Amena's Photography Journey: Camera Types

There are several types of cameras ranging from digital to film, large to small format, still to camcorders...

Plate Glass Cameras

First type of camera.
Were called the plate camera because they contained sensitised glass plate, designed to contain the photograph.
Later the glass plate was replaced by sheet film.
To focus, they used a ground glass.

Examples include...

Advantages	Disadvantages
High quality outcome at the time	Focusing was very difficult (hence the ground glass and using a dark sheet on top of camera and photographer)
	Very limited aperture (only small apertures)
	Very big and not very portable.

Large Format Cameras

Successor to the plate glass camera

Structure very similar to that of plate glass camera

4x5 inches or larger.

Unlike plate glass camera, use only sheet film.

Three main types...

1. view with a) monorail (where there is greater variety of movement) and b) field (that folds but is limited in movement)

2. press (so called because they were used by 'the press')

Examples include...

Advantages	Disadvantages
Produces very high quality photographs	Still quite large
Offers a wide range of depth of field	Expensive and costly to maintain (lenses, film, produce photographs from negatives etc)
Negatives can be avoided by buying digital backs instead of film	Generally used for still subjects.
	Very slow to use

Medium Format Cameras

Uses film of 6x4.5cm to 6x9cm
Similarly to large format, medium format cameras can have rollfilm backs or digital backs.
Don't contain bellows like its predecessors

Examples include...

Advantages	Disadvantages
Produces very high quality photographs	Still quite heavy.
Offers a wide range of depth of field	Can be expensive
Negatives can be avoided by buying digital backs instead of film	Film is also expensive
Small and light relative to large format cameras therefore more portable

35mm Rangefinder Cameras

Used 35mm film (surprise surprise!)
Produced to increase precision when focusing.
Two separate viewfinder in early models (when vertical lines from both viewfinders overlap, photograph is in focus)
Later the two viewfinders where combined
Generally, they were out competed by SLR's

Examples include...

Advantages	Disadvantages
Very small and light	Generally cannot accept zoom lenses
Interchangable lens	Field of View changes with a change in distance to the subject
Image captured through the lens therefore no parallax (what you see is what you get)	Can be easily misaligned (therefore not in focus
Very precise focus

SLR's, TLR's and DSLR's

All of the above, except the 35mm Rangefinders are available in Single-Lens Reflex (SLR) and Twin-Lens Reflex (TSLR)...

SLR's- only one lens so that the lens acts as viewfinder and to capture photograph.		TLR's- Has two lenses, one for taking the photograph and one acts as a viewfinder lens.
Advantages	Disadvantages	Advantages	Disadvantages
Uses mirrors so doesn't have a parallax effect	More expensive due to more expensive mechanism	Cheaper due to simpler design	No zoom lenses and limited cameras have interchangeable lenses
More common therefore more variety	Due to complicated design cannot be made small like Rangefinders.	Useful for long exposures because the viewfinder lens remains open	Waist level finder causes inconveniences
Interchangeable lenses therefore greater variety of lenses as well			No digital TLR’s
Allows for Digital SLR’s (called DSLR’s)

In 2000, Kodak released the first DSLR, which was very different from its SLR predecessors...

DSLR's
Advantages	Disadvantages
Can view photographs instantly	Larger and heavier than SLR
Doesn’t need film therefore less expensive in that sense.	Much more expensive that SLR’s
Greater variety of interchangeable lenses	Very poor battery life in comparison
More options (e.g. can easily change ISO)

Amena's Photography Journey