Types of camera

Learning goal

You will be able to say which type the camera in your hand, or the one you are thinking of buying, belongs to, and to explain the basic difference between a phone, a compact camera, a DSLR and a mirrorless camera through the path the light takes inside them. You will be able to weigh each type's portability, image and budget and say, with reasons, which one comes closest to your needs, and you will begin to base a buying decision not on advertising but on your own shooting habits.

The question

Imagine walking into a camera shop or searching for a camera online. The abbreviations pile up: DSLR, mirrorless, compact, full frame, bridge camera. The salesperson recommends one thing, a friend another, and someone on social media says a phone is enough for everything. Everyone has a definite answer, and the answers don't agree.

Phone, mirrorless or DSLR? That is this lesson's question. The short answer: none of them is the best on its own. Each type weighs, in its own proportion, whether it fits in your pocket, how much control it gives you over the image and how much it takes out of your wallet. In this lesson we will learn to read that balance, so that you can answer the question according to your own needs.

Context

In the previous modules we talked about how an expensive camera doesn't mean a good photo and how the real tool is your eye. That doesn't mean the camera doesn't matter at all. The type of camera decides in which situations you can shoot comfortably, what you can do easily and what will challenge you. A photographer rushing around a dark hall at a wedding and someone who takes street photos every morning on the way to work don't have the same needs.

Knowing the types of camera helps when you buy, too. Most disappointment comes from choosing the wrong type: someone who buys a camera too big to carry around ends up shooting with the phone anyway; someone who relies entirely on the phone keeps running into a limit in the dark or with a distant subject. Think of the types as a family: they all do the same job, putting light onto a sensor, but each does it with a different balance of size, quality and price.

Simple explanation

Where does the difference between the types come from?

The easiest way to tell the types apart is to look at where the light goes after it enters the lens. A DSLR, a digital single-lens reflex camera, takes its name from the mirror inside it. Light entering through the lens hits this angled mirror and, passing through a prism above it, reaches the viewfinder you put your eye to, a small viewing window. What you see in the viewfinder is the real light coming from the lens. When you press the shutter button, the mirror flips up for an instant, the light falls on the sensor, and you hear that familiar "clack".

A mirrorless camera has no such mirror. Light falls from the lens straight onto the sensor, and the sensor constantly passes what it sees to the screen or to a small electronic viewfinder. So what you see in the viewfinder is a live preview of the image the sensor will record; when you change the brightness or color setting, you see the result before you shoot. Without the mirror and the prism, the body is usually smaller. Today most newly designed cameras that take an interchangeable lens are built as mirrorless cameras.

A compact camera and a phone are tools whose lens can't be removed, usually with a small sensor, small enough to fit in a pocket. The phone has one more difference: it builds the image with a powerful processor, often by combining several frames. We will open this topic separately in the phone module.

How are size, quality and price balanced?

On size, the phone is unbeatable: it is always with you. A good share of good photographs are taken because the camera was there. A compact camera fits in a pocket too. Mirrorless cameras usually call for a bag, but they can be lighter than DSLRs. DSLRs are generally the biggest and heaviest; in return, they sit firmly in the hands and offer a grip that doesn't tire you out on long shoots.

On quality, two things are decisive: the size of the sensor and the quality of the lens. On cameras with interchangeable lenses, that is, DSLRs and mirrorless cameras, you can mount a lens to suit the job: a long one for a distant bird, a wide one for a narrow room, one that melts the background for a portrait. This flexibility raises quality not only as a sharper image but also as the ability to do different jobs. We saw the effect of sensor size briefly in Lesson 1.4; we will open up the details in Lesson 3.3.

On price, the thing to watch is that the body is only the beginning. Someone who buys a camera with interchangeable lenses spends money over time on lenses, cards, batteries and a bag as well. Each manufacturer's lenses fit its own mount; once you enter a system, you are also tied to that system's lenses. The phone, on the other hand, is already in your pocket; it needs no extra spending.

Which type suits whom?

The answer to this question lies not in the camera but in how you shoot. If you take photos within your daily life, on the road, at the table, on the street, and rarely take them to print or a big screen, a phone will be enough for a long time. If you regularly run into a limit in dark halls, at sports, with distant subjects in nature or in portrait work, a camera with interchangeable lenses makes a real difference.

One detail also matters when you photograph people. Phones process the image automatically: they detect faces, may smooth the skin and may adjust colors to their own preference. This processing may not give the same result on every skin tone; in some frames darker skin can come out too dark or with a color shift. On cameras with interchangeable lenses, especially with the raw file format you will see later, you make these decisions yourself. Whatever tool you shoot with, always check the result when you photograph different skin tones, and don't blindly accept the phone's decision.

Visual evidence

Imagine the photos three people take on the same evening, in the same place. A garden wedding; it starts as the sun sets and continues at night by candlelight. In the frames taken in the garden in daylight, the three photographers' results are surprisingly close to one another: the photo of the bride and groom taken with a phone looks just as lively on a small screen next to those taken with a mirrorless camera and a DSLR.

At night, when they move among the tables by candlelight, the picture changes. In the phone frames the faces have softened, the details have been lost and the dancing people have turned into blurry trails. In the frame taken with the mirrorless camera, the flickering candlelight has left a sharp, warm glow on the faces, and you can even make out the fabric of a dark suit. In the frame taken with the DSLR the result is very close to the mirrorless one; the difference is felt not in the photo but in the weight on the photographer's shoulder. The next day, while the family album is being put together, all of the daytime frames are chosen, but of the night frames mostly those taken with the big cameras. The difference between the types shows up in difficult light.

Common mistakes

Summary

Phones, compacts, DSLRs and mirrorless cameras do the same job, but the path light takes inside them and the balance they strike differ: the phone is always with you, cameras with interchangeable lenses make a difference in difficult light and in special jobs, and the difference between a DSLR and a mirrorless camera comes less from quality than from the mirror and the viewfinder. The right type is the one that strikes the balance between size, quality and price according to your shooting habits.

Mini assignment

In this assignment you get to know your own tool.

1. Identify the type of the camera or phone you have: phone, compact, DSLR or mirrorless.
2. Look through its viewfinder if it has one, or at its screen if not; note whether the image you see is real light coming from the lens or the sensor's preview.
3. Look at the photos you have taken over the last month and write down in which situation your tool challenged you most: darkness, distance, speed or none of these.
4. Based on this answer, write in a single sentence whether you really need to change cameras right now.

Check yourself

• Could you explain your tool's type and the path light takes inside it?
• Could you name the situation that challenged you, giving examples from actual photos?
• Could you base your camera decision not on advertising but on your own shooting habits?

Glossary

Mini quiz

1. Where does the image you see in a DSLR's viewfinder come from?

• A) From the sensor's live preview
• B) From the real light coming through the lens, reflected by the mirror and the prism
• C) From the phone's screen
• D) From the last photo recorded

2. What is the basic difference between a mirrorless camera and a DSLR?

• A) It puts light straight onto the sensor and shows the image electronically
• B) It always takes better photos
• C) You can't mount a lens on it
• D) It doesn't use a battery

3. What should you pay attention to when budgeting for a camera with interchangeable lenses?

• A) Only the price of the body
• B) Only the screen size
• C) The color of the camera
• D) Lenses and basic accessories as well as the body

4. Why does a phone's automatic processing call for care when you photograph different skin tones?

• A) Because phones can't detect faces
• B) Because phones only shoot in black and white
• C) Because automatic processing may not give the same result on every skin tone
• D) Because phone photos can't be printed

Answers

1. B — In a DSLR, light enters through the lens, hits the angled mirror and passes through the prism to the viewfinder; the image in the viewfinder is real light, not an electronic preview.
2. A — A mirrorless camera has no mirror; the sensor constantly passes what it sees to the screen or electronic viewfinder. Differences in quality come less from the type than from the sensor and the lens.
3. D — The body is only the beginning; lenses and basic accessories make up a large part of the budget and are often used for longer than the body.
4. C — Phones process faces and skin automatically, and in some frames this processing can leave darker skin too dark or with a color shift; the result needs checking.

Summary card

• What separates the types is the path of the light: mirror and prism in a DSLR, straight to the sensor and screen in a mirrorless camera.
• Phone and compact: small, always with you; limited in difficult light.
• DSLR and mirrorless: interchangeable lenses, a difference in difficult light and special jobs.
• In the budget the body is the beginning; count the lenses and accessories too.
• Let your own shooting habits, not advertising, decide the choice.

Bridge to the next lesson

You have seen the outside of the camera types and the path light takes inside them. The next lesson looks more closely at the parts of that path and compares them with something very familiar: how much is a camera like our eye? There you will see how the lens corresponds to the eye's lens, the aperture to the pupil and the sensor to the retina.