Lenses are always identified by their focal length. It’s not just a physical measurement, it’s an indication of the type of lens it is, for example, a wideangle lens, standard lens, telephoto and so on. In other words, the focal length of the lens gives you an indication of its angle of view. Or at […]
Micro Four Thirds (MFT)
This is a sensor and lens format used by Olympus and Panasonic for their mirrorless camera ranges. The MFT sensor measures 17.3 x 13.0mm, so it's smaller than the APS-C sensors used in rival mirrorless cameras. This does have a modest effect on overall image quality, but the payback is the both MFT cameras and lenses are substantially smaller and lighter than rival APS-C models. The MFT format also has a slightly squarer 4:3 (four-thirds) aspect ratio, which some photographers might prefer.
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 […]