sparrow.nu: SLR Camera Basics

I'm in the process of getting into photography and taking the initiative to learn from camera savvy friends as well as learning what I can online.

I have my eye on the Canon Rebel SL1, a light weight camera, and good beginner SLR camera.

{Canon EOS Rebel SL1}

Nikon has a great SLR beginner's tutorial which I have been learning.

Anatomy of a Camera

{Nikon Tutorial: Digital SLR Construction}

View Finder / Eye Piece

The area that you look through in a camera that frames the picture. Just like peering into an "eyepiece" of a microscope in order to view an image that is being magnified.

Image Sensor

The image sensor picks up the light filtered through the camera (past the lens, aperture and shutter) and is what ultimately creates the picture.

Shutter Speed: Control for Blur

The shutter "curtain" covers the image sensor. When you press the "Shutter-release" button, the shutter curtain is raised allowing the light onto the image sensor to the take picture.

Shutter speed is measured in fractions of a second, 1 second, 1/4 second, 1/500th's of a second. Therefore the larger the number, the slower the shutter speed. The prime symbol "f" is sometimes placed for shutter speeds less than 1 second instead of displaying it in fraction form.

A "fast" shutter-release means that the image sensor is exposed to light for a short period of time. You get a "frozen-in-time" effect of an object that is moving, good for taking pictures of moving subjects:

{Nikon Tutorial: Exposure - Shutter Speed}

A "slow" shutter release means the image sensor is exposed to light for a long period of time. The image will appear blurry:

{Nikon Tutorial: Exposure - Shutter Speed}

Aperture: Depth of Field/Distance of Focus

Aperture adjusts how much light is able to filter through, very similar to the size of our pupils. A larger aperture size means more light is allowed in and for the human eye, this occurs when a room is dark and we want to let in more light so we can see more. A small Aperture size allows very little light in; and for our eye, the pupil size gets smaller when we are in a room with bright light in order not to overexpose or overwhelm our eyes with too much light.

This is often expressed as an "f" number. Changing "f" number changes the size of the aperture and therefore the amount of light that is allowed into the camera. Small apertures means MORE light is let into the camera; where as larger f-number aperture means LESS light is let into the camera.

{Kathy Sheridan Photography: Comparing the Human Eye to a Camera}

A larger aperture size (smaller f-number) allows you to focus on objects in a further distance, whereas a smaller aperture size (larger f-number) allows you to focus on a particular point whilst blurring everything else.