Jargon Buster
Know the terms used in digital photography
Anti-Shake
This is the latest technology and is extremely desirable on a digital
camera. Although it can never completely eliminate blurry photos, it can
increase your chances of taking a reasonable photo in poorer light.
Aperture
This is the opening inside the lens that is capable of varying the amount
of light entering the camera. Aperture diameter is expressed in f-stops.
(f stops/f number= focal length.) The lower the number, the larger the
aperture opening, so f2.8 is a larger light opening than f8. The advantage
of a large light opening, Is that this will allow the camera to operate
In lower light conditions without using flash.
Aperture Priority
Where the lens aperture is set and the camera automatically selects the
appropriate shutter speed. This gives the creative photographer a useful
tool to have more control over the camera.
Backing up
Making a copy of your precious image files, either to your computer or
to a portable memory device, so that you don’t lose them.
Buffer
A temporary camera storage area. So a camera with a large internal buffer
will be able to write your images to your memory card more quickly and
will enable you to take photos in rapid succession.
Charging dock
Some digital cameras come with a charging dock onto which the camera can
be placed. The dock allows easy connection to your computer for transferring
images and may provide connection to a power supply for recharging the
cameras batteries. Some docks also have the facility to print.
Compact camera
This term applies to any camera that is at least pocketable. The fashion
at the moment is to very small size and to use internal zoom technology.
This means the zooming lens does not stick out from the camera, taking
up extra room, but works internally like a periscope.
Compact Flash
The largest of all the memory cards, available with huge capacities but
mainly now only geared to the larger cameras and SLR types. Some cameras
have the ability to take Compact Flash cards and another type of memory
card.
Digital zoom
This is an undesirable function. The camera's software will electronically
enlarge part of the image like an optical zoom but without the quality.
Use at your peril! In a way, the camera is guessing what the subject looks
like closer up.
Dual-Format cards
SD and MMC are dual-format memory cards. They are popular and readily
available as they are also used in some mobile phones. EVF
Electronic View-Finder
Fixed lens
A lens without a zoom. Only desirable if it is of the very wide angle
variety and your interest is landscape photography. Without a zoom lens
your photography will be very restricted.
Flash
Cameras that have a flash have the ability to give a brief burst of very
bright light to illuminate the subject. Cameras without inbuilt flash
are very restricted to good lighting only and are not popular, except
for very basic ones.
Hot shoe
A bracket on top of the camera that takes and external flash. For studio
photography this is essential to control the firing of the studio flash.
Some cameras have a pc slot instead.
Internal memory
The larger the internal memory a camera has, the more images you can store
on the camera without having to insert your memory card. Cameras with
internal memory alone are not as convenient as cameras with memory cards
as you are forced to physically connect your camera to your computer every
time you wish to download your images.
Jpeg/Tiff files
Jpeg files are the most common digital camera choice of image file format.
Jpeg files are compressed digital files and can vary in quality. The least
compression offers the best quality but, for the ultimate, you can save
the file as a Tiff, which is a non-compressed file format. File sizes
vary according to compression and non-compressed files.
Macro Mode/Lens
A close-up picture-taking ability. Some cameras have the ability to focus
on a subject as little as 1cm from the lens. If you love taking close-ups
of flowers or insects you need this on a camera. The symbol on the camera
is usually a flower.
Manual mode
The setting that allows the photographer to overide all the cameras progammed
functions and to be more creative. Must be used in the studio.
Megapixel
One million pixels. You should only consider a camera with at least 8
million pixels if you want to see you images as you remember the original
scenes!
Memory Card
A camera image storage card that can come in many formats. The card is
inserted into the camera so that it can store your photos. Then it is
removed for downloading onto your computer or for digital printing. See
also downloading, Pictbridge and card reader.
Memory Stick
A type of memory card developed by Sony, reminiscent of a stick of chewing
gum! Also available in high capacity PRO and DUO Formats. Mainly featured
in Sony cameras, although Samsung have some cameras that also use this
format.
Optical zoom
This is a very desirable function. It allows the camera's lens to change
smoothly from a long shot to a close-up or vice versa by varying the focal
length. The bigger the quoted optical zoom the nearer to the subject you
will be able to get without physically moving. Three times (usually shown
as x3) optical zoom is the norm, so anything over this is a bonus.
PictBridge
Pictbridge is a printing protocol that allows a digital camera to connect
directly to an enabled printer. (usually via a supplied USB cable.) Options
such as tagging for print, quantity and quality can be selected on the
camera (via the camera's LCD screen) for easy PC free printing.
Pixels
An abbreviation of ‘picture element’ and is a minute area of illumination
on a digital display screen. A megapixel camera has one million light-sensitive
pixels.
Portable storage media
The latest portable storage devices come with huge memory capacities and
can even have a viewing screen. This means you can download your images
from your memory card to them and store them. Think of them as electronic
photo albums. See also Memory card
RAW
An image format where the camera does not alter the data or process it.
This format needs to be processed by you when downloaded from the camera.
Not many printers can at present interpret the data in RAW image files
as the data is specific to the camera. Photoshop and Lightbox now seem
to manage most.
Red-eye, Anti-Red-eye, Red-eye Reduction
The nasty bright red-eye phenomenon seen on images where a flash has picked
up the reflection of the back of the person’s retina and given them the
possessed look! Anti-red-eye is either a special kind of flash (usually
two flashes) or a red beam that shines out from the camera. Some cameras
have in-camera processing where redeye is identified and removed.
Secure Digital
Shortened to SD, this is a memory card about the size of a postage stamp
and is very popular. SD cards come in a range of memory capacities now
up to 8 gigabytes. This means it can store thousands of images.
Sensitivity
This is a measure of the camera’s ability to respond to light.
Shutter Priority
This is a system used in cameras in which the shutter speed is selected
by the user and the appropriate aperture is then set by the camera. This
feature is for creative and advanced photographers.
Snapshot Mode
Usually a totally automatic mode, where all the user has to do is press
the shutter to take a photo.
Sports Mode
A nice feature on a camera, which enables you to set a fast shutter speed
(and appropriate aperture) to freeze fast action.
USB
Universal Serial Bus, the most common type of connection on digital cameras.
USB2 is the latest faster version.
White Balance
Cameras have to deal with various lighting situations and this is a function
that compensates for different colours of light. For instance, household
lighting is very different from sunshine; some cameras read the colour
of the light and adjust automatically to compensate.
WiFi enabled
This is the most recent new technology for cameras and means a WiFi equipped
camera can download its images wirelessly to either your WiFi enabled
computer or to a WiFi printer. No wires! No leads! No connectors!
XD Card
Developed by Fuji and Olympus, this card is seriously tiny, but still
can have a huge storage capacity.
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