Camera Speak

I run workshops for absolute beginners. My Switch to Manual session is designed for those new to photography who want to learn how to use their camera. Recently, I have had quite a few attendees who have an older camera and are looking forward to their next camera. Almost all of them tell me they are lost when they look at the various available options. Camera manufacturers speak a different language – I’d call it ‘Camera Speak’. Like languages, there are often dialects that say the same thing but in a slightly different way. I’m going to look at four cameras from major manufacturers. Where their language is the same, I can help describe what that means for you. Where the dialect is different, I can translate the equivalent and then describe what it does.

The four cameras I will use as examples are the Canon R8, Fuji X-T5, Nikon Z9 and Sony A6000. They are all recent models and mirrorless; the differentiator is the cost of these cameras. Once you understand the Camera Speak lingo, it will be much easier to identify the comparable camera from brand to brand.

Image Sensor

The most important part of a camera is the sensor. It’s the part of the camera that collects light and then records it. When you read the specifications of cameras on the various manufacturer websites, you will see lots of letters describing the sensor. They all brag about having a CMOS sensor – ignore this – CMOS is how computer chips are designed. CMOS has been the design of choice for many years due to its lower battery consumption.

The next set of letters describing the sensor is a little more important. Thee relate to the sensor size. There are full-frame sensors that tend to be larger than the other type of sensor, known as cropped sensors. You can read the difference between cropped and full-frame sensors here. The latter sensor types are known universally as APS-C sensors. You would think that this means all cropped sensors are the same – it doesn’t. Nikon and Sony cameras have a focal length multiplier of 1.5x; Fuji’s equivalent is 1.55x, and Canon has a 1.6x multiplier. The question should be – what does that mean for your photos? When using a Canon RF-S lens with a 50mm focal length, the image will look like it has been shot on an 80mm lens. Fuji X-system lens will look like it was taken on a 77.5mm lens, and Sony E and Nikon DX mounts will look like a 75mm focal distance. If you’re a wildlife shooter, that extra 5 mm of reach on Canon might be advantageous.

Full-frames are full-frames, right?

So, we have seen that cropped sensor cameras are all slightly different, but that can’t be the case for full-frame cameras, can it? There is a little more joining up in how a 50mm lens will look on each manufacturer. A 50mm lens will look like a 50mm lens on most systems. The Canon RF, Nikon FX, and Sony FE systems are all comparable. However, Fuji’s GFX system has an even bigger sensor – equivalent to the old-fashioned Medium format camera. This creates a focal length multiplier of 0.79x, so a 50mm lens will actually look like a 39.5mm lens on the Fuji system – great for wide landscapes!

More megapixels are better?

The next number you will see when manufacturers describe sensors is the number of pixels. There is often a thought that the more megapixels there are, the better the camera will be. But is that the case? Not necessarily when you remember the sensor’s job – catching and recording light. The larger the sensor size, gives more room to fit pixels on. A Fuji GFX sensor has dimensions of 44m x 33mm. The other full-frame cameras have a sensor size of 36mm x 24mm, and the cropped sensors are about 23.5mm x 15.6mm (slightly different for Fuji X and Canon RF-S). If we put 24 million pixels on a Fuji GFX sensor, each pixel would be much bigger than the same number of pixels on a cropped sensor. The bigger each pixel is, the more light it can capture.

However, the greater the number of megapixels there is, will increase the resolution. Camera manufacturers must balance a tightrope of adding pixels but not making the individual pixel so small that it affects the ability to capture light. For this reason, there will tend to be more megapixels on a full-frame camera than on a cropped sensor.

Anything else about sensors?

You can see the importance of understanding sensors and the Camera Speak around it when buying a camera. There is one more thing to be aware of when deciding which sensor system to use. That is, which lenses will work on each system? There used to be a rule of thumb that applied to all manufacturers. Lenses designed for full-frame cameras such as the RF (Canon), FX (Nikon), FE (Sony) and GFX (Fuji) will work on both full-frame and cropped sensor cameras. However, lenses designed for crop sensor cameras, RF-S (Canon), DX (Nikon), E (Sony) and X (Fuji), will only work on cropped sensor cameras and can’t be used if you should ever upgrade to a full-frame camera. That was the generalisation, but the exception was that Nikon DX lenses could be used on an FX camera but would still be cropped in the camera. The same is now true for Canon RF-S lenses which can be used on RF cameras, but a 50mm RF-S lens will still look like an 80mm lens on an RF body.

One more thing

To borrow a phrase from Columbo, there is one final thing about sensors. The question was raised just last week and related to manufacturers talking about the difference between actual pixels and effective pixels. Without getting overly technical (remember we are trying to convert Camera Speak to real speak), the difference is created by the cameras trying to get smarter with noise reduction technology. The effective pixels are the ones that are used to capture the image. Around the side of the sensor are a small number of additional pixels shielded from the light coming through the lens. These pixels provide a reference point for the camera to calculate a reference point for black, as they are only influenced by the heat the effective pixels give off. Basically, don’t worry too much about the difference; worry about the reviews when they talk about the amount of noise in images.

Auto-focus

The latest battlefield being fought in Camera Speak is the various auto-focus systems. Most will talk about having a hybrid Contrast or Phase detection auto-focus system. What this means to you and me is the way the auto-focus system determines how it focuses on a subject. Contrast detection looks at the contrast of shadow and light on the sensor to determine where it will focus the lens. This type of system works well for subjects that are standing still, such as a seated portrait. Phase detection uses a separate sensor that reflects light onto it and is programmed to track movement, as seen in sports photography.

As a user, you don’t need to understand the difference between the two. You do need to understand the effect of the implementation of the hybrid systems, though, particularly if you’re going to be shooting moving objects. Most manufacturers are adding artificial intelligence to their auto-focus systems. Inside those little boxes we use to take pictures, there are millions of images programmed into the processors, allowing the camera to detect what the eye of a bird looks like, compared to the human eye or the front of a motorcycle. Camera manufacturers will battle on how effectively they have programmed the processor to quickly identify the subject and then tell the lens to focus.

I would say this is the area of biggest difference at the moment. Some manufacturers seem to have the edge over others, while some are playing catch-up. Again, narrow down the cameras you are considering buying and then read the reviews to determine which is best. Don’t get too wound up on this if you shoot things that stand still. Once you are focussed on a subject in a landscape, it doesn’t move so much that you’ll need the camera to think too hard.

Shutter Technology

Back in the analogue days of photography, a shutter was what it was called. An object was lifted out of the way of the film to allow light onto it. A time later, the object was put back in front, and the light was prevented from hitting the film. So it was for most DSLR cameras. However, now that we are in the mirrorless age, we have two different types of shutters, mechanical and electronic, to add to our Camera Speak.

Mechanical shutters today are similar to the old methodology. There are physical parts that allow and prevent light from hitting the sensor. Electronic shutters, though, scan the sensor line by line to ‘record’ the exposure. As electronic shutters do not need any physical movement, recording much faster shutter speeds than their mechanical equivalents is possible.

The obvious answer is to ditch mechanical shutters and use electronic ones, isn’t it? Well, no. There is a problem with electronic shutters that manufacturers are trying to find ways around –called Rolling Shutter. When shooting at fast shutter speeds, as your camera reads the scene line-by-line, anything moving quickly can be distorted with a wobble effect. So, if you mainly shoot sports photography, you might want to avoid cameras with only an electronic shutter.

Shutter speeds and Frames Per Second

Another addition to the Camera Speak language is the fastest speed a shutter can be recorded, the shutter speed, and the number of frames that can be shot in a second of time (frames per second). Clearly, to get more frames per second, the shutter speed needs to be fast enough. You can only theoretically shoot 10 frames per second if your shutter speed is 1/10^th (in reality, you’d get a few less as the shutter has to reset between each actuation). All the manufacturers will quote the fastest shutter speed and frames per second for use with a mechanical and electronic shutter. Some will quote several maximum speeds depending on the use case – Fuji has 13 different variations of frames per second depending on the file type, image compression and whether you use the half-button method of focussing or back-button focusing.

Again, unless you are a serious wildlife or sports photographer, the number of frames per second will be irrelevant. If freezing movement is essential, concentrate on the shutter speed and frames per second for the mechanical shutter. The rolling shutter will be more of an issue for you speed merchants and hardly happens with a mechanical shutter.

Image Stabilisation

Our last Camera Speak definition is in the world of image stabilisation. The theory of stabilisation is that either the lens or camera body will use motors to stabilise the effect of camera shake. Until recently, there was a debate about whether it was better to have the stabilisation process carried out in the camera or on the lens. It now looks like the war has been won by in-body image stabilisation (or IBIS as it was known).

Manufacturers will generally refer to the amount of stabilisation that can be used by the stops it can compensate. A stop of light is either a halving or doubling of light. So, if a camera states it can provide 7-stops of compensation, it should be possible to record the same amount of shake with a shutter speed 0”6 seconds as you would at 1/200^th without stabilisation.

Remember, these are maximum values, so you might not always get pin-sharp images at such slow shutter speeds. Also, don’t forget that image stabilisation can’t freeze motion. A shot taken at 1 second will show the movement of an object regardless of whether stabilisation is being applied or not!

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About the author

As well as running Edinburgh Photography Workshop, Rich Dyson is a professional photographer. His photographs are regularly used in newspapers such as The Times, Guardian and Daily Telegraph. He also had two solo exhibitions and was featured in a members-sponsored exhibition in the Scottish Parliament. You can see and buy his photography at richdysonphotography.com.