Pro Photographer's D-SLR Handbook [antikvár]

Wi ft: ''''vv v'4 Introduction The whole business of digital capture has matured rapidly in only a few years, and one of the most significant results has been the settling down of camera design. For a number of good reasons, the professional, high-end digital cameras are SLRs, by the way they look and handle in direct descent from the 35mm SLRs that have dominated photography for more than 40 years. Consumer models are still subject to design changes, whether for fashion, marketing, or experimentation with ergonomics, but serious digital cameras will not now change substantially. The functions will improve, but the form is established. Previously, it was the physical characteristics of film that determined how cameras operated. Indeed, it was the availability of 35mm motion picture film stock that, beginning with the Leica, led to the basic 35mm camera. But the most important design invention was the single lens reflex, by which the A digital SLH is similar in appearance to its traditional liim counterpart, except for the color LCD display and four-way directional control. This digitally captured image of a woman being massaged shows it's possible to achieve perfect sldntones with digital. viewfinder displayed an unreversed, through-the-lens image—exactly what was about to be recorded. The first of these was the Zeiss Contax in 1949, but it was the Nikon F in 1959 that established the SLR as the natural way a camera should behave—rugged, fast, and convenient. The key functions are few: an instant-return mirror to redirect the image between viewer and film, a pentaprism viewfinder to rectify it, an automatic diaphragm link to the lens for a bright view between shots, and a focal plane shutter behind the mirror. Fairly simple, highly effective. So effective, in fact, that the design has translated to digital cameras, partly because of familiarity, partly because it simply handles so well. A by-product of the SLR design, hardly less valuable, was that a wide range of interchangeable lenses became feasible (telephotos not being much use on a rangefinder camera without bulky additional magnifying viewers.)