Dslr camera terms

25 Photography Terms All Beginners Need to Know

Learning digital photography seems like a tough task—especially when you’re met with all kinds of technical jargon that leave you clueless and itching for a dictionary. Or worse, leaving you trying to explain what you just learned by using phrases like “that hole you look through” or “that one button you press to take the picture.” Understanding the common photography terms, definitions, and lingo is a crucial first step towards improving your skill as a beginner photographer. Whether you’re shooting with your very first digital camera or want to learn more complex terms like chromatic aberration, f-number or image sensor, read on to see how you should change your perspective (or field of view!) when approaching digital photography or iso photography.

After all, those great how-to guides and classes to improve image quality or depth of field are full of new terms and concepts. While there are hundreds of terms associated with photography, beginners should add these 25 terms to their vocabulary to get a good start on mastering the basics. Speaking of basics, you can catch our annual Fundamentals of Photography series, taught by John Greengo.

The Photography Starter Kit for Beginners

By award-winning photographer, John Greengo

Understand shutter speed, ISO and aperture and how they work together
Utilize depth of field
Learn to focus in manual mode
Understand different types of lenses
And much more

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And now, on to the common photography terms and definitions all beginner photographers need to know:

Aperture

Aperture is the first common photography term you should learn. Simply put, aperture is the size of the opening in the lens. Think of the lens as a window—large windows or wide angles let in more light, while small windows let in less light. A wide open aperture will let more light into the image for a brighter photo, while a smaller aperture lets in less light.

Aperture is measured in f-stops; a small f-stop like f/1. 8 is a wide opening, a large f-stop like f/22 is a very narrow one. Aperture is one of three camera settings that determine an image’s exposure, or how light or dark it is. Aperture also affects how much of the image is in focus—wide apertures result in that creamy, unfocused background while narrow apertures keep more of the image sharp.

Build A Strong Foundation For Your Photography in John Greengo’s Photography Starter Kit

Aspect Ratio

If you’ve ever printed images before, you’ve probably noticed that an 8 x 10 usually crops from the original image. That’s due to aspect ratio. Aspect ratio is simply the ratio of the height to width. An 8 x 10 has an equal aspect ratio to a 4 x 5, but a 4 x 7 image is a bit wider. You can change the aspect ratio in your camera if you know how you’d like to print your image, or you can crop your photo when you edit it to the right ratio.

Bokeh

Bokeh is the orbs created when lights are out of focus in an image. It’s a neat effect to have in the background of a photo, created through wide apertures. It will have an interesting effect on your image quality. Check out our ultimate guide to Creating Backgrounds With Bokeh for everything you could want to learn.

Burst Mode

You can take photos one at a time. Or, you can turn the burst mode on and the camera will continue snapping photos as long as you hold the button down, or until the buffer is full (which is a fancy way of saying the camera can’t process anymore). Burst speeds differ based on what camera or film camera you own, some are faster than others. Just how fast is written in “fps” or frames (pictures) per second. This will give you a wide selection of which close-up you’ll ultimately select of your dog!

Depth of Field

Depth of field is a photography term that refers to how much of the image is in focus. The camera will focus on one distance, but there’s a range of distance in front and behind that point that stays sharp—that’s depth of field. Portraits often have a soft, unfocused background—this is a shallow depth of field. Landscapes, on the other hand, often have more of the image in focus—this is a large depth of field, with a big range of distance that stays sharp.

Digital Vs. Optical

Digital and optical are important terms to understand when shopping for a new camera. Digital means the effect is achieved through software, not physical parts of the camera. Optical is always better than digital. These terms are usually used when referring to a zoom lens (on a compact camera) as well as image stabilization.

Build A Strong Foundation For Your Photography in John Greengo’s Photography Starter Kit

Exposure

Exposure is how light or dark an image is. An image is created when the camera sensor (or film strip) is exposed to light—that’s where the term originates. A dark photo is considered underexposed, or it wasn’t exposed to enough light; a light photo is overexposed or exposed to too much light. Exposure is controlled through aperture, shutter speed and ISO.

Exposure Compensation

Exposure compensation is a way to tell the camera that you’d like the exposure to be lighter or darker. Exposure compensation can be used on some automated modes and semi-automated modes like aperture priority. It’s measured in stops of light, with negative numbers resulting in a darker image and positive ones creating a brighter shot.

File Format

The file format is how your camera lens will record the image or image file. Raw files contain more information than JPGs, which makes them more suitable for photo editing in various editing software.

Build A Strong Foundation For Your Photography in John Greengo’s Photography Starter Kit

Focal Length

The focal length describes the distance in millimeters between the lens and the image it forms on the film. It informs the angle of view (how much of what is being shot will be captured) and the magnification (how large things will appear). Essentially, the focal length is how ‘zoomed in’ your images will appear. For example, a Canon (or Nikon or Olympus) 35mm lens will create images that appear more ‘zoomed in’ than a Canon 18mm.

Focus

When your eyes focus on an object that’s close to you, the objects far away will appear blurry. The common photography term “focus” has the same meaning. Something that is in focus is sharp, while an object that is out-of-focus isn’t sharp. Different focus areas determine if the camera is focusing on multiple points or one user-selected point.

Flash Sync

You probably know that the flash is a burst of light—flash sync determines when the flash fires. Normally, the flash fires at the beginning of the photo, but changing the flash sync mode adjusts when that happens. The rear curtain flash sync mode, for example, fires the flash at the end of the photo instead of the beginning.

Hot Shoe

Hot shoe is the slot at the top of a camera for adding accessories, like the aptly named hot shoe flash.

ISO

The ISO determines how sensitive the camera is to light. For example, an ISO of 100 means the camera isn’t very sensitive—great for shooting in the daylight. An ISO 3200 means the camera is very sensitive to light, so you can use that higher ISO for getting shots in low light. The trade off is that images at high ISOs appear to be grainy and have less detail. ISO is balanced with aperture and shutter speed to get a proper exposure.

Long Exposure

A long exposure is an image that has been exposed for a long time or uses a long shutter speed. This technique is useful for shooting still objects in low light (used often by landscape photographers), or rendering moving objects into an artistic blur.

Manual

Manual mode allows the photographer to set the exposure instead of having the camera do it automatically. In manual, you choose the aperture, shutter speed and ISO, and those choices affect how light or dark the image is. Semi-manual modes include aperture priority (where you only choose the aperture), shutter priority (where you only choose the shutter speed) and programed auto (where you choose a combination of aperture and shutter speed together instead of setting them individually). Manual can also refer to manual focus, or focusing yourself instead of using the autofocus.

Metering

Using manual mode isn’t all guesswork—a light meter built into the camera helps guide those decisions, indicating if the camera thinks the image is over or under exposed. Metering is actually based on a middle gray, so having lighter or darker objects in the image can throw the metering off a little bit. Metering modes indicate how the meter is reading the light. Matrix metering means the camera is reading the light from the entire scene. Center-weighted metering considers only what’s at the center of the frame and spot metering measures the light based on where your focus point is.

Now that you have the photography terms mastered, learn the fundamentals of photography with John Greengo. Learn more.

Noise

Noise is simply little flecks in an image, also sometimes called grain. Images taken at high ISOs have a lot of noise, so it’s best to use the lowest ISO you can for the amount of light in the scene.

RAW or Raw Files

RAW is a file type that gives the photographer more control over photo editing. RAW is considered a digital negative, where the default JPEG file type has already been processed a bit. RAW requires special software to open, however, while JPEG is more universal. Typically, it’s better to shoot in RAW because the image retains more quality making it better for editing.

Shutter Speed

The shutter speed is the part of the camera that opens and closes to let light in and take a picture. The shutter speed is how long that shutter stays open, written in seconds or fractions of a second, like 1/200 s. or 1”, with the “ symbol often used to designate an entire second. The longer the shutter stays open, the more light that is let in. But, anything that moves while the shutter is open will become a blur, and if the entire camera moves while the shutter is open the whole image will be blurry—that’s why tripods are necessary for longer shutter speeds.

Shutter Release

That’s the button (or shutter button) you press to take the picture. It allows you to point-and-shoot.

Single Lens Reflex

A single lens reflex camera has a single lens that forms an image which is reflected to the viewfinder. Digital single lens reflex cameras or DSLR cameras are the most versatile of the digital cameras.

Time Lapse

A time-lapse is a video created from stitching several photos together taken of the same thing at different times. Don’t confuse a time lapse with a long exposure, which is a single image with a long shutter speed.

Viewfinder

That’s the hole you look through to take the picture. Some digital cameras don’t have one and just use the screen, but all DSLRs and most mirrorless cameras use them.

White Balance

Your eyes automatically adjust to different light sources, but a camera can’t do that—that’s why sometimes you take an image and it looks very blue or very yellow. Using the right white balance setting will make what’s white in real life actually appear white in the photo. There’s an auto white balance setting, but like any automatic setting, it’s not always accurate. You can use a preset based on what light you are shooting in like sun or tungsten light bulbs, or you can take a picture of a white object and manually set the white balance.

Now that you have the photography terms mastered, learn the fundamentals of photography with John Greengo. Learn more.

A Glossary of 69 Essential Photographic Terms

A Post By: Darlene Hildebrandt

Are you overwhelmed or confused by photography terminology? Do you want to speak “photographer” like the pros?

That’s what this article is all about.

I’ll go over some of the most common technical photography terms as well as some less common slang and photographer jargon. By the end, I promise you will have a better grasp of the language. You’ll even be able to have a conversation with a seasoned pro and hold your own!

Let’s get started.

Basic photography terms

These are the photography terms you’ll find in your camera’s manual and in most beginner tutorials:

Aperture – The variable opening in the lens through which light passes to the film or digital sensor. Aperture is measured in f-stops. I like to compare it to your pupil, which opens and closes to allow more or less light into your eye depending on the brightness level of the room.
Bracketing – Taking a series of images at different exposures. You may see a setting on your camera that says AEB (auto exposure bracketing). Bracketing is often used when creating HDR images or in difficult lighting situations where you may want to have a range of exposures from light to dark.
Bulb – the “B” setting on your camera where the shutter remains open for as long as the button or cable release (remote trigger) is pressed.
DSLR – A digital single-lens reflex camera. Any digital camera with interchangeable lenses where the image is viewed using a mirror and prism and the image is taken directly through the lens. What you see in your viewfinder is what the lens sees.
EV – Exposure value; this is a number that represents the various different combinations of aperture and shutter speed that can create the same exposure effect.
Exposure compensation – Modifying the shutter speed or aperture from the camera’s recommended exposure to create a certain effect or correct for exposure problems. Your camera reads light bouncing off your subject and is designed to expose for medium gray. So when photographing a subject that is lighter or darker than 18% gray, you can use this setting to tell the camera the proper exposure (by dialing in – or + exposure compensation).
Exposure – The total amount of light reaching the digital sensor. It is determined by the aperture, shutter speed, and ISO.
F-stop – A measure of the aperture opening in the lens defined by dividing the focal length of the lens by the aperture diameter. The sequence of f-stops features multiples of the square root of 2 (1.4): 1, 1.4, 2, 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16, 22, etc. Though these numbers are rather cryptic, make sure to remember that each step is double the amount of light. Know that, and you’ve won half the battle.
ISO – Represents the sensitivity of your camera’s digital sensor to light. The lower the number (ISO 100), the less sensitive to light; the higher the number (ISO 3200), the more sensitive to light. A higher ISO allows you to shoot in low-light conditions.
Shutter speed – The amount of time the shutter is open during an exposure. The shutter speed controls the appearance of motion. Use a fast shutter speed (such as 1/2000s) to freeze motion or a slow shutter speed (such as 1/30s or longer) to blur moving objects.
Zoom lens – Any lens that has a variable focal length, such as a 24-70mm or an 18-55mm lens. You generally zoom in or out by rotating the barrel of the lens.
Prime or fixed lens – Any lens that does not zoom and features a set focal length, such as a nifty 50mm lens.
Remote trigger or digital cable release – A device that allows the camera to be fired without pressing the shutter button or touching the camera. Helps eliminate camera movement during long exposures.
Macro lens – A lens that focuses very close to a subject, so you can capture highly detailed, magnified images.
“Normal” lens – Generally a 50mm lens (on a full-frame camera). This lens closely parallels what the human eye sees. If you have a crop-sensor camera, a “normal” lens will be closer to 35mm.
Telephoto lens – Offers a tighter field of view than a normal lens (i.e., it takes more magnified images). Generally from around 70mm to 300mm. A super-telephoto lens is usually 300mm or longer.
Wide-angle lens – A lens that features a wider field of view than a normal lens. Generally spans from over 10mm to under 50mm. Depending on the focal length, there may also be edge distortion (i.e., in super wide-angle lenses).
Tilt-shift lens – A special-effect lens. Allows for realignment of the plane of focus (tilt). Allows for adjusting the placement of the subject within the frame without angling the camera, thus keeping parallel lines from converging (shift). A popular lens for architectural and landscape photographers and is becoming more widely used by portrait photographers to create a unique, stylized look.
Camera resolution – The dimensions your camera’s sensor is capable of capturing, expressed in megapixels. This is not the only factor in image quality, but the greater the resolution, the larger the prints you can produce without significant loss of quality (generally speaking).
JPEG vs RAW – Two different image file types. Most cameras have the ability to shoot in JPEG and RAW. If you choose JPEG, the camera will shoot a RAW file, process it using the picture style you’ve selected in your menu, save it as a JPEG, and discard the RAW version. If you choose RAW, the resulting file will be larger, carry more information, and require software to process. It gives you – the photographer – more control over the final look of the image.
Full-frame vs crop/APS-C sensor – A full-frame sensor is roughly the size of 35mm film. Most lenses create a circle of light just large enough to cover the 35mm sensor area. But in a crop-sensor camera, the physical size of the sensor is smaller; it only captures a portion of the entire image the lens is projecting, effectively cropping out part of the shot. Common crop factors are 1.5x and 1.6x, so if you use a 50mm lens on an APS-C camera, it offers a 75mm focal length equivalent.
Camera modes – There are four standard camera modes. Auto mode selects settings without user input. Manual mode allows the user to control the ISO, shutter speed, and aperture. Shutter Priority mode allows the user to select the ISO and shutter speed while the camera selects the aperture. Aperture Priority mode allows the user to select the ISO and aperture while the camera picks the shutter speed. Program mode allows the user to select the ISO while the camera picks the aperture and shutter speed.

Lighting and portrait photography terms

Ambient light – Also referred to as available light. Ambient light occurs in the scene without adding any flash or light modifiers. It can be daylight, or it can be artificial light such as tungsten or fluorescent bulbs.
Main light or key light – The main light source for a photograph. It could be the sun, a studio strobe, a flash, a reflector, or something else. It’s the source that produces the pattern of light on the subject with the most intensity.
Fill light – The light source that is secondary to the key light. Used to “fill” in the shadows. Can be produced with a flash, a reflector, or a studio strobe.
Lighting pattern – The way the light falls on the subject’s face (e.g., at a 45-degree angle).
Lighting ratio – A comparison between the intensity (brightness) of the main light and the fill light. In other words: the difference between the lit and shadow sides of the subject’s face.
Incident light meter – A handheld device that measures the amount of light falling on a subject. An incident meter is not fooled by the brightness range of the subject, whereas in-camera reflective meters can be fooled (resulting in overexposure and underexposure).
Speedlight – A small, portable flash that can attach to your camera’s hot shoe or stand on its own when activated remotely.
Reflector – A device used to reflect light (generally back toward the subject). It can be a specialized, factory-made reflector (I recommend getting a 5-in-1), or a piece of white cardboard.
Light meter – A device that measures the amount of light in a scene. Pretty much all modern cameras offer a built-in light meter, though it uses reflective readings (see the entry on incident light meters, above).
Remote flash trigger – A device used to fire speedlights off-camera.
Subtractive lighting – Taking away light to create a darker look. It often involves holding a reflector or an opaque panel over the subject’s head to block light from above and open up deep eye shadows caused by overhead lighting. It can also involve holding a black reflector opposite your main light to create a deeper shadow (i.e., essentially reflecting black onto the subject instead of light.)
Hard light – Harsh or non-diffused light such as that produced by bright sunlight, a small speedlight, or an on-camera flash. Creates harsh shadows with well-defined edges, contrast, and texture (if used at an angle to the subject). Emphasizes texture, lines, and wrinkles. Often used to create a more dramatic type of portrait.
Soft light – Diffused light, such as that from an overcast sky, north-facing window with no direct light, or a large studio softbox. This type of light produces soft shadows with soft edges, lower contrast, and less texture. Soft light is generally preferred by most wedding and portrait photographers because it flatters the subject.
Edge transfer – How quickly shadow edges go from dark to light. With harsh light, the edge transfer is very defined and sudden (almost a clear line). With soft lighting, the edge transfer is much more subtle – almost imperceptible – as it gradually changes from dark to light.
Flash sync – The synchronization of the firing of an electronic flash and the shutter speed. You need to know what shutter speed your camera syncs at; otherwise, if you use a too-fast shutter speed, you may get a partially illuminated image. For most cameras, the sync speed is around 1/200s.

Slang and photography jargon

Here are a few other photography terms that are a bit more advanced (including some wacky jargon and slang!). Become familiar with this terminology so you can talk to pros with confidence.

Fast glass – Refers to a lens with a very large maximum aperture (such as f/1. 8 or f/1.2). The lens is “fast” because it lets you shoot with a fast shutter speed.
Chimping – Slang term for looking at the back of your camera after every image. Has a negative connotation; if you chimp, you’re spending too much time reviewing images on the camera and not enough time shooting.
Bokeh – The out-of-focus blurred bits in an image background. Most often bokeh occurs when small light sources are in the background.
Depth of field (DOF or DoF) – The distance between the nearest and farthest objects in your scene that appear in focus. Controlled by many factors, including the aperture, lens focal length, and distance to the subject.
Hyperfocal distance – The focus distance providing the maximum depth of field for a particular aperture and focal length. Older prime lenses often have hyperfocal distance marks to aid in finding this depth-of-field sweet spot. With today’s lenses, it is possible to calculate the hyperfocal distance, but it takes a bit more work and a hyperfocal distance calculator.
Gobo – Something used to block unwanted or stray light from falling onto the subject. Often the dark side of a reflector is used as a gobo.
Scrim – A translucent device used to diffuse and soften the light. Can be a reflector with a translucent panel. Scrims can be made extremely large and clamped in place to create shade even in direct sunlight.
Shutter lag – The slight delay from the time you press the shutter button to the time the shutter actually opens. In DSLRs and mirrorless cameras, shutter lag is minimal and almost unnoticeable. In smaller point-and-shoot cameras, the delay is more pronounced (and can cause you to miss shots of fast-moving subjects).
Chromatic aberration – Color fringing that can appear in areas of images where dark meets light (e. g., the edge of a building against the sky). CA is correctable to a great degree using Photoshop, Lightroom, and most other editing software.
Rear-curtain sync – Rear-curtain sync fires the flash at the end of an exposure. By default, most cameras are set to front-curtain sync (i.e., if the flash fires, it does so at the beginning of the exposure). When shooting a moving subject, front-curtain sync will put any motion blur in front of the subject, whereas rear-curtain sync will place the blur behind the subject. Neither is wrong; it depends on the effect you’re after.
Camera shake – When a camera moves during an exposure and creates blur.
Lens flare – Stray light that creates haze, circles, or other artifacts in an image. Some photographers actually desire lens flare; they position their cameras to create flare and use it as a compositional element.
Kelvin – The absolute measurement of color temperature. Lower numbers represent warmer colors like orange (tungsten light), whereas the higher numbers are cooler (blues). Play with the color temperature to create different effects.
ND filter – Stands for neutral density filter. It’s a filter designed to go in front of the lens to block out some of the light entering the camera. Often used by landscape photographers to get slow shutter speeds when photographing waterfalls and streams in full daylight.
Panning – The act of using a slow shutter speed and moving the camera in the same direction as a moving subject. Creates an artistic, blurred background.
Stopping down – Closing down the aperture to a smaller opening (e.g., going from f/5.6 to f/8).
TTL and ETTL – TTL stands for through the lens; it refers to the metering system in regard to flash exposure. The flash emits light until it is turned off by the camera sensor. ETTL stands for evaluative through-the-lens metering. It fires a “preflash” to evaluate and calculate for lost light, then compensates and fires the main flash. It happens so fast you do not see two flashes.
Photog – Short for “photographer.” Something pros often call each other.
Glass – A lens. As in, “What glass do you own?”
Golden hour – Also called “magic hour.” This is the hour or two right before sunset and right after sunrise. The sun is low on the horizon, and it is an optimal time for photography.
Spray and pray – Shoot as many images as possible while praying you get something good.
Blown out – An image with no details in the white areas.
Clipped – Either blown out areas (above) or dark, detailless shadows.
Grip-and-grin – A quick photoshoot at an event or a setup with two people shaking hands. Most portrait and event photographers have to shoot these at some point in their careers.
Selfie – A self-portrait.
SOOC – Straight out of camera; an image with no post-processing.
Dust bunnies – Dark spots that appear on an image caused by bits of dust on the digital sensor.
Pixel peeper – Someone who spends too much time looking at images magnified in Photoshop.
Nifty fifty – A 50mm prime lens. Great to have!
ACR – Adobe Camera Raw. The editing software that’s packaged alongside Photoshop.
Flash and drag – The method of using a slow shutter speed combined with flash to capture more of the ambient light in proportion to the flash.
Wide open – Using your lens with the aperture at its widest setting (f/1.8, for example).

Photography terminology: final words

Whew! That was a long list. If you made it this far, congratulations; you know how to use photography terms like a pro.

So get out there and start practicing your photography terminology. Be sure to have lots of fun!

Now over to you:

What photography terms do you struggle with? Do you have any more terms I should add to this list? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Camera terminology for DSLR lenses

The lens is perhaps the most important component of a digital camera. Without a quality lens, your photos won't be sharp and vibrant. Deciphering the differences between lenses is next to impossible unless you first know the terminology used to describe them.

Lenses have specific purposes, so know what you're trying to do before you shop. Are you after a certain effect? Are you shooting from a distance? What can your items be?

Useful lens terminology

The market offers a huge variety of lenses and terminology to match. Here are some of the most common terms you'll see as you review your purchase.

Zoom

Nikon

Some photographers think of zoom as magnifying an image, allowing the photographer to take a close-up photo without getting too close to the subject. However, the actual definition of magnification is the ability of a lens to shoot at multiple focal lengths. In other words, a zoom lens can shoot wide angle, telephoto, or both. Not all lenses offer zoom capability.

Optical zoom

Optical zoom is the ability to change the focal length of a lens using hardware, as opposed to digital zoom, which uses software algorithms (see below). This is considered "true" magnification: it modifies the magnification in a mechanical process that occurs before the data reaches the image sensor using the optical glass of the lens.

It produces much sharper images than digital zoom and is a feature of fixed lens cameras, not mirrors.

Digital zoom

Digital zoom uses software inside the camera to change the focal length by simply zooming in on the image. Because digital zoom actually increases the size of the pixels, digital zoom can adversely affect image sharpness. When buying a camera, don't look for or use digital zoom; most photographers can duplicate most aspects of digital zoom using post-production software. Pay attention to the optical zoom number.

Interchangeable lenses

High quality DSLRs and mirrorless cameras can use interchangeable lenses to provide a variety of options. Many DSLR interchangeable lenses and mirrorless cameras have built-in image stabilization to limit camera shake and improve image quality.

Focal length

Focal length is the distance from the center of the lens to the focus (image sensor in a digital camera). Most digital camera lenses express this number in the range of 25mm to 125mm, for example. The focal length measurement measures the capabilities of a telephoto lens and a wide-angle lens more accurately than an optical zoom measurement, which is simply a number indicating the difference between a wide-angle and telephoto measurement. The 25-125mm example above would have a 5x optical zoom.

Other terms: Seeing your subject

The following terms do not directly refer to camera lenses, but are nevertheless useful to know when you are buying a camera.

LCD

The Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) on the back of your digital camera helps you take pictures like a viewfinder. Keep in mind, however, that an LCD will rarely crop 100% of the image a camera will capture. The LCD is sometimes 95% or higher, and the camera specifications usually list that percentage. This usually corresponds closely to the view through the lens, but not is quite .

Optical viewfinder

The optical viewfinder provides an unenhanced, non-digital preview of the image the photographer is about to take. On low quality point and shoot cameras, the optical viewfinder is not tied to the lens optics; instead, it's usually above the lens, so it probably won't match the image that the lens will capture. In contrast, high-end DSLRs couple the optical viewfinder to the optics of the lens, providing a perfect preview of the upcoming image.

Electronic Viewfinder (EVF)

The EVF in a digital camera is a tiny LCD display that lets you take a photo. EVF is a digital representation of an image. In terms of simulating the image through the lens of the final photograph, the EVF closely matches the accuracy of the LCD.

Canon DSLR Terminology User's Guide

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Everything you need to know about
CANON CAMERA TERMINOLOGIES

- Expand your Canon knowledge with these 12 camera terminologies and their functions.

1 Terminology DSLR

2 Documents / Resources

3 Related Posts

DSLR Terminology

EOS is an acronym for the Electro-Optical System used by Canon in their interchangeable lens digital cameras.

CR2 file extension refers to Canon Raw image files created by a Canon digital camera. It is uncompressed and very high quality.

Vari-angle LCD technology means a fully articulated screen that can be tilted and rotated with a hinge and/or pivot.

Av mode, or aperture priority mode, allows the photographer to set a fixed aperture, allowing the camera to determine the best appropriate shutter speed and ISO to achieve a well-balanced exposure for your output.

TV mode refers to shutter priority mode. This means that the user will control the shutter speed setting while the camera selects the best associated aperture and ISO settings.

Fv mode refers to the flexible value. It sets the camera to automatic exposure mode with flexible priority and allows the user to switch the exposure settings between automatic and manual mode at any time with the push of a button when switching between program mode, Av, Tv and manual mode.

Single-frame autofocus works by locking focus on a single subject or area.