Camera

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Camera (disambiguation).

Cameras from large to small, film to digital

A camera is a device that records/stores images. These images may be still photographs or moving
images such as videos or movies. The term camera comes from the camera obscura(Latin for "dark
chamber"), an early mechanism for projecting images. The modern camera evolved from the camera
obscura.

Cameras may work with the light of the visible spectrum or with other portions of theelectromagnetic
spectrum. A camera generally consists of an enclosed hollow with an opening (aperture) at one end
for light to enter, and a recording or viewing surface for capturing the light at the other end. A majority of
cameras have a lens positioned in front of the camera's opening to gather the incoming light and focus all
or part of the image on the recording surface. Most 20th century cameras used photographic film as a
recording surface, while modern ones use an electronic camera sensor. The diameter of the aperture is
often controlled by a diaphragm mechanism, but some cameras have a fixed-size aperture.

A typical still camera takes one photo each time the user presses the shutter button. A typical movie
camera continuously takes 24 film frames per second as long as the user holds down the shutter button, or
until the shutter button is pressed a second time.

Contents
 [hide]

1 History

2 Mechanics

o 2.1 Image capture

o 2.2 Lens

o 2.3 Focus

o 2.4 Exposure control
 o 2.5 Shutters

 2.5.1 Comp

lexities

3 Film formats

4 Camera accessories

5 Camera designs

o 5.1 Plate camera

o 5.2 Large format

camera

o 5.3 Medium format

camera

o 5.4 Folding camera

o 5.5 Box camera

o 5.6 Rangefinder

camera

o 5.7 Single-lens reflex

o 5.8 Twin-lens reflex

o 5.9 Ciné camera

6 Image gallery

7 See also

o 7.1 Types

o 7.2 Brands

o 7.3 Other

8 References

9 External links

[edit]History

Main article:  History of the camera

Camera obscura.

The forerunner to the camera was the camera obscura.[1] It was a dark chamber (in Latin, acamera
obscura, demonstrating the etymology),[2] "consist[ing] of a darkened chamber or box, into which light is
admitted through a pinhole (later a convex lens), forming an image of external objects on a surface of
paper or glass, etc., placed at the focus of the lens". [2] In the 6th century, Greek mathematician and
architect Anthemius of Tralles used a type of camera obscura in his experiments.[3] The camera obscura
was described by the Arabic scientist Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) in his Book of Optics (1015–1021).
[4]
 Scientist-monk Roger Bacon also studied the matter.[5] The actual name of camera obscura was applied
by mathematician and astronomer Johannes Kepler in his Ad Vitellionem paralipomena of 1604. He later
added a lens and made the apparatus transportable, in the form of a tent. [6][7] English scientist Robert
Boyleand his assistant Robert Hooke developed a portable camera obscura in the 1660s. [8]

The first camera obscura that was small and portable enough for practical use was built byJohann Zahn in
1685. At this time there was no way to preserve the images produced by these cameras apart from
manually tracing them. However, in 1724, Johann Heinrich Schultzdiscovered that a silver and chalk
mixture darkens under exposure to light. Early photography built on these discoveries and developments.
The early photographic cameras were essentially similar to Zahn's camera obscura, though usually with the
addition of sliding boxes for focusing. Before each exposure, a sensitized plate would be inserted in front of
the viewing screen to record the image. The first permanent photograph was made in 1826 by Joseph
Nicéphore Niépce using a sliding wooden box camera made by Charles and Vincent Chevalier in Paris and
building on Johann Heinrich Schultz's discovery about silver and chalk mixtures darkening when exposed
to light. Jacques Daguerre's popular daguerreotype process utilized copper plates, while
the calotype process invented by William Fox Talbot recorded images on paper.
The first permanent color photograph, taken by James Clerk Maxwell in 1861.

The development of the collodion wet plate process by Frederick Scott Archer in 1850 cut exposure times
dramatically, but required photographers to prepare and develop their glassplates on the spot, usually in a
mobile darkroom. Despite their complexity, the wet-plateambrotype and tintype processes were in
widespread use in the latter half of the 19th century. Wet plate cameras were little different from previous
designs, though there were some models, such as the sophisticated Dubroni of 1864, where the sensitizing
and developing of the plates could be carried out inside the camera itself rather than in a separate
darkroom. Other cameras were fitted with multiple lenses for making cartes de visite. It was during the wet
plate era that the use of bellows for focusing became widespread.

The first color photograph was made by Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell, with the help of English
inventor and photographer Thomas Sutton, in 1861[9]

The electronic video camera tube was invented in the 1920s, starting a line of development that eventually
resulted in digital cameras, which largely supplanted film cameras after the turn of the 21st century.

[edit]Mechanics

[edit]Image capture
see also  Photographic lens design

19th century studio camera, with bellows for focusing

Traditional cameras capture light onto photographic film or photographic plate. Video anddigital

cameras use an electronic image sensor, usually a charge coupled device (CCD) or aCMOS sensor
to capture images which can be transferred or stored in a memory card or other storage inside the
camera for later playback or processing.

Cameras that capture many images in sequence are known as movie cameras or as ciné 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 video camera is a category
of movie camera that captures images electronically (either using analogue or digital technology).

[edit]Lens

Main articles: Photographic lens and Photographic lens design

The lens of a camera captures the light from the subject and brings it to a focus on the film or
detector. The design and manufacture of the lens is critical to the quality of the photograph being
taken. The technological revolution in camera design in the 19th century revolutionized optical glass
manufacture and lens design with great benefits for modern lens manufacture in a wide range of
optical instruments from reading glasses to microscopes. Pioneers included Zeiss and Leitz.

Camera lens are made in a wide range of focal lengths. They range from extreme wide angle, wide
angle, standard, medium telephoto and telephoto. Each lens is best suited a certain type of
photography. The extreme wide angle may be preferred for architecturebecause it has the capacity to
capture a wide view of a building. The normal lens, because it often has a wide aperture, is often
used for street and documentary photography. The telephoto is useful for sports, and wildlife but they
are more susceptible to camera shake.[10]

[edit]Focus

Auto-focus systems can capture a subject a variety of ways; here, the focus is on the person's image in the
mirror.

Due to the optical properties of photographic lenses, only objects within a limited range of distances
from the camera will be reproduced clearly. The process of adjusting this range is known as changing
the camera's focus. There are various ways of focusing a camera accurately. The simplest cameras
have fixed focus and use a small aperture and wide-angle lens to ensure that everything within a
certain range of distance from the lens, usually around 3 metres (10 ft) to infinity, is in reasonable
focus. Fixed focus cameras are usually inexpensive types, such as single-use cameras. The camera
can also have a limited focusing range or scale-focus that is indicated on the camera body. The user
will guess or calculate the distance to the subject and adjust the focus accordingly. On some cameras
this is indicated by symbols (head-and-shoulders; two people standing upright; one tree; mountains).

Rangefinder cameras allow the distance to objects to be measured by means of a coupled parallax

unit on top of the camera, allowing the focus to be set with accuracy. Single-lens reflex cameras allow
the photographer to determine the focus and composition visually using the objective lens and a
moving mirror to project the image onto a ground glass or plastic micro-prism screen. Twin-lens reflex
cameras use an objective lens and a focusing lens unit (usually identical to the objective lens.) in a
parallel body for composition and focusing. View cameras use a ground glass screen which is
removed and replaced by either a photographic plate or a reusable holder containing sheet
film before exposure. Modern cameras often offer autofocus systems to focus the camera
automatically by a variety of methods.[11]

[edit]Exposure control
The size of the aperture and the brightness of the scene controls the amount of light that enters the
camera during a period of time, and the shutter controls the length of time that the light hits the
recording surface. Equivalent exposures can be made with a larger aperture and a faster shutter
speed or a corresponding smaller aperture and with the shutter speed slowed down.

[edit]Shutters

Main article:  Shutter (photography)

Although a range of different shutter devices have been used during the development of the camera
only two types have been widely used and remain in use today.

The Leaf shutter or more precisely the in-lens shutter is a shutter contained within the lens structure,
often close to the diaphragm consisting of a number of metal leaves which are maintained under
spring tension and which are opened and then closed when the shutter is released. The exposure
time is determined by the interval between opening and closing. In this shutter design, the whole film
frame is exposed at one time. This makes flash synchronisation much simpler as the flash only needs
to fire once the shutter is fully open. Disadvantages of such shutters are their inability to reliably
produce very fast shutter speeds ( faster than 1/500th second or so) and the additional cost and
weight of having to include a shutter mechanism for every lens.

The focal-plane shutter operates as close to the film plane as possible and consists of cloth curtains
that are pulled across the film plane with a carefully determined gap between the two curtains
(typically running horizontally) or consisting of a series of metal plates (typically moving vertically) just
in front of the film plan. The focal-plane shutter is primarily associated with the single lens reflex type
of camera's, since covering the film rather than blocking light passing through the lens allows the
photographer to view through the lens at all times except during the exposure itself. Covering the film
also facilitates removing the lens from a loaded camera (many SLR's have interchangeable lenses).

[edit]Complexities

Professional medium format SLR cameras (typically using 120/220 roll film) use a hybrid solution,
since such a large focal-plane shutter would be difficult to make and/or may run slowly. A manually
inserted blade known as a dark slide allows the film to be covered when changing lenses or film
backs. A blind inside the camera covers the film prior to and after the exposure (but is not designed to
be able to give accurately controlled exposure times) and a leaf shutter that is normally open is
installed in the lens. To take a picture, the leaf shutter closes, the blind opens, the leaf shutter opens
then closes again, and finally the blind closes and the leaf shutter re-opens (the last step may only
occur when the shutter is re-cocked).

Using a focal-plane shutter, exposing the whole film plane can take much longer than the exposure
time. The exposure time does not depend on the time taken to make the exposure over all, only on
the difference between the time a specific point on the film is uncovered and then covered up again.
For example an exposure of 1/1000 second may be achieved by the shutter curtains moving across
the film plane in 1/50th of a second but with the two curtains only separated by 1/20th of the frame
width. In fact in practice the curtains do not run at a constant speed as they would in an ideal design,
obtaining an even exposure time depends mainly on being able to make the two curtains accelerate
in a similar manner.

When photographing rapidly moving objects, the use of a focal-plane shutter can produce some
unexpected effects, since the film closest to the start position of the curtains is exposed earlier than
the film closest to the end position. Typically this can result in a moving object leaving a slanting
image. The direction of the slant depends on the direction the shutter curtains run in (noting also that
as in all cameras the image is inverted and reversed by the lens, i.e. "top-left" is at the bottom right of
the sensor as seen by a photographer behind the camera).

Focal-plane shutters are also difficult to synchronise with flash bulbs and electronic flash and it is

often only possible to use flash at shutter speeds where the curtain that opens to reveal the film
completes its run and the film is fully uncovered, before the second curtain starts to travel and cover it
up again. Typically 35mm film SLR's could sync flash at only up to 1/60th second if the camera has
horizontal run cloth curtains, and 1/125th if using a vertical run metal shutter.

[edit]Film formats

Main article:  Film formats

A wide range of film and plate formats have been used by cameras. In the early history plate sizes
were often specific for the make and model of camera although there quickly developed some
standardisation for the more popular cameras. The introduction of roll film drove the standardisation
process still further so that by the 1950s only a few standard roll films were in use. These
included 120 film providing 8, 12 or 16 exposures, 220 film providing 16 or 24 exposures, 127 film
providing 8 exposures (principally in Brownie cameras) and 35mm film providing 12, 20 or 36
exposures - or up to 72 exposures in bulk cassettes for the Leica Camera range.

For cine cameras, 35mm film was the original film format but 16mm film soon followed produced by
cutting 35mm in two. An early amateur format was 9.5mm. Later formats included 8mm
film and Super 8.

[edit]Camera accessories

Accessories for cameras are mainly for care, protection, special effects and functions.

 Lens hood: used on the end of a lens to block the sun or other light source in order to prevent
glare and lens flare.[12]

 Lens cover: covers and protects the lens during storage

 Lens adapter: sometimes called a step-ring, adapts the lens to other size filters

 Lens extension tubes allow close focus in macro photography

 Flash equipment: including light diffuser, mount and stand, reflector, soft box, trigger and cord

 Care and protection: including camera case and cover, maintenance tools, and screen protector

 Large format cameras use special equipment which includes magnifier loupe, view finder, angle
finder, focusing rail /truck.

 Battery and charger [13][14]

[edit]Camera designs
[edit]Plate camera
The earliest cameras produced in significant numbers used sensitised glass plates and are now
termed plate cameras. Light entered a lens mounted on a lens board which was separated from the
plate by an extendible bellows. Many of these cameras, had controls to raise or lower the lens and to
tilt it forwards or backwards to control perspective . Focussing of these plate cameras was by the use
of aground 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 focussing and composition to be carried out more easily. When focus and
composition were satisfactory, the ground glass screen was removed and a sensitised plate put in its
place protected by a dark slide (photography) . To make the exposure, the dark slide was carefully
slid out and the shutter opened and then closed and the dark-slide replaced. In current designs the
plate camera is best represented by the view camera.

[edit]Large format camera

Main article:  View camera
The large format camera is a direct successor of the early plate cameras and remain in use for high
quality photography and for technical, architectural and industrial photography. There are three
common types, the monorail camera, the field camera and the press camera. All use large format
sheets of film, although there are backs for medium format 120-film available for most systems, and
have an extensible bellows with the lens and shutter mounted on a lens plate at the front. These
cameras have a wide range of movements allowing very close control of focus and perspective.

[edit]Medium format camera

Main article:  Medium-format

Medium-format cameras have a film size somewhere in between the large format cameras and the
smaller 35mm cameras. Typically these systems use 120- or 220-film. The most common sizes being
6x4.5 cm, 6x6 cm and 6x7 cm. 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.

[edit]Folding camera
The introduction of films enabled the existing designs for plate cameras to be made much smaller and
for the base-plate to be hinged so that it could be folded up compressing the bellows. These designs
were very compact and small models were dubbed Vest pocketcameras.

[edit]Box camera
Main article:  Box camera

Box cameras were introduced as a budget level camera 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.

[edit]Rangefinder camera
Main article:  Rangefinder camera

As camera and lens technology developed and wide aperture lenses became more common, range-
finder cameras were introduced to make focussing more precise. The range finder has two separated
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.

[edit]Single-lens reflex
Main article:  Single-lens reflex camera
 Olympus E-420 Four Thirds entry-levelDSLR.

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 220/120
taking 8, 12 or 16 photographs on a 120 roll and twice that number of a 220 film. These correspond to
6x9, 6x6 and 6x4.5 respectively (all dimensions in cm). Notable manufacturers of large format SLR
include Hasselblad, Mamiya, Bronica and Pentax. However the most common format of SLRs has
been 35 mm and subsequently the migration to digital SLRs, using almost identical sized bodies and
sometimes using the same lens systems.

Almost all SLR used 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 flipped up out of
the light path before the shutter opened. Some early cameras experimented other methods of
providing through the lens viewing including the use of a semi transparent pellicle as in
the Canon Pellix [15] and others with a small periscope such as in theCorfield Periflex series.[16]

[edit]Twin-lens reflex
Main article:  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
focussed using the viewing screen and that under most circumstances the view seen in 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 TLR 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. Although most TLRs
used 120 or 220 film some used 127 film.

[edit]Ciné camera
Main article:  Movie camera

A ciné camera or movie camera takes a rapid sequence of photographs on 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 eyes and brain merge 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
remains in use to this day. Other professional standard formats include 70 mm film and 16mm
filmwhilst amateurs film makers used 9.5 mm film, 8mm film or Standard 8 and Super 8 before the
move into digital format.

The size and complexity of ciné cameras varies greatly depending on the uses required of the
camera. Some professional equipment is very large and too heavy to be hand held whilst some
amateur cameras were designed to be very small and light for single-handed operation. In the last
quarter of the 20th century camcorders supplanted film motion cameras for amateurs. Professional
video camerasdid the same for professional users around the turn of the century.

[edit]Image gallery

1921 Kodak

Opened up Cine Kodak, Silvestri Flexicam Voigtländer Brillant twin-lens

used 16mm movie film reflex camera.

1952 Voigtlander Vito II

Contax S of 1949 — the Asahiflex IIa of 1955 Kodak Retina IIIC of 1957
world's first pentaprismSLR

1988 A Soviet-era LOMO

Nikon F of 1959 — the first Voigtländer Vitoret of 1962 LC-A camera 2003 — Canon EOS 300D, a

35mm system camera model that sparked the

popularity of consumer-

level DSLRs

[edit]See also
[edit]Types

 Camera phone

 Digital camera

 Game camera

 IP camera

 Movie camera

 Pinhole camera

 Pocket camera

 Rangefinder camera

 Single-lens reflex camera

 Toy camera

 Trail camera

 Twin-lens reflex camera

 Video camera

 View camera
[edit]Brands

 AgfaPhoto

 Aigo

 Aiptek

 Alpa

 Argus (camera company)

 Asahiflex

 BenQ

 Bolex

 Bronica

 Canon (company)

 Carl Braun camera-werk

 Casio
 Contax

 Corfield

 Coronet Camera Company

 Diana camera

 Ducati Sogno

 Eastman Kodak

 Ebony cameras

 Edixa

 Exakta

 FED (camera)

 Fujica

 Fujifilm

 Gami

 Gateway, Inc.

 Graflex

 Hasselblad

 Hewlett-Packard

 Holga

 Honeywell

 Ilford Photo

 Kodak

 Konica Minolta

 Leica Camera

 Leidolf

 Linhof

 LOMO

 Lumix

 Mamiya

 Micro Precision Products

 Minolta

 Minox

 Miranda Camera Company

 Mustek Systems

 Newman & Guardia

 Nikon

 Olympus Corporation
 Oregon Scientific

 Panasonic

 Pentax

 Petri Camera

 Plaubel Makina

 Polaroid Corporation

 Praktica

 Reid and Sigrist

 Ricoh

 Rollei

 Samsung Group

 Seagull Camera

 Sharp

 Sigma Corporation

 Silvestri camera

 Sinar

 Sony

 Tessina

 Thornton-Pickard

 Topcon

 Vivitar

 Voigtländer

 Wray (lenses)

 Yashica

 Zeiss

 Zenit (camera)

 Zorki
[edit]Other

Photography portal

Film portal

 Flash (photography)

 Photographic filter

 Tripod (photography)

 Viewfinder

 cameras in mobile phones

Camera lens
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may
be challenged andremoved. (August 2010)

This article may be too technical for most readers to understand. Please improve this

article to make it understandable to non-experts, without removing the technical details.
(September 2010)

Different kinds of camera lenses, including wide angle, telephoto and speciality

A camera lens (also known as photographic lens, objective lens or photographic objective) is

an optical lens or assembly of lenses used in conjunction with a camera body and mechanism to make
images of objects either on photographic film or on other media capable of storing an image chemically or
electronically.

While in principle a simple convex lens will suffice, in practice a compound lens made up of a number of
optical lens elements is required to correct (as much as possible) the manyoptical aberrations that arise.
Some aberrations will be present in any lens system. It is the job of the lens designer to balance these out
and produce a design that is suitable for photographic use and possibly mass production.

There is no major difference in principle between a lens used for a still camera, a video camera,
a telescope, a microscope, or other apparatus, but the detailed design and construction are different.

A lens may be permanently fixed to a camera, or it may be interchangeable with lenses of different focal
lengths, apertures, and other properties.

Contents
 [hide]

1 History

2 Theory of operation

3 Construction

4 Aperture and focal length

5 The apparent influence of lens focal length on image

perspective
 6 Number of elements

7 Lens mounts

8 Types of lens

o 8.1 Close-up and macro

o 8.2 Zoom

o 8.3 Special-purpose

9 Lens designs

10 See also

11 References

12 External links

[edit]History

A Sigma 24mm f1.8, an example of a modern fast prime wide-angle lens

The first permanent images produced by Daguerre and Fox Talbot in 1830 were almost certainly made
using a single double convex lens which were in common use at that time inCamera obscuras. As
photography developed the simple lens was replaced by achromatic couplets taken from telescope
objectives. By 1840 Chevalier, a Parisian optician, andWollaston in Britain had developed meniscus
achromats. However in 1841 Voigtlander andProfessor Petzval from Vienna had developed and sold
commercially the first portrait lens comprising a cemented planoconvex couplet separated by a fixed
diaphragm from an air separated couplet at the rear. Modifications of this design were soon in production
byDallmeyer and Grubb. By 1885 lenses having an intermediate couplet instead of a diaphragm had been
introduced which became the model for the Dallmeyer triplet which has been the inspiration for many
lenses since.

The first modern doublet lens in which the aberrations of the outer elements was carefully balanced by the
corrective actions of the inner elements were designed by Ross and were subsequently developed by other
manufacturers to provide such lenses as the Zeiss Tessarand the Leitz Elmar.

Subsequent developments lead to the production of wide-angles lenses and a substantial increase in
effective aperture led by the work of Steinheil which enabled lenses with apertures as wide as f2.5 to be in
use by 1890.[1]

[edit]Theory of operation
Principle of a pinhole camera. Light rays from an object pass through a small hole to form an image.

Most camera lenses can be thought of as modified pinhole lenses. A pinhole lens would be excellent
except for a few serious limitations. They are limited in their resolution because, while geometric optics
states that making the pinhole smaller improves resolution, this also reduces the amount of entering light;
furthermore, diffraction limits the effectiveness of shrinking the hole. Most photographic lenses can be
thought of as an answer to the question "how can we modify a pinhole lens to admit more light and give
higher resolution?" A first step is to put a simple convex lens at the pinhole with a focal length equal to the
distance to the film plane (assuming the camera will take pictures of distant objects). This allows us to open
up the pinhole a bit. The geometry is almost the same as with a simple pinhole lens, but rather than being
illuminated by single rays of light, each image point is illuminated by a focused "pencil" of light rays.
Standing out in the world, you would see the small hole. This image is known as the entrance pupil: all rays
of light leaving an object point that enters this pupil will be focused to the same point on the film. If one
were inside the camera, one would see the lens acting as a projector. The image of aperture is the exit
pupil.

With a large pinhole, the image spot With a small pinhole, light is reduced and With a simple lens, much more light

is large, resulting in a blurry image. diffraction prevents the image spot from getting can be brought into sharp focus.

arbitrarily small.

Practical photographic lenses include more lens elements. The additional elements allow lens designers to
reduce various aberrations, but the principle of operation remains the same: pencils of rays are collected at
the entrance pupil and focused down from the exit pupil onto the image plane.

[edit]Construction

Main article:  Photographic lens design

The zoom lens assembly of the Canon Elph

A camera lens may be made from a number of elements: from one, as in the Box Brownie's meniscus lens,
to over 20 in the more complex zooms. These elements may themselves comprise a group of lenses
cemented together.

The front element is critical to the performance of the whole assembly. In all modern lenses the surface is
coated to reduce abrasion, flare, and surface reflectance, and to adjust color balance. To minimize
aberration, the curvature is usually set so that the angle of incidenceand the angle of refraction are equal.
In a prime lens this is easy, but in a zoom there is always a compromise.

The lens usually is focused by adjusting the distance from the lens assembly to the image plane, or by
moving elements of the lens assembly. To improve performance, some lenses have a cam system that
adjusts the distance between the groups as the lens is focused. Manufacturers call this different
things. Nikoncalls it CRC (close range correction), while Hasselblad calls it FLE (floating lens element)[1].

Glass is the most common material used to construct lens elements, due to its good optical properties and
resistance to scratching. Other materials are also used, such as quartz glass, fluorite,[2][3][4]
[5]
 plastics like acrylic (Plexiglass), and even germanium andmeteoritic glass.[6] Plastics allow the
manufacturing of strongly aspherical lens elements which are difficult or impossible to manufacture in
glass, and which simplify or improve lens manufacturing and performance. Plastics are not used for the
outermost elements of all but the cheapest lenses as they scratch easily. Molded plastic lenses have been
used for the cheapest disposable cameras for many years, and have acquired a bad reputation:
manufacturers of quality optics tend to use euphemisms such as "optical resin". However many modern,
high performance (and high priced) lenses from popular manufacturers include molded or hybrid aspherical
elements, so it is not true that all lenses with plastic elements are of low photographic quality.

The 1951 USAF resolution test chart is one way to measure the resolving power of a lens. The quality of
the material, coatings, and build affect the resolution. Lens resolution is ultimately limited by diffraction, and
very few photographic lenses approach this resolution. Ones that do are called "diffraction limited" and are
usually extremely expensive.[2]

Today, most lenses are multi-coated in order to minimize lens flare and other unwanted effects. Some
lenses have a UV coating to keep out the ultraviolet light that could taint color. Most modern optical
cements for bonding glass elements also block UV light, negating the need for a UV filter. UV
photographers must go to great lengths to find lenses with no cement or coatings.
A lens will most often have an aperture adjustment mechanism, usually an iris diaphragm, to regulate the
amount of light that passes. In early camera models a rotating plate or slider with different sized holes was
used. These Waterhouse stops may still be found on modern, specialized lenses. A shutter, to regulate the
time during which light may pass, may be incorporated within the lens assembly (for better quality imagery),
within the camera, or even, rarely, in front of the lens. Some cameras with leaf shutters in the lens omit the
aperture, and the shutter does double duty.

[edit]Aperture and focal length

How focal length affects photograph composition: adjusting the camera's distance from the main subject while changing
focal length, the main subject can remain the same size, while the other at a different distance changes size.
Large (top) and small (bottom) apertures on the same lens.

The two fundamental parameters of an optical lens are the focal length and the maximum aperture. The
lens' focal length determines the magnification of the image projected onto the image plane, and the
aperture the light intensity of that image. For a given photographic system the focal length determines
the angle of view, short focal lengths giving a wider field of view than longer focal length lenses. The wider
the aperture, identified by a smaller f-number, allows using a faster shutter speed for the same exposure. [7]

The maximum usable aperture of a lens is specified as the focal ratio or f-number, defined as the lens'focal
length divided by the effective aperture (or entrance pupil), a dimensionless number. The lower the f-
number, the higher light intensity at the focal plane. Larger apertures (smaller f-numbers) provide a much
shallower depth of field than smaller apertures, other conditions being equal. Practical lens assemblies may
also contain mechanisms to deal with measuring light, secondary apertures for flare reduction, [3] and
mechanisms to hold the aperture open until the instant of exposure to allow SLRcameras to focus with a
brighter image with shallower depth of field, theoretically allowing better focus accuracy.

Focal lengths are usually specified in millimetres (mm), but older lenses might be marked
incentimetres (cm) or inches. For a given film or sensor size, specified by the length of the diagonal, a lens
may be classified as a:

 Normal lens: angle of view of the diagonal about 50° and a focal length approximately equal to the
image diagonal.

 Wide-angle lens: angle of view wider than 60° and focal length shorter than normal.

 Telephoto lens or long-focus lens: angle of view narrower and focal length longer than normal. A
distinction is sometimes made between a long-focus lens and a true telephoto lens: the telephoto lens
has a telephoto group to reduce the physical length of the objective.

Macro lens: special lens corrected optically for close-ups, e.g., for images to object ratios ranging from
about 1:10 to 1:1. and having a particularly flat image plane suitable for flat images. A macro lens may be
of any focal length, the actual focus length being determined by its practical use, considering magnification
the required ratio, access to the subject and illumination considerations.

28 mm lens 50 mm lens 70 mm lens 210 mm lens

An example of how lens choice affects angle of view. The photos above were taken by a 35 mm camera at
a constant distance from the subject.
A side effect of using lenses of different focal lengths is the different distances from which a subject can be
framed, resulting in a different perspective. Photographs can be taken of a person stretching out a hand
with a wideangle, a normal lens, and a telephoto, which contain exactly the same image size by changing
the distance from the subject. But the perspective will be different. With the wideangle, the hands will be
exaggeratedly large relative to the head. As the focal length increases, the emphasis on the outstretched
hand decreases. However, if pictures are taken from the same distance, and enlarged and cropped to
contain the same view, the pictures will have identical perspective. A moderate long-focus (telephoto) lens
is often recommended for portraiture because the perspective corresponding to the longer shooting
distance is considered to look more flattering.

[edit]The apparent influence of lens focal length on image perspective

Although in practice a photographer intuitively perceives a natural relation between perspective and the
focal lengths he is using, no such relation actually exists. The immediate reason for this impression is that
lenses of different angles of view may be used differently; wide-angle lenses tend to be used close-up and
telephoto lenses for photographing distant motives. Cameras or lenses with tilt/swing facilities don't really
change perspective, but rather distort the image by oblique projection onto the image plane. The only factor
controlling the perspective is the distance from the motive to the lens' front nodal point. Anyone can check
this fact by doing some fundamental geometric sketching on a piece of paper.

An example illustrating this is the "portrait" lens. It typically has a field of view that includes a person's head
and shoulder in the image at a favourable distance, e.g. ten feet or so. At such distance, the features in the
face are rendered in reasonable proportions, without too much emphasis on any single feature, like the
nose. The closer the camera gets, the larger the closest features appear to be.

Photographing a distant scene with a wide-angle lens will yield the exact same "compressed" perspective
associated with a telephoto lens; enlarging the same section of the wide-angle image as that photographed
with the latter will confirm this fact. When it comes to looking at a picture, the distance from which it is
viewed will also influence the way in which it is perceived. The perspective in the image will determine the
most agreeable viewing distance.[8]

[edit]Number of elements

Main article:  Photographic lens design

Distinct reflections are visible from the surfaces of different lens elements in this 45mm f/2 MD-Rokkor lens. The lens
contains 6 elements in 5 groups.

The complexity of a lens—the number of elements and their degree of asphericity—depends upon the
angle of view and the maximum aperture, among other variables including intended price point. An extreme
wideangle lens of large aperture must be of very complex construction to correct for optical aberrations,
which are worse at the edge of the field and when the edge of a large lens is used for image-forming. A
long-focus lens of small aperture can be of very simple construction to attain comparable image quality; a
doublet (with two elements) will often suffice. Some older cameras were fitted with "convertible" lenses of
normal focal length; the front element could be unscrewed, leaving a lens of twice the focal length and
angle of view, and half the aperture. The simpler half-lens was of adequate quality for the narrow angle of
view and small relative aperture. Obviously the bellows had to extend to twice the normal length.

Good-quality lenses with maximum aperture no greater than f/2.8 and fixed, normal, focal length need at
least three (triplet) or four elements (the trade name "Tessar" derives from theGreek tessera, meaning
"four"). The widest-range zooms often have fifteen or more. The reflection of light at each of the many
interfaces between different optical media (air, glass, plastic) seriously degraded the contrast and color
saturation of early lenses, zoom lenses in particular, especially where the lens was directly illuminated by a
light source. The introduction many years ago of optical coatings, and advances in coating technology over
the years, have resulted in major improvements, and modern high-quality zoom lenses give images of quite
acceptable contrast, although zoom lenses with many elements will transmit less light than lenses made
with fewer elements (all other factors such as aperture, focal length, and coatings being equal)[4].

[edit]Lens mounts

Main article:  Lens mount

Many Single-lens reflex cameras, and some rangefinder cameras have detachable lenses. A few other
types do as well, notably the Mamiya TLR cameras. The lenses attach to the camera using a lens mount,
which often also contains mechanical or electrical linkages between the lens and camera body. The lens
mount is an important issue for compatibility between cameras and lenses; each major camera
manufacturer typically has their own lens mount which is incompatible with others; notable exceptions are
the Leica M39 lens mount for rangefinders, M42 lens mount for early SLRs, the later Pentax K mount, and
the Four Thirds System mount for dSLRs, all of which are used by multiple camera brands. Most large-
format cameras take interchangeable lenses as well, which are usually mounted in a lensboard or on the
front standard.

[edit]Types of lens
[edit]Close-up and macro
The conventional approach photographing small things, like a model railway, is to use a macro lens on a
35mm SLR camera. Although this is a small format equipment, it has far too big image sensor and much
too long focal length, usually in the region of 100mm, to obtain a realistic result. The depth-of-field is very
narrow. The macro lens is primarily a sophisticated lens corrected for close focusing with a particularly flat
field of focus, suitable for flat objects like stamps. To actually go into the miniature model and photograph
realistically one needs photo equipment reduced to the same scale as the model subject. This becomes
possible as smaller high quality image sensors become available, using lenses of only a few millimetres
focal length: Short focal length lenses for small environments.

Another point to consider is the actual focal length when taking a picture. This is not the parameter the
designer decides upon at the outset calculating the lens, assuming the image is far away and all light rays
entering the lens is parallel, this is an ideal situation and seldom the actual case. The photographer moves
the lens back and forth to obtain what he reckons to be the best position to render the image sharp, in
doing so he uses the lens at a different focal length than that which is inscribed on the lens itself. However,
it is not only the focal length that changes, but the effective aperture as well; it is the ratio between the lens
opening diameter and the actual focused distance. When using bellows extension or intermediate rings
between the lens and the camera, the focal length may be much longer, resulting in a much smaller
maximum lens aperture, and a much narrower angle of view. A 50mm f/2.8 macro lens extended to 1:1
reproduction ratio has an effective focal length of 100mm and a maximum aperture of 5.6.

This leads to the effect the lens aperture has on the depth of field, the range in the motive rendered sharp
in the image: the larger the aperture the narrower is the depth of field. It is especially useful to consider this
effect in close-up photography since the consequence is that short focal length lenses give deeper depth-
of-field at larger relative apertures: An 80mm lens at f/8 gives same depth-of-field as a 14mm lens at f/1.4.
Stopping the 14mm lens down to f/8 gives an even greater depth-of-field, which is very useful in close-up
photography imaging miniature models.[9][10]

[edit]Zoom

Main article:  Zoom lens

Some lenses, called zoom lenses, have a focal length that varies as internal elements are moved, typically
by rotating the barrel or pressing a button which activates an electric motor. Commonly, the lens may zoom
from moderate wide-angle, through normal, to moderate telephoto; or from normal to extreme telephoto.
The zoom range is limited by manufacturing constraints; the ideal of a lens of large maximum aperture
which will zoom from extreme wideangle to extreme telephoto is not attainable. Zoom lenses are widely
used for small-format cameras of all types: still and cine cameras with fixed or interchangeable lenses. Bulk
and price limit their use for larger film sizes. Motorized zoom lenses may also have the focus, iris, and other
functions motorized.

[edit]Special-purpose
A tilt/shift lens, set to its maximum degree of tilt relative to the camera body.

 Apochromat (APO) lenses have added correction for chromatic aberration.

 Process lenses have extreme correction for aberrations of geometry (pincushion distortion, barrel

distortion) and are generally intended for use at a specific distance.

Process and apochromat lenses are normally of small aperture, and are used for extremely
accurate photographs of static objects. Generally their performance is optimized for subjects a few
inches from the front of the lens, and suffers outside this narrow range.

 Enlarger lenses are made to be used with photographic enlargers (specialised projectors), rather

than cameras.

 Lenses for aerial photography.

 Fisheye lenses: extreme wide-angle lenses with an angle of view of up to 180 degrees or more,
with very noticeable (and intended) distortion.

 Stereoscopic lenses, to produce pairs of photographs which give a 3-dimensional effect when
viewed with an appropriate viewer.

 Soft-focus lenses which give a soft, but not out-of-focus, image and have an imperfection-
removing effect popular among portrait and fashion photographers.

 Infrared lenses.

 Ultraviolet lenses.

 Swivel lenses rotate while attached to a camera body to give unique perspectives and camera
angles.

 Shift lenses and tilt/shift lenses (collectively perspective control lenses) allow special control
of perspective on SLR cameras by mimicking view camera movements.
[edit]Lens designs

Main article:  Photographic lens design

 A simple lens cleaning kit, consisting of a detergent, microfiber cloth, and an anti-dustairbrush.

Collapsible Leica rangefinder lens.

Some notable photographic optical lens designs are:

 Angenieux retrofocus

 Cooke triplet

 Double-Gauss

 Goerz Dagor

 Leitz Elmar

 Rapid Rectilinear

 Zeiss Tessar

 Zeiss Sonnar

 Zeiss Planar

Some lens manufacturers (2009):

 Canon

 Cosina

 Danubia

 Leica/Leitz

 Nikon

 Olympus
  Pentax

 Rodenstock

 Schneider Kreuznach

 Sigma Corporation

 Sony

 Tamron

 Tokina

 Zeiss

Canon EOS 300D

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

‹ The template below (Infobox digicam) is being considered for merging. See templates for discussion to help reach a consensus. ›

Canon EOS 300D/Digital Rebel

Type Single-lens reflex

Sensor 22.7 mm (0.9 in) ; 15.1 mm (0.6 in)CMOS

Maximumresolution 3,072 × 2,048 (6.3 megapixels)

Lens type Interchangeable (EF-S, EF)

Shutter Focal-plane shutter, all speeds electronically

controlled
Shutter speedrange 1/4,000 to 30 sec., bulb

Exposuremetering TTL, evaluative 35-zone, partial, center-

weighted

Exposure modes Full auto, programmed, shutter-priority,

aperture priority, manual

Metering modes Evaluative, Partial, C/Wgt Average

Focus areas 7 autofocus points

Focusmodes One-shot, AI Servo, AI Focus, Manual

Continuous shooting 2.5 frame/s, up to 4 frames

Viewfinder Optical, pentamirror

ASA/ISO range ISO 100–1600

Flash Auto pop-up E-TTL auto flash

Flash bracketing none

Focus bracketing none

Custom WB 6 presets, Auto and custom

WB bracketing ±3 levels

Rear LCD monitor 1.8 in (46 mm), 118,000 pixels

Storage CompactFlash(CF) (Type I or Type II) / max 8GB

Battery Li-Ion BP-511/512 rechargeable

Weight 694 g (body only)

Optional battery packs BG-E1

The Canon EOS 300D, manufactured by Canon marketed in North America as the EOS Digital Rebel and
in Japan as the EOS Kiss Digital, is a 6.3-megapixel entry-leveldigital single-lens reflex camera. It was
initially announced on 20 August, 2003 at a price point of $899 without lens, $999 with the "kit" lens. It is
part of the Canon EOSline of cameras. This was a significant milestone in digital cameras, as it was the
first digital SLR offered under $1000[citation needed].

The 300D polycarbonate bodies were originally available in silver color only, whereas the Japanese version
was also available in black. Later, black versions of the 300D were also released in the US and Europe.

[edit]Features

It is often regarded as the little brother of the prosumer Canon EOS 10D, which features virtually the
same CMOS image sensor and image processing chip. Several 10D features can be unlocked and used in
the 300D by using non-official operating software.

The 300D was the first camera to use the Canon EF-S lens mount. It also takes the EF lens mount lenses.
Canon introduced the EF-S 18-55mm as the kit lens alongside the 300D. It was available in a USM version
in Japan and as a non-USM version elsewhere. Very late production black 300D cameras were available
with the USM version in Europe.

[edit]References