Compact digital cameras
Compact cameras are designed to be tiny and portable and are particularly suitable for casual and "snapshot" uses. Hence, they are also called point-and-shoot cameras. The smallest, generally less than 20 mm thick, are described as subcompacts or "ultra-compacts" and some are nearly credit card size.
Most, apart from ruggedized or water-resistant models, incorporate a retractable lens assembly allowing a thin camera to have a moderately long focal length and thus fully exploit an image sensor larger than that on a camera phone, and a mechanized lens cap to cover the lens when retracted. The retracted and capped lens is protected from keys, coins and other hard objects, thus making it a thin, pocketable package. Subcompacts commonly have one lug and a short wrist strap which aids extraction from a pocket, while thicker compacts may have two lugs for attaching a neck strap.
Compact cameras are usually designed to be easy to use, sacrificing advanced features and picture quality for compactness and simplicity; images can usually only be stored using lossy compression (JPEG). Most have a built-in flash usually of low power, sufficient for nearby subjects. Live preview is almost always used to frame the photo. Most have limited motion picture capability. Compacts often have macro capability and zoom lenses but the zoom range is usually less than for bridge and DSLR cameras. Generally a contrast-detect autofocus system, using the image data from the live preview feed of the main imager, focuses the lens.
Typically, these cameras incorporate a nearly silent leaf shutter into the lens but play a simulated camera sound for skeuomorphic purposes.
For low cost and small size, these cameras typically use image sensors with a diagonal of approximately 6 mm, corresponding to a crop factor around 7. This gives them weaker low-light performance, greater depth of field, generally closer focusing ability, and smaller components than cameras using larger sensors.
READ MORE>>>
READ MORE>>>
Some cameras have GPS, compass, barometer and altimeter. and some are rugged and waterproof.
Starting in 2011, some compact digital cameras can take 3D still photos. These 3D compact stereo cameras can capture 3D panoramic photos for play back on a 3D TV.
Bridge cameras
Bridge are higher-end digital cameras that physically and ergonomically resemble DSLRs and share with them some advanced features, but share with compacts the use of a fixed lens and a small sensor. Like compacts, most use live preview to frame the image. Their autofocus uses the same contrast-detect mechanism, but many bridge cameras have a manual focus mode, in some cases using a separate focus ring, for greater control. They originally "bridged" the gap between affordable point-and-shoot cameras and the then unaffordable earlier digital SLRs.
Due to the combination of big physical size but a small sensor, many of these cameras have very highly specified lenses with large zoom range and fastaperture, partially compensating for the inability to change lenses. On some, the lens qualifies as superzoom. To compensate for the lesser sensitivity of their small sensors, these cameras almost always include an image stabilization system to enable longer handheld exposures.
These cameras are sometimes marketed as and confused with digital SLR cameras since the appearance is similar. Bridge cameras lack the reflex viewing system of DSLRs, are usually fitted with fixed (non-interchangeable) lenses (although some have a lens thread to attach accessory wide-angle or telephoto converters), and can usually take movies with sound. The scene is composed by viewing either the liquid crystal display or the electronic viewfinder (EVF). Most have a longer shutter lag than a true dSLR, but they are capable of good image quality (with sufficient light) while being more compact and lighter than DSLRs. High-end models of this type have comparable resolutions to low and mid-range DSLRs. Many of these cameras can store images in a Raw image format, or processed and JPEG compressed, or both. The majority have a built-in flash similar to those found in DSLRs.
In bright sun, the quality difference between a good compact camera and a digital SLR is minimal but bridgecams are more portable, cost less and have a similar zoom ability to dSLR. Thus aBridge camera may better suit outdoor daytime activities, except when seeking professional-quality photos.
In low light conditions and/or at ISO equivalents above 800, most bridge cameras (or megazooms) lack in image quality when compared to even entry level DSLRs. However, they do have one major advantage: their much larger depth of field due to the small sensor as compared to a DSLR, allowing larger apertures with shorter exposure times.
A 3D Photo Mode was introduced in 2011, whereby the camera automatically takes a second image from a slightly different perspective and provides a standard .MPO file for stereo display.
Mirrorless interchangeable-lens camera
In late 2008, a new type of camera emerged, combining the larger sensors and interchangeable lenses of DSLRs with the live-preview viewing system of compact cameras, either through anelectronic viewfinder or on the rear LCD. These are simpler and more compact than DSLRs due to the removal of the mirror box, and typically emulate the handling and ergonomics of either DSLRs or compacts. The system is used by Micro Four Thirds, borrowing components from the Four Thirds DSLR system. Some MILCs use a larger APS-C sensor, such as the Sony NEX series and the Pentax K-01.
Digital single lens reflex cameras
Digital single-lens reflex cameras (DSLRs) are digital cameras based on film single-lens reflex cameras (SLRs). They take their name from their unique viewing system, in which a mirror reflects light from the lens through a separate optical viewfinder. At the moment of exposure the mirror flips out of the way, making a distinctive "clack" sound and allowing light to fall on the imager.
Since no light reaches the imager during framing, autofocus is accomplished using specialized sensors in the mirror box itself. Most 21st-century DSLRs also have a "live view" mode that emulates the live preview system of compact cameras, when selected.
These cameras have much larger sensors than the other types, typically 18 mm to 36 mm on the diagonal (crop factor 2, 1.6, or 1). This gives them superior low-light performance, less depth of field at a given aperture, and a larger size.
They make use of interchangeable lenses; each major DSLR manufacturer also sells a line of lenses specifically intended to be used on their cameras. This allows the user to select a lens designed for the application at hand: wide-angle, telephoto, low-light, etc. So each lens does not require its own shutter, DSLRs use a focal-plane shutter in front of the imager, behind the mirror.
0 comments:
Post a Comment