Cameras, Formats & Systems
60 terms · page 2 of 3
Flange Focal Distance
The distance from a camera's lens mounting flange to the sensor or film plane.
Cameras, Formats & SystemsFocal-plane Shutter
A shutter made of two curtains that travel across the sensor just in front of it, exposing the frame as a moving slit at high speeds.
Cameras, Formats & SystemsFull Frame
A sensor the same size as a 35 mm film negative, 36 by 24 millimetres, treated as the reference format for focal length and depth of field.
Cameras, Formats & SystemsGimbal Head
A tripod head that supports a long lens at its centre of gravity, letting it swing weightlessly in two axes.
Cameras, Formats & SystemsGlobal Shutter
An electronic shutter that starts and stops the exposure for every photosite at exactly the same instant.
Cameras, Formats & SystemsHalf-frame Format
A 35 mm format using an 18 by 24 millimetre vertical frame, doubling the number of exposures on a roll.
Cameras, Formats & SystemsHot Shoe
The standardised bracket on top of a camera that both holds an accessory and provides electrical contacts to trigger it.
Cameras, Formats & SystemsHybrid Viewfinder
A finder that can switch between an optical view and an electronic one, or overlay electronic information on the optical image.
Cameras, Formats & SystemsInstant Camera
A camera that exposes and develops a self-contained print within a minute of the shutter firing.
Cameras, Formats & SystemsL-bracket
An L-shaped plate that lets a camera be mounted on a tripod head in either horizontal or vertical orientation without tilting the head.
Cameras, Formats & SystemsLarge Format
Sheet-film photography at 4×5 inches and above, using individually loaded sheets and a camera with full movements.
Cameras, Formats & SystemsLeaf Shutter
A shutter built into the lens from overlapping blades that open from the centre outward and close the same way.
Cameras, Formats & SystemsLens Adapter
A ring or unit that lets a lens designed for one mount be fitted to a body with a different one.
Cameras, Formats & SystemsLens Mount
The mechanical and electronic interface that couples a lens to a camera body.
Cameras, Formats & SystemsLive View
A mode that shows a continuous sensor feed on the rear screen instead of, or as well as, the viewfinder.
Cameras, Formats & SystemsMedium Format
Any format larger than 35 mm but smaller than 4×5 inches, covering film frames from 6×4.5 to 6×17 cm and digital sensors around 44×33 mm.
Cameras, Formats & SystemsMicro Four Thirds
An open sensor and mount standard using a 17.3 by 13 millimetre sensor with a 4:3 aspect ratio and a 2× crop factor.
Cameras, Formats & SystemsMirror Lock-up
A function that raises an SLR's mirror in a separate step before the shutter fires, so its vibration has time to settle.
Cameras, Formats & SystemsMirrorless Camera
An interchangeable-lens camera with no reflex mirror, where the sensor feeds an electronic viewfinder or rear screen directly.
Cameras, Formats & SystemsMonopod
A single-legged support that removes vertical camera shake while leaving the photographer free to move and pan.
Cameras, Formats & SystemsOne-inch Type Sensor
A sensor measuring about 13.2 by 8.8 millimetres, with a crop factor near 2.7×, common in premium compacts and drones.
Cameras, Formats & SystemsOptical Viewfinder
A finder that shows the scene by direct optical path rather than on a screen.
Cameras, Formats & SystemsPentamirror
A lighter, cheaper alternative to the pentaprism using a hollow arrangement of mirrors to perform the same image correction.
Cameras, Formats & SystemsPentaprism
A solid five-sided glass prism above an SLR's focusing screen that corrects the image left-to-right and presents it at eye level.