Shopping on line can be easy, simple and save you lots of money. It can also take a lot of your time, frustrate you, and result in unwanted purchases. Now the same can be said for regular high street shopping, but with the vast opportunity presented by the Internet it will pay you to spend a few minutes reading this and understanding how to better optimize your Camera shopping experience:
1. Compare - without doubt the biggest advantage that the Camera offers shoppers today is the ability to compare thousands of Camera at a time. This is a great thing, but not necessarily all the time! Too much can be daunting at times so take advantage of the great comparison sites and where possible let them do the hard work for you.
2. Research - if it has been said it will be on the internet. Ignorance is no longer a justifiable reason for buying the wrong thing. Take the time to research in detail everything that you could possible want to know about
3. Testimonials - don't know anybody that has bought a Camera? Wrong! If the Camera is good the internet will let you know. Use the Internet as a friend and get testimonials before you buy.
4. Questions - Got a question about Camera then search the Forums, FAQ's, Blogs etc. Don't be afraid to ask .....
5. Reputation - Never heard of the company selling Camera? Don't worry, no reason why you should know every company in the world, but you know someone that does! Use the internet to find out what people are saying about Camera and build up a picture of their reputation for sales, returns, customer service, delivery etc.
6. Returns - still worried that even after all of the above your Camera wont be what you want? Check out the returns policy. There is so much competition now that someone, somewhere is bound to offer the terms that you are comfortable with.
7. Feedback - happy with your Camera then let people know, after all you are depending on others people input in your buying decision, so why not give a little back.
8. Security - check for the yellow padlock on the Camera site before you buy, and the s after http:/ /i.e. https:// = a secure site
9. Contact - got a question about Camera, or want to leave a comment then check out the sites contact page. Reputable companies have them and respond.
10. Payment - ready to pay for your Camera, then use your credit card or PayPal! Be aware of companies that don't accept them, there may be genuine reasons but given the huge amount of choice you have when buying online there is no reason at all not to buy via credit card or PayPal.
A
camera is a device used to capture images, as still photographs or as sequences of moving images (movies or
videos). The term as well as the modern-day camera evolved from the
camera obscura, Latin for "dark chamber", an early mechanism for projecting images, in which an entire room functioned as a real-time imaging system. The camera obscura was first invented by the Iraqi Islamic science Ibn al-Haytham and described in his
Book of Optics (1011-1021).Nicholas J. Wade, Stanley Finger (2001), "The eye as an optical instrument: from camera obscura to Helmholtz's perspective",
Perception 30 (10), p. 1157 – 1177. English scientists
Robert Boyle and
Robert Hooke later invented a portable camera obscura in 1665-1666.Explanatory Notes (section) of David Constantine's 1994 translation of Goethe's
Elective Affinities, Oxford University Press.
Cameras may work with the light of the visible spectrum or with other portions of the
electromagnetic spectrum. A camera generally consists of some kind of enclosed hollow, with an opening or aperture at one end for
light to enter, and a recording or viewing surface for capturing the light at the other end. Most cameras have a lens positioned in front of the camera's opening to gather the incoming light and to focus the image, or part of the image, on the recording surface. The diameter of the aperture is often controlled by a Diaphragm (optics) mechanism, but some cameras have a fixed-size aperture.
Exposure control
The size of the aperture and the brightness of the scene control the amount of light that enters the camera during a period of time, and the
shutter (photography) 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.
Focus
Due to the optical properties of
photographic lenses, only objects within a certain 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 Focus free lens and use a small aperture and wide-angle lens to ensure that everything within a certain range of distance from the photographic 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 "auto-focus" systems to focus the camera automatically by a variety of methods. Auto focus - How Stuff Works
Image capture
Traditional cameras capture light onto
photographic film or
photographic plate. video camera and digital cameras use
electronics, usually a charge coupled device (CCD) or sometimes a
CMOS sensor to capture images which can be transferred or stored in tape or random Access Memory (RAM) inside the camera for later playback or
digital image 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 modern
digital cameras are often able to trivially switch between still and motion recording modes. A video camera is a category of movie camera which captures images electronically (either using analogue or digital technology).
Stereo camera can take photographs that appear "three-dimensional" by taking two different photographs which are combined to create the illusion of depth in the composite image. Stereo cameras for making 3D prints or slides have two lenses side by side. Stereo cameras for making lenticular printing have 3, 4, 5, or even more lenses. Some film cameras feature Negative Imprinting devices that can print a date on the negative itself.
History
.
The forerunner to the camera was the camera obscura. The camera obscura is an instrument consisting of a darkened chamber or box, into which light is admitted through a double convex lens, forming an image of external objects on a surface of paper or glass, etc., placed at the focus of the lens.Oxford English Dictionary. The camera obscura was first invented by the
Iraqi scientist Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) as described in his
Book of Optics (1015-1021). English scientist Robert Boyle and his assistant
Robert Hooke later developed a portable camera obscura in the 1660s.
The first camera that was small and portable enough to be practical for photography was built by Johann Zahn in 1685, though it would be almost 150 years before technology caught up to the point where this was possible. Early photographic cameras were essentially similar to Zahn's model, 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. 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
photograph was made in 1826 by
Joseph Nicéphore Niépce using a sliding wooden box camera made by Charles and Vincent Chevalier in
Paris. Niépce built on a discovery by Johann Heinrich Schultz (1724): a silver and chalk mixture darkens under exposure to light. However, while this was the birth of
photography, the camera itself can be traced back much further. Before the invention of photography, there was no way to preserve the images produced by these cameras apart from manually tracing them.
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 glass plates on the spot, usually in a mobile darkroom. Despite their complexity, the wet-plate
ambrotype 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
carte de visite. It was during the wet plate era that the use of
bellows (photography) for focusing became widespread.
The first colour photograph was made by James Clerk Maxwell, with the help of Thomas Sutton, in 1861.
See also
Camera brands
Camera gallery
Image:Contax-s.jpg|Contax S—the world's first pentaprism SLRImage:Asahiflex600.jpg|AsahiflexImage:Retina-IIIC-600.jpg|Kodak Retina IIICImage:Nikonf.jpg|Nikon F of 1959Image:Voigtlander camera.jpg|Voigtländer Vitoret of 1962Image:Flexicamnew.jpg|Silvestri FlexicamImage:Cine kodak.jpg|Opened up Cine Kodak, used 35mm movie film
References
External links
- Camerapedia a free-content encyclopedia of camera information
- How camera works at How stuff works.
- Photographic Collectors Club
- Internet Directory of Camera Collectors
A
camera is a device used to capture images, as still
photographs or as sequences of moving images (
movies or
videos). The term as well as the modern-day camera evolved from the
camera obscura, Latin for "dark chamber", an early mechanism for projecting images, in which an entire room functioned as a real-time imaging system. The camera obscura was first invented by the
Iraqi Islamic science
Ibn al-Haytham and described in his
Book of Optics (1011-1021).Nicholas J. Wade, Stanley Finger (2001), "The eye as an optical instrument: from camera obscura to Helmholtz's perspective",
Perception 30 (10), p. 1157 – 1177. English scientists
Robert Boyle and
Robert Hooke later invented a portable camera obscura in 1665-1666.Explanatory Notes (section) of David Constantine's 1994 translation of Goethe's
Elective Affinities, Oxford University Press.
Cameras may work with the light of the visible spectrum or with other portions of the
electromagnetic spectrum. A camera generally consists of some kind of enclosed hollow, with an opening or
aperture at one end for light to enter, and a recording or viewing surface for capturing the light at the other end. Most cameras have a lens positioned in front of the camera's opening to gather the incoming light and to focus the image, or part of the image, on the recording surface. The diameter of the aperture is often controlled by a Diaphragm (optics) mechanism, but some cameras have a fixed-size aperture.
Exposure control
The size of the aperture and the brightness of the scene control the amount of light that enters the camera during a period of time, and the shutter (photography) 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.
Focus
Due to the optical properties of
photographic lenses, only objects within a certain 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
Focus free lens and use a small aperture and wide-angle lens to ensure that everything within a certain range of distance from the
photographic 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 "auto-focus" systems to focus the camera automatically by a variety of methods. Auto focus - How Stuff Works
Image capture
Traditional cameras capture light onto
photographic film or photographic plate.
video camera and digital cameras use electronics, usually a charge coupled device (CCD) or sometimes a
CMOS sensor to capture images which can be transferred or stored in tape or
random Access Memory (RAM) inside the camera for later playback or digital image 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 modern
digital cameras are often able to trivially switch between still and motion recording modes. A video camera is a category of movie camera which captures images electronically (either using analogue or digital technology).
Stereo camera can take photographs that appear "three-dimensional" by taking two different photographs which are combined to create the illusion of depth in the composite image. Stereo cameras for making 3D prints or slides have two lenses side by side. Stereo cameras for making lenticular printing have 3, 4, 5, or even more lenses. Some film cameras feature Negative Imprinting devices that can print a date on the negative itself.
History
.
The forerunner to the camera was the camera obscura. The camera obscura is an instrument consisting of a darkened chamber or box, into which light is admitted through a double convex lens, forming an image of external objects on a surface of paper or glass, etc., placed at the focus of the lens.Oxford English Dictionary. The camera obscura was first invented by the
Iraqi scientist Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) as described in his
Book of Optics (1015-1021). English scientist Robert Boyle and his assistant Robert Hooke later developed a portable camera obscura in the 1660s.
The first camera that was small and portable enough to be practical for photography was built by
Johann Zahn in 1685, though it would be almost 150 years before technology caught up to the point where this was possible. Early photographic cameras were essentially similar to Zahn's model, 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. 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
photograph was made in 1826 by
Joseph Nicéphore Niépce using a sliding wooden box camera made by Charles and Vincent Chevalier in Paris. Niépce built on a discovery by
Johann Heinrich Schultz (1724): a silver and chalk mixture darkens under exposure to light. However, while this was the birth of
photography, the camera itself can be traced back much further. Before the invention of photography, there was no way to preserve the images produced by these cameras apart from manually tracing them.
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 glass plates on the spot, usually in a mobile
darkroom. Despite their complexity, the wet-plate ambrotype 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
carte de visite. It was during the wet plate era that the use of bellows (photography) for focusing became widespread.
The first colour photograph was made by James Clerk Maxwell, with the help of Thomas Sutton, in 1861.
See also
Camera brands
Camera gallery
Image:Contax-s.jpg|Contax S—the world's first pentaprism SLRImage:Asahiflex600.jpg|AsahiflexImage:Retina-IIIC-600.jpg|Kodak Retina IIICImage:Nikonf.jpg|Nikon F of 1959Image:Voigtlander camera.jpg|Voigtländer Vitoret of 1962Image:Flexicamnew.jpg|Silvestri FlexicamImage:Cine kodak.jpg|Opened up Cine Kodak, used 35mm movie film
References
External links
- Camerapedia a free-content encyclopedia of camera information
- How camera works at How stuff works.
- Photographic Collectors Club
- Internet Directory of Camera Collectors
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