DIGITAL CAMERA

Digital SLR cameras or DSLR cameras are built around the Single Lens Reflex system in which a mirror or prism directs light entering the camera to a view finder - an optic designed for the human eye, when a photograph is taken the mirror is moved to a position where light entering the camera is directed onto a sensor which converts the light into digital data.

SLR cameras allow a range of options to be set by the photographer including shutter speed, aperture and ISO together with various options provided by interchangeable lenses that can be fitted to the camera ‘body’.

Digital SLR cameras are the choice of professional photographers and serious amatuers but in recent years digital SLR cameras have become more accessible and most manufacturers now provide a range for professionals and a seperate range of ‘consumer’ SLR cameras.

Digital System or bridge cameras are often presented as a hybrid or ‘bridge’ between standard compact cameras and digital SLR cameras and have some features of both. However they are not SLR cameras and are designed internally around the typical compact camera system where light entering the camera is focussed directly onto a sensor.

Bridge cameras are often externally designed with the ‘look’ of an SLR camera and have a rear viewfinder often containing a small monitor as well as a preview rendered on an LCD screen. Bridge cameras often have a larger lens than a typical compact, usually with some facility for zoom that is greatly exaggerated due to the longer lens and smaller sensor employed, image quality often suffers due to enhanced grain.

Digital system cameras are often designed after the typical compact camera form with data entering the camera being focussed directly onto a small sensor and previewed on an LCD screen. Digital system cameras often allow interchangeable lenses to be fitted that are sometimes similar or compatible with true SLR cameras.

Features found on Digital System cameras and bridge cameras are usually typical of high-end compact cameras and allow limited adjustment of shutter speed or aperture.

Compact cameras are designed to be highly portable with easy-to-use features. Light entering the camera is focussed directly onto a sensor and the resulting ‘image’ is displayed on an LCD screen as a preview. When a photograph is taken the image data is recorded digitally, subject to the settings required.

Compact digital cameras are often the choice for everyday use by non-serious amateur photographers and often don’t allow users to control shutter speed and aperture settings directly - although some models of compact camera do have these features to a limited extent.

Many of the features found in compact digital cameras are automated and in the modern compact camera include image stabilisation and face-recognition based around algorythms developed during the study of artificial intelligence.