Camera Parts and Functions

1. Camera Types
2. Camera Body
3. Camera Lens
4. How do they work together?
Major Camera Types

1. Rangefinder
-35mm film
-fewer parts to break
down
-easily transported &
lightweight, quiet
-good quality images
-what you see through
the viewfinder is not
exactly what you get in
the final image
2. Single-lens
Reflex
-35mm film
-more parts to break
than the rangefinder.
-easily transported &
lightweight…a bit
heavier than a
rangefinder
-good quality images
-whatever the lens sees,
the photographer sees
 Shutter Speeds
Remember…these numbers are a
fraction of a second!!!
1/1000, 1/500, 1/250, 1/125, etc.

Shutter speeds control how long light passes through the

lens to the film.
Shutter speeds are set in combination with the lens
openings. For example, a fast shutter speed to stop racing
action could be set to open and close as fast as 1/1000th of
a second.
 1/8 sec 1/100 sec 1/500 sec
The shutter speed technically controls the amount of light
reaching the film and creatively controls whether a moving
subject is frozen or blurred.
 1/30 sec 1/500 sec
slow shutter speed fast shutter speed
action is blurry action is clear
background is clear (“frozen”)
background is clear

1/30 sec 1/30 sec

slow shutter speed “panning”
action is clear
(subject is moving slow shutter speed
towards the camera) action is clear
background is clear background is
blurry

camera was moved

to follow the
subject: “panning”
Text
} focusing ring

} distance scale
} depth-of-field scale
} aperture ring
(f-stop selections)
 Aperture Sizes, Lens Openings, & ƒ-stops
The aperture controls the amount of light passing
through the lens to the film.
 Aperture Sizes, Lens Openings, & ƒ-stops
ALSO control the “depth of field”…

The “depth of field” is the area between the nearest and

farthest points from the camera that are acceptably sharp in
the focused image.
 ƒ16

In this example, we can see that all three

subjects are in focus for the photographer
because at ƒ16, this lens’s depth of field
(“wall of focus”) is from about 4 feet away to
about 13 feet away.
ƒ16
In this example, we can see that only the
middle subject is in focus for the
photographer because at ƒ2, the depth of
field (“wall of focus”) is much shallower than
at ƒ16 - now it is only about one foot thick
and at about 7 feet away.
ƒ2
 Summary

Remember…
The shutter controls the amount of light reaching the
film whether a moving subject is frozen or blurred.
The aperture controls the amount of light reaching the
film and the depth of field.
SHUTTER SPEED

Physically/Technically controls: AMOUNT OF LIGHT

(how long shutter is open)

Creatively controls: MOVEMENT

(blurry or sharpness)

APERTURE

Physically/Technically controls: AMOUNT OF LIGHT

(size of aperture)

Creatively controls: DEPTH OF FIELD

(the “wall of focus”)