Thursday, April 1, 2010

History of SLR Cameras

This is the first pentaprism camera for eye-level viewing, the 1949 German Contax S.

SLR, or single lens reflex, cameras use a single mirror to allow the viewer to look through the camera to see what he will shoot. Prior to this, all cameras had two paths to the lens, one to the film, the other positioned above, called a twin lens reflex camera (TLR). The viewfinder and the optical lens cannot share the same path and so the film lens intersects with the viewing lens somewhere in front of the camera.

Most SLR cameras use a pentaprism to solve this inconvenience of not being able to take pictures of things far away. The pentaprism reflects the image twice, which allows the viewer to see the image without inversion.

Prior to this technology, SLR’s came with a waist-high focusing screen. The first modern SLR camera was the Duflex in 1947. Canon SLR cameras first entered the market in the 1950’s.

Today Canon SLR cameras come digital and they allow you to see what it is you’re about to shoot on an LCD screen. If you want to shop digital cameras, Canon SLR cameras are an excellent option. For others, come to www.photo4less.com to view Nikon cameras and other makes and models.

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