm).
- off shoe/camera flash - flash photograpy when the stobe is not mount directly on the camera - can result in a more natural lighting effect.
- optical axis - The straight line which passes through the centers of curvature of the lens surfaces.
- panorama
- parallax - An effect in photography where the image seen in the viewfinder is not the same as the image seen through the lens.
- parallax error - the diference between what the photographer sees and what the camera takes. This is most evident in close up work when using a viewfinder that does not look through the taking lens.
- prosumer
- point-and-shoot - Camera designed to eliminate the user's need to make focus and exposure settings.
- polarizer - A filter that only allows light with a specific orientation to pass through it.
- portrait lens - in 35mm terms this is usually a prime lens in the 85mm to 135mm range.
- presure plate
- prime lens - a lens that is set to a single focal length
- prismatic finder - the most common kind of viewfinder style found on SLRs. The viewing image is bounced through a path tracing a figure 4 through the prism turning the viewfinder image right ways up.
- QL - A Canon designation for film cameras using their "quick loading" feature.
R to Z
- rangefinder - A focusing mechanism in which two overlapping images are lined up on top of each other.
- rangefinder base - The distance between the viewfinder and rangefinder windows on a rangefinder camera.
- red eye
- ring flash
- rear curtain sync - In an SLR, firing of the flash at the moment before the rear curtain starts to close.
- saturation
- seamless background - backdrop used in studio photography that does not have a hard transition beteen the floor and the wall. Usually paper.
- scrim
- self-timer - A mechanism built into the shutter release, used to release the shutter after a set period of time.
- selenium
- sharpness
- shutter curtain - Most focal plane shutters are composed of two curtains; a front and rear curtain.
- shutter - The mechanism that opens and closes to make an exposure.
- shutter lag - See also shutter latency.
- shutter latency - The delay between the moment the shutter release is pressed and the moment the shutter actually opens.
- shutter priority - A metering method which recommends an aperture based on a selected shutter speed.
- shutter release - The mechanism (usually a button) that causes the shutter to open and close.
- shutter speed - The amount of time the shutter remains open.
- slave flash
- snoot
- soft box
- soft focus - a flatterring technique often used in portrait photography that deliberately adds blur to a lens. The blur hides blemishes and smooths wrinkles.
- soup
- split-prism
- spocket holes (film)
- slow sync
- SLR - "Single Lens Reflex."
- spot meter
- standard lens - See normal lens
- stereo and stereophotography
- stop down
- strap lugs
- strobe
- subminiature - a film format smaller than 24x36mm, or smaller than 18x24mm, depending on the authors
- sunny-16 rule - A light metering guideline that says proper exposure on a sunny day is f/16 at a shutter speed that is the reciprocal of your film speed.
- teleconverter
- telephoto - any lens longer than normal.
- tilt and shift lens
- TLR - "Twin Lens Reflex."
- toy camera - An inexpensive camera usually made almost entirely out of plastic (including the lens).
- trigger advance
- tripod - camera support with 3 legs.
- TTL - "Through the Lens."
- umbrella (shoot though and bounce)
- view camera - A large format camera that allows the geometric relationship between the film plane and the lens plane to be adjusted.
- viewfinder - The part of a camera you look through when composing your shot.
- viewfinder blackout - the time when the mirror in an SLR flips up to allow the film plane to be exposed during which the photographer cannot see anything through the viewfinder.
- vignetting - when part of the len's construction impedes on the film plane resulting in dark corners in the image.
- waistlevel finder - a view finder commonly found on TLRs and old SLRs in which the photographer looks down through a chimney to the image which is rendered back to front on a ground-glass screen.
- white balance
- wide-angle lens - a lens whose focal length is less than the "normal" length for the film format.
- zoom lens - a lens that adjusts to cover a range of focal lengths.