Jargon busting!!!

[christhewriter]

Bokeh: Bokeh does not mean 'out of focus', as it is often used. Bokeh refers to the aesthetic quality of the out of focus areas. Bokeh is to out of focus as flavor is to food. That also means that 'good bokeh' is an opinion, although there are some things folks tend to agree look better than others.

Here is a website with examples demonstrating different flavors of bokeh.

Kiev Cameras

Thanks for sharing dude!

[Roshni]

Thanks ROB. I really appreciate as you provided list of jargon that I can definitely add to my notes as a beginner which can help me perfectly to understand terms from experts.

[shedi]

Twin lens reflex: A camera design that uses 2 lenses. One for the viewfinder and one to make the photo. A mirror is used to angle the projected lens upwards to the viewfinder which is on top of the camera.

Single lens reflex: A camera design that uses a mirror and prism to allow viewing and photographing through the same lens. The mirror retracts out of the way of the sensor or film when the exposure is made.

When the term "reflex" is used in a camera description it refers to the use of mirror to redirect the projection of the lens to a viewfinder.

Four Thirds and Micro Four Thirds: Standards in format size and lens mount to be used by multiple brands. The Four Thirds system was designed for DSLRs. The Micro Four Thirds system is designed for smaller cameras without a mirror or prism. The sensor format is still 4/3, but the lens mount differs.

Format size: The size of the frame of film or sensor. Some modern formats are 4/3, APS-C, 35mm, 6x4.5cm, 6x6cm, 6x7cm, and 4x5 inch.

Medium format: Commonly 6x4.5cm, 6x6cm, and 6x7cm, but usually refers to any format shot on 120 or 220 film (same width, a roll of 220 is twice as long): 4x4cm (Super Slides), 6x8cm, 6x9cm, 6x12cm, 6x17cm.... For digital it's any size sensor between 35mm and 4x5 (at least until some manufacturer starts referring to their smaller than 4x5 sensor as large format).

Large format: 4x5 inch and larger.

Full frame: This used to mean printed from the entire neg without cropping. Today it is more commonly used to refer to 35mm format.

Depth of field (DOF): The area of the photo that is in acceptable focus. DOF is influenced by aperture size, focusing distance, focal length, and format size. In most cameras the DOF (plane of focus) is always parallel to the film/sensor plane. View cameras and tilt-shift lenses allow the plane of focus to be adjusted.

Focal length: The distance between the rear nodal point and the film/sensor plane when the lens is focused on infinity. Focal length determines magnification in the camera.

F/stop: Focal length divided by the diameter of the entrance pupil (effective aperture size). You don't really need to know the math as long as you understand that f/2 is the same intensity of light on all lenses. The math explains why a small f/# is a large aperture, and vice versa.

Stop: A doubling or halving of the amount of light or exposure.

Reciprocity: There are 3 controls for exposure. ISO determines how much exposure is necessary. A doubling or halving of the ISO is one stop. ISO 200 is one stop more sensitive (needs 1/2 the light) than ISO 100, and one stop less sensitive (needs twice the light) than ISO 400. Shutter controls the length of the exposure. A doubling or halving of the shutter speed is one stop. 1/30th of a second is twice as much exposure as 1/60th. 1/60th is twice the exposure of 1/125th. Aperture controls light intensity, and is designated with a f-number or f/stop. Each doubling or halving of the f/# is two stops. F/4 is a quarter (2 stops means 2x2=4) of the exposure of f/2 and four times as much exposure as f/8.

ISO in 1 stop increments: ... 25 50 100 200 400 800 1600 3200 6400 12800 25600 ...
shutter speed in 1 stop increments: ... 1sec, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/15, 1/30, 1/60, 1/125, 1/250, 1/500, 1/1000, 1/2000, 1/4000 ...
aperture in 1 stop increments: ... f/1, f/1.4, f/2, f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, f/16, f/22, f/32, f/45, f/64 ...

Reciprocity just means that as you adjust one control to get a desired visual effect (DOF, freeze or blur motion, fine or coarse grain) you can change one or both others to even out the exposure. All of the following settings are the same exposure. As one change increases or decreases the amount of exposure the others are adjusted to even it out.

1/125th @ f/4 @ ISO 400
1/250th @ f/4 @ ISO 800
1/500th @ f/4 @ ISO 1600
1/125th @ f/5.6 @ ISO 800
1/60th @ f/4 @ ISO 200
1/30th @ f/5.6 @ ISO 200

Reciprocity failure: When using film shutter speed reciprocity starts breaking down at very long (>1 sec) and very short (

Thank your for sharing with us.

[adam32]

Thanks for sharing, ROB!

OK, I've not seen a topic like this around here, but the purpose of it is to explain all the 'jargon' (or fancy/unheard of words/letters) to the inexperienced user. The idea is that you post some things that you think may help people, I'll start...

SLR camera: (single lens reflex) A camera where you can change the lens.

Compact camera: A smaller camera where you cant change the lens

Super zoom camera A large camera where you cant change the lens, but it has much larger zooming capability's than compacts.

Micro four thirds camera: A smaller version of an slr camera.

foreground: what is at the front of the picture.

background: opposite of above.

Focus: how sharp/soft a part of an image is, e.g "the background is out of focus" meaning the background is softer than the foreground.

ISO sensitivity: how sensitive the sensor is in your camera to light, so a high ISO (say, 3200) will be able to produce brighter pictures in lower light, But ISO 50 would produce darker pictures in low light.


Image noise: Grains that can appear on your pictures when using higher ISO's, for an example see this link


aperture: how much light a lens lets enter into it, apertures will look something like this. A wide open aperture will be around f2.0, this will brighten the picture and blur out the background, and a more closed aperture will be around f16, this will darken the picture and keep more things in focus

shutter speed: how long the sensor is exposed to light, fast shutter speeds are used for sports photography, and slow shutter speeds are used for things like waterfall pictures. note: when using fast shutter speeds in low light, the picture may turn out very dark.

P: found on the mode dial on top of most digital SLR cameras and some compacts, it means programme, and gives you a bit more control over your picture than using automatic.

A: found on the mode dial on top of most digital SLR cameras, it means aperture priority, so you manually select the aperture, and the camera will choose the right shutter speed.

S: found on the mode dial on top of most digital SLR cameras, it means shutter priority, so you manually select the shutter speed, and your camera will choose the right aperture.

M: found on the mode dial on top of most digital SLR cameras and some compacts, it means you have FULL control over your camera, so you can select the shutter speed, aperture etc...

Optical zoom: How far a lens can zoom without having to use digital zoom (see below)

Digital zoom: when the lens on a compact camera cant zoom in any further, digital zoom may be used, all it is doing is zooming in on the pixels and reducing the resolution and image quality of the picture, so STAY AWAY FROM IT!

Post processing: If a photo is noisy/underexposed etc... The photographer may fix his photo on a programme such as photoshop before selling/previewing.

Panorama: a picture consisting of 5 or so images 'stitched' together to make a much wider image (see this)



thanks to henry peach for all of the following:

Bokeh: Bokeh does not mean 'out of focus', as it is often used. Bokeh refers to the aesthetic quality of the out of focus areas.

Format size: The size of the frame of film or sensor. Some modern formats are 4/3, APS-C, 35mm, 6x4.5cm, 6x6cm, 6x7cm, and 4x5 inch.

Medium format: Commonly 6x4.5cm, 6x6cm, and 6x7cm, but usually refers to any format shot on 120 or 220 film (same width, a roll of 220 is twice as long): 4x4cm (Super Slides), 6x8cm, 6x9cm, 6x12cm, 6x17cm.... For digital it's any size sensor between 35mm and 4x5 (at least until some manufacturer starts referring to their smaller than 4x5 sensor as large format).

Large format: 4x5 inch and larger.

Full frame: This used to mean printed from the entire neg without cropping. Today it is more commonly used to refer to 35mm format.

Depth of field (DOF): The area of the photo that is in acceptable focus. DOF is influenced by aperture size, focusing distance, focal length, and format size. In most cameras the DOF (plane of focus) is always parallel to the film/sensor plane. View cameras and tilt-shift lenses allow the plane of focus to be adjusted.

Focal length: The distance between the rear nodal point and the film/sensor plane when the lens is focused on infinity. Focal length determines magnification in the camera.

F/stop: Focal length divided by the diameter of the entrance pupil (effective aperture size). You don't really need to know the math as long as you understand that f/2 is the same intensity of light on all lenses. The math explains why a small f/# is a large aperture, and vice versa.

Stop: A doubling or halving of the amount of light or exposure.

Reciprocity: There are 3 controls for exposure. ISO determines how much exposure is necessary. A doubling or halving of the ISO is one stop. ISO 200 is one stop more sensitive (needs 1/2 the light) than ISO 100, and one stop less sensitive (needs twice the light) than ISO 400. Shutter controls the length of the exposure. A doubling or halving of the shutter speed is one stop. 1/30th of a second is twice as much exposure as 1/60th. 1/60th is twice the exposure of 1/125th. Aperture controls light intensity, and is designated with a f-number or f/stop. Each doubling or halving of the f/# is two stops. F/4 is a quarter (2 stops means 2x2=4) of the exposure of f/2 and four times as much exposure as f/8.

ISO in 1 stop increments: ... 25 50 100 200 400 800 1600 3200 6400 12800 25600 ...
shutter speed in 1 stop increments: ... 1sec, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/15, 1/30, 1/60, 1/125, 1/250, 1/500, 1/1000, 1/2000, 1/4000 ...
aperture in 1 stop increments: ... f/1, f/1.4, f/2, f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, f/16, f/22, f/32, f/45, f/64 ...

Reciprocity just means that as you adjust one control to get a desired visual effect (DOF, freeze or blur motion, fine or coarse grain) you can change one or both others to even out the exposure. All of the following settings are the same exposure. As one change increases or decreases the amount of exposure the others are adjusted to even it out.

1/125th @ f/4 @ ISO 400
1/250th @ f/4 @ ISO 800
1/500th @ f/4 @ ISO 1600
1/125th @ f/5.6 @ ISO 800
1/60th @ f/4 @ ISO 200
1/30th @ f/5.6 @ ISO 200

Reciprocity failure: When using film shutter speed reciprocity starts breaking down at very long (>1 sec) and very short (

[John Mincey]

Thanks a lot. You just have cleared all of my doubt man.