Your Camera - Basic Vocabulary

What follows are notes from a lecture I give on the basic vocabulary of digital photography in my Continuing/Adult Education class.

- Camera Portability
Weight, size, etc. Varies from camera to camera and company to company.

(nikon.com)


- Instruction Manual
All cameras come with an instruction manual, but does anyone read these things? You should!


- Camera Software
Example: Nikon View for Nikon Cameras Generally speaking, company provided (FREE) software is useless but can be very important if you have a driver problem with your computer/camera. Keep it handy! Unless your instruction manual says otherwise, plug your camera into your computer and see what happens! I find you rarely need to install the software shipped with the camera. Your use may vary! Please note: Free, great software does exist, but it rarely comes from Nikon, Canon, etc.


- Manufacturer’s Website
Example:
http://www.usa.canon.com/home
http://www.nikonusa.com/
http://www.kodak.com/

Occasionally helpful, especially if you need a driver or troubleshooting help.


- Megapixels
The term “megapixel” refers to the number of pixels a digital camera’s sensor can record. One megapixel equals one million pixels. The more megapixels a camera has the more detail it can record. More pixels also allow images to be enlarged without losing quality and clarity.
Generally speaking, the following chart provides a rough estimate for enlargements (prints).

Mega-Pixels = (Good) Print Size
2 mega-pixels = 5 x 6.7 inches
3 mega-pixels = 6.3 x 8.4 inches
4 mega-pixels = 7.1 x 9.5 inches
5 mega-pixels = 8.1 x 10.8 inches
6 mega-pixels = 8.5 x 12.8 inches
8 mega-pixels = 10.88 x 8.16 inches
10 mega-pixels = 12.91 x 8.64 inches
12 mega-pixels = 14.30 x 9.34 inches

It should be noted that megapixels are not necessarily the only factor that determines image quality. High quality lens glass also contributes or detracts from image detail.


- Shutter and Shutter Speeds
Shutter speed is the measure of how long the camera “looks” at the image you are taking. Shutter speed is measured in fractions of seconds. Typical shutter speeds are 1/60th (of a second), 1/125th, 1/200th, 1/500th, 1/1000th, and so on. This is not an exhaustive list. Shutter speeds can be measured in full seconds, minutes, or even hours. Ansel Adams, arguably the most famous photographer of all time, routinely created images with shutter speeds of hours!


(Ansel Adams)

Generally speaking, the slower the shutter speed, the longer the camera “looks” at the image and vice versa. Faster shutter speeds ensure your images will be clear and not blurry due to camera shake. As a rule, your shutter speeds should not go below 1/60th of a second without a tripod to steady the camera.


- F Stops/Aperture
This controls how much light is allowed into the camera (through the lens opening) and on to the digital sensor which records your image. This also controls how much of your photograph is in focus. Aperture is expressed in numbers. These numbers run from small (f1.8) to large (f22 or f32).


The smaller the number, the less “in focus” your photograph will be and the more light is allowed on to the camera sensor. A photograph taken at f1.8 will look like this:

The area you focus upon will be sharp and clear but the rest of the image (the background and foreground) will be unfocused.

On the other hand, a higher the number means less light is allowed to pass through the camera lens and the more “in focus” your photograph will be. For example, a photograph made at f22 would look like this:

Notice that the entire photograph, foreground, middle ground, and background, is in focus and sharp.

This effect is also known as “depth of field”.

Think of the small numbers as a “quick glance” and the larger numbers as a “careful study”. Which would have more details and clarity?


- ISO
Many of your cameras will allow you to change the ISO setting from 100 to 1600. Generally speaking, the lower the ISO, the higher the photo’s quality and clarity. ISO is a hold over from the traditional (silver-gelatin) days but it’s meaning has remained the same. Film is rated in terms of the sensitivity to light. The lower the ISO, the less sensitive the film would be to light. This is very desirable because it ensures great image quality but it requires more light to expose an image. This tends to create long shutter speeds which often require a tripod. I would recommend you kept this setting as low as possible to ensure the highest quality. If you are in a low light situation, and do not have a tripod, you may wish to experiment with a higher ISO but be warned: the higher the ISO, the more grainy and rough your image will appear.


- Focus
Focus refers to the act of manipulating the glass in the camera’s lens to create a sharp image. Many of your cameras will focus automatically. If you have a digital SLR, you have the option of allowing the camera to automatically focus the image for you or overriding the camera’s decision and focusing manually. Some “point and shoot” compact cameras have manual focus settings.


- Lens (size, zoom, speed, etc)
Lenses usually have several confusing numbers printed on them. For example, a lens that I use regularly is a “105 mm 1:2.8”. What does this mean? Without getting too deep into the physics of it all, the first number (105mm) refers to the focal length of the camera lens. This measures the distance between the center of the lens and the camera’s sensor when an image is focused. The smaller this number is, the wider the angle of the lens or, to put it another way, the more it can see.



Wedding photographers often use wide angle lens (small number) when photographing a wedding party so they can get everyone into the photograph.

Conversely, the larger this number the more focused the angle of the lens is. Sports photographers often use lenses in the 300 to 400 mm range to get tight shots of the action.

The second number (1:2.8) refers to the speed of the camera lens. This number (1:2.8) means that this particular lens can have a maximum sized lens opening (or aperture) of 2.8. Again, what “2.8” means is technical and relates back to physics. Generally speaking, the smaller this number, the “faster” the lens because it allows more light to the camera’s sensor. This translates into a sharper photograph when you are shooting in low light conditions.

Many of your cameras will have an “optical zoom” feature which allows you to have the best of both worlds. You can photograph at a wide angle at a wedding or zoom in to photography children playing soccer without changing lens (as you would with a digital SLR). Optical zoom lenses typically sacrifice some image quality. However, this is a small price to pay for the control and flexibility many modern cameras allow. I would recommend you stay away from using digital zoom. While optical zoom refers to glass and working parts in the lens, digital zoom is your camera’s best guess as to what the image would look like if you were to get closer. There is a major quality trade off with digital zoom that is, in my opinion, unacceptable.


- Flash (Modes)
If your camera has a flash, you can typically set it to prevent red eye. Some cameras allow the flash to be set in a variety of ways depending on lighting conditions.


- Diopter
When you look through you camera, it may appear blurry no matter how you focus it. Most cameras have a diopter that must first be configured to your particular eye. This is usually found around the eye pierce of the camera.

When you actually look through your camera’s viewfinder, you may see:

- Exposures remaining (memory left on card)
- Shooting Modes (shutter, aperture)
- Image quality setting
- Flash setting
- ISO setting
Example:



- Status Panel or LCD
Somewhere on your camera, usually on the top, you will find a LCD/Status Panel with lots of information about the current settings of your camera.


- Camera Menus
Your camera will have a menu feature that typically displays through the large viewing panel on the back of your camera. Your menu features will vary widely depending on the company and camera you choose.


Example:



- Light Meter
A light meter is a device built into your camera that observes the amount of light available and determines the proper exposure to make an photograph with true Kodak gray present. All modern cameras have a light meter. How much control you have over your meter depends on your camera. Many point and shoot camera do all exposure heavy lifting in the background for you automatically. Digital SLR have the option of an automatic exposure reading or can be switched over to more manual settings.


- Setting Button or “wheel”
- Portrait
- Landscape
- “Macro”
- Action
- Night
- Sunlight
- “M” (or manual)
- “S” (or shutter priority)
- “A” (or aperture priority)
- “P” (or “perfect”)



- Exposure Compensation
Exposure compensation allows for the manual override of your camera’s light meter in extreme lighting conditions. Can be useful, but is definitely a more advanced feature which can go completely unused until you have master the basic exposure settings on your camera.


- White Balance
Every light source has a color temperature to it (florescent lighting is greenish while normal household lighting is orange). White Balance refers to your camera’s attempt to determine how much red, green, and blue is required in the exposure to produce a standard shade of white somewhere in the photograph. Occasionally, the camera misreads the exposure and you get weird color hues where flesh tones look green or blue sky looks reddish.

White Balance should be left on automatic unless you are having a problem with specific exposures. If you run into a problem when you are photographing, I would recommend experimenting with different white balance settings until you have found something that looks close to normal and then use post production software (Photoshop, Picasa) to get it right after you download the image to your computer.


- File Size and Quality
Your camera will typically have several file size and quality settings. They may include:
- small .jpeg (Lowest quality - most photos on memory card - NEVER USE)
- medium .jpeg (Higher quality - less photos on memory card - NEVER USE)
- large .jpeg (Best quality – even less photos on memory card)
- .tiff (Large file – high quality – little compression quality loss)
- RAW file (Pure digital negative of your image with no camera settings imposed upon it – my personal recommendation for shooting)
- Raw and jpeg (Pure digital negative of your image with no camera settings imposed upon it with a .jpeg copy – useful if you need to quickly review an image in the camera – useless setting if you use Picasa)

Jpeg refers to a form of image compression.
image size tiff jpeg raw
5- megapixel image file 15.5 mb 1.5 mb 7.8 mb
compression ratio 1:1 10:0 2:1

When you photograph using .jpeg image compression, it shrinks your image down to a smaller size for storage on your memory card. This allows more photos to fit on the card. However, the trade off occurs when you open the image for viewing. This dramatic compression of your photo files causes small amounts of image data to be lost which shows up in the details of your image.


Other Miscellaneous Camera Features:

- Deleting Files from your Camera
Different on each camera but all digital cameras have this option!


- Internal Camera “fixes” like auto sharpen, auto red-eye, etc
NEVER USE THEM! Almost all are terrible and get you into trouble.


- Memory Compartment
Located in various places on different cameras but all cameras have this compartment. Some cameras even have built in memory.


- Memory
The standard memory types are Compact Flash, Secure Digital (SD), or Micro Secure Digital (MSD). This is the brains of your camera and allows it to remember the photographs you took.


- Battery Compartment
Located in various places on different cameras but all cameras have this compartment. All cameras need power. Some cameras take traditional sized batteries (AA, or AAA) while many use proprietary batteries with special chargers.


- Charging/USB Compartment
Often times, cameras will have a protected compartment where you plug your camera into an electrical socket and your computer. In both cases, the camera company will provide proprietary connection cables.


- USB Cord/Card Reader
USB Cords/Card Readers are how your camera connects to a computer to download image files.


- Tripod Adaptor Located on the bottom of your camera and measures ¼ inch wide. Most cameras have this opening which allows a tripod to be screwed into the camera base.