Thursday 26 March 2009

Technological Advances

When I started taking photographs in the 1970s all cameras had film. Although there has been a huge change in technology, there are aspects of film cameras that remain. The theory of light entering the camera through the lens is exactly the same, even if the film has been replaced by a sensor. The amount of light entering through the lens is still controlled by the shutter speed and aperture. In layman's terms the aperture is the size of the hole that the light gets through.

All cameras are boxes that allow light in, and an image may be formed at the back of that box. If the hole is small the image may be formed without the need for a lens and focusing the light on the back of the box. You may have heard the term for the very simple ‘pinhole’ cameras. The nature of these cameras means that the image is upside down and the images with these cameras is far from brilliant. Compare this with today’s technology. With some digital cameras the images are shown to you immediately, and the camera is intelligent enough to put the image the right way up.

Happy snapping

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