Paul Le Chien

SLR cameras have appeared long ago, but now it goes not about the history of cameras, but namely about digital "SLR cameras" as they are commonly called. Why are they called reflex? Everything is very simple - the design of this camera includes - a mirror. Thanks to it we can see the image before making the frame.

The design of all SLR cameras is the same: the light passing through the lens comes on the mirror, it is reflected and gets on the prism, and you see a picture. After pressing the shutter, the mirror is raised, and for a split second the shutter opens through which the light is imprinted on the photosensitive matrix - the heart of every digital camera. Then the image of the matrix is stored in flash memory for the later use - everything is simple!

So, what is the difference between reflex and usual camera. At first glance you may see the distinction only in sizes, but this is only for fanciers of photography, but in fact the major difference is in the absence of the same system with a mirror.

The fact is that ordinary cameras are arranged much easier then SLR cameras: the light passing through the lens immediately hits the matrix, so you are able to see the image on the screen at once. But due to the fact that the light gets into the matrix permanently - we have too much light, and the camera has to "filter" the picture, that is to impose all sorts of filters - brightness, contrast, gamma, color saturation, and this is not the complete list! Thus we get not a real depiction, but only the picture that the camera sees.

Of course, it is not necessary to think that usual cameras are bad, their main advantage - is the compactness and ease of use. SLR cameras are difficult to manage and configure, even in automatic modes, so they are used by professional photographers. For the average layman it is enough a usual camera.