No lens is optically perfect. In the ideal world, every lens would produce a sharp, undistorted, evenly illuminated image that’s sharp from edge to edge. Some lenses come close, but the fact is that lens designers have to work within the limitations of the laws of physics and the glass materials they have available, and […]
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Shutters: what they do and how they work
All cameras have a shutter mechanism to expose the sensor for exactly the right amount of time. The shutter opens to begin the exposure and then closes again to end it. Most cameras have mechanical shutters, though you can also get electronic shutters, which we’ll come to a little later. Mechanical shutters come in two […]
Lens aperture and how it works
Lens aperture is one of the key tools for photographers for adjusting the exposure and for achieving specific creative depth of field effects. The lens aperture is an adjustable hole created by a diaphragm within the camera lens. When you change the size of this hole, you change the amount of light allowed to pass […]
Depth of field and bokeh
Depth of field is the near to far sharpness in your pictures. A picture with shallow depth of field has only the main subject in focus, and everything in front of it and behind it is blurred. The opposite is a picture with deep depth of field, where everything is sharp from right up close […]
Mirrorless cameras and what makes them different
Mirrorless cameras are a bit of a buzzword at the moment. At one time, any serious photographer or hobbyist would get a DSLR – but now mirrorless cameras increasingly offer the same image quality, versatility and features in a smaller, lighter body. The difference between mirrorless cameras (also called ‘compact system cameras – CSCs’) and […]