Like other lens makers, Nikon has its own technical jargon for the features and specifications of its lenses. The first bit of Nikon lens jargon is the name – Nikon brands its lenses ‘Nikkor’’ – though some reviewers and retailers us the name ‘Nikon’ instead, just to be clear about who makes them. Nikon camera […]
DX Format (Nikon)
This is Nikon’s name for its APS-C format DSLRs. Some Nikon lenses are designed specifically for these smaller format models, and they include ‘DX’ in the lens name to signify that the can’t be used on the full frame models (well, they can, but only in a ‘DX crop’ mode).
Lens mounts explained
SLRs and mirrorless cameras take interchangeable lenses, but the fitting, or ‘lens mount’, varies from one brand to another, so can’t usually use one brand of lenses on another brand of camera. Independent third-party lens makers offer their lenses in two, three or more different lens mounts to fit different camera brands, but lenses made […]
Sensor size and why it matters
In the days of film, it was well understood that the bigger the negative, the better the quality of the picture. The same is true with digital cameras, only here the ‘negative’ is the sensor. The larger the sensor size, the better (generally) the picture quality. Megapixels do confuse the issue somewhat because you can […]