Understanding How Your SLR Camera Works

If you've ever used a basic camera before, you know that all you really need to do is aim the camera, push the button and you've got your picture. But have you ever thought how that all happens?

Sadly, most people never take the time to learn how their camera works and miss out on the opportunity to learn how to take even better pictures - knowing why and how your camera does what it does can make your photos stronger and increase your ability to adapt to changing situations. So, here is an overview of the basics of a camera and what goes on inside of it.

Lens, Shutter, Mirror

The basics of camera technology hasn't changed too much in the last 50 years - they're all lightproof boxes that control the amount and timing of a piece of film's exposure to light. Most cameras these days are called "single lens reflex" cameras or SLR for short. Single Lens Reflexes have a main lens and then some type of mirror system that gets the actual image the way your eyes sees it. When a camera lens "sees" things it actually views it upside down. So, in order for you to see it right side up the image is reflected onto a prism by a mirror.

There is a huge benefit of looking directly through the lens to see what the image looks like because you'll know exactly what your image looks like. Behind the shutter there is a single frame of film (or light sensitive cells if you're using a digital camera) waiting to be exposed - when you push the "take picture" button the shutter lifts for a fraction of a second and the image hits the film instead of bouncing into the mirror. It's worth noting that new digital SLRs actually work in the exact same way, except instead of film being exposed it's an array of light sensitive cells.

Making Adjustments to Your Camera

When it comes to adjusting your camera, one size doesn't fit all when it comes to how long the shutter stays open. If you keep the shutter open for too much time or not long enough it will either over-expose or under-expose the image. This is why your camera will either automatically figure out what the correct shutter speed is or let you adjust the shutter speed manually.

If you want to let in more or less light into the camera, all you have to do is change the camera's aperture settings. In an SLR, you can usually find a ring around the lens noted with f-stop values; each of these numbers represents the size of the aperture opening. A high number denotes a small opening and very little light, whereas a low number means the aperture is wide-open and will allow more light to hit the film.

No wonder photography is so complex because you have so many things working in concert all together. Thankfully most cameras these days do the "math" for us, but it's still important to learn these important basic concepts if you really want to be a great photographer. By understanding how your camera works, it can help you learn how to better use your camera so you can take even better pictures.

When experimenting with your camera settings it's always a good idea to set aside at least one roll of film (or a part of a memory card) so you have plenty of room to play around. You should take a lot of pictures using different shutter speeds and then take a few more just adjusting the f-stop. As you continue to learn how your camera works, you'll be able to adjust your camera so you can get pictures exactly the way you want.