CAMERA FACTS
VIEWFINDERS Essentially there are 2 key types of view finder. You either see the image through the actual lense or look through a seperate direct viewfinder The most basic and cheapest is the direct viewfinder type. Here you look through a seperate viewfinder which is beside the actual lens. This Canon IXUS 300 digital camera (2)has this type of viewfinder (just above lens) 
image courtesy of Canon UK. www.canon.co.uk/
Because you don't actually look through your lense you will have a slightly different view than will appear in your pics. This is called Parallax error and gets worse the close you get to to a target object. Most cameras will have markings insisde the viewfinder to act as a guide of where actual image will be. With most there is no focusing so it can be difficult to tell if the camera is correctly focused Through the lens viewing is the choice of professional (and many amature !!) photographers. It allows you to see exactly what you are photographing and check the focus. Early cameras used this principle with the simple screen on the film plane that allowed photographers to see the image (abet upside down and swapped side. The photographer would then load the film plate(at this time the photographic emulsion was on a piece of glass- hence the subsequent term frame) The commonest modern through the lens viewing system is the the Single Lens Reflex (SLR) system. The most available of these cameras are the 35mm SLR's like this Canon EOS 3000 (2) 
image courtesy of Canon UK. www.canon.co.uk/
These cameras work by having a mirror in front of the film plane. Light is refected up and passes through a prism which reflects the image out the rightway up and around through the viewfinder 
When you take a picture the mirror is swung up out of the way With digital cameras you can by a SLR type model but usually at a price. Many manufacturers of 35mm SLR cameras including our friends from Canon make a digital camera body compatible with lenses from their existing 35mm cameras However most digital cameras offer through the lens viewing via an LCD panel on the back or sitting the viewfinder. This takes images direct from the CCD (essentially theses are the same sensors you get in video cameras so displaying output to a a small LCD screen is no problems) (2) Images courtesy of Canon UK image use scheme via their website at http://www.canon.co.uk/ PAGE 3 |  |  |  | PAGE 5 | | | | BACK TO INTRO | | |
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