Glossary

CMOS – Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor. This is the image sensor that decipher and interprets light into actual pixels. Pixels make up your entire image.

DIGIC – Digital Imaging Core. Canon’s microchips that significanlty speed up the process of taking a picture, interpreting the data into pixels, and writing it onto a memory card.

DSLR – Digital Single Lens Reflex (SLR before the emergence of digital). A camera system that       incorporates a system of mirrors to direct light from the attached lens to the viewfinder. When the shutter is pressed, the light (your composed picture) is then directed to the sensor, if DSLR, or the film, if SLR.

Full Frame – Cameras that incorporate sensors equivalent to those of traditional 35mm film cameras.

ISO – known as ASA in film cameras, ISO is a rating scale that shows a camera’s sensitivity to light. A low ISO, say 100, is great for shooting in well lit outdoor conditions. High ISO, say 1600, is needed to shoot indoors or where low lighting conditions exist. Typically high ISO introduce noise, or grains, onto the image. Many camera manufacturers today include noise reducing functions in the camera when using a high ISO.

Jpeg – images in the form of files taken by a digital camera, it is the most used file format in digital cameras because of their smaller file size which in turn allows more images to fit into a memory card. Jpegs are images that have been compressed in order to achieve a smaller file size. Smaller file size mean less data in the image. See RAW for non compressed files.

Live View – a function that allows a camera user to use the LCD screen as a view finder. Most point and shoot have this function. Because of the series of mirrors and other mechanical workings in DSLR, Live View is relatively a newer function in DSLRs.

RAW – sometimes referred to as digital negatives, it is the uncompressed data of the image taken in the form a file. RAW files must be processed with software in order for it be printed and/or used in image editing software. See Jpegs above.

Viewfinder – the eyepiece, usually square or rectangular, the camera user looks through to compose their picture. Most viewfinders allow the user to see their current settings and other camera functions.