What does DSLR camera mean

DSLR camera stands for Digital Single-Lens Reflex. It means that, first of all, it uses a digital sensor instead of a film. Then, as the very name implies, it has only one lens and the image is reflected from the mirror to the viewfinder.

Digital SLR is not the only camera type available on the market: there are also mirrorless cams, point-and-shoot models, and classical film cameras. But that’s DSLR which has ensured the photo-shooting available for everybody, and made post-shooting editing of digital pics easy and fast.

How does a DSLR camera work

In order not to plunge into technical details, let’s put it into simple words.

The light (i.e. – the image you’re taking a photo of) – passes through a lens, hits the mirror, and reflects to the viewfinder, where the photographer can see it. The light doesn’t touch the sensor yet, it will happen only at the moment when a photographer presses the shutter button and the mirror flips up.

This system allows a camera user to see the exact image, with all the settings, corrections, focuses etc. before taking the picture.

DSLR pros and cons

DSLR cams are so popular for a reason. Let’s have a look on their advantages:

  • Wide range of different interchangeable lenses.
    • DSLR camera lens example
  • Digital sensor. Because of it you can use a DSLR camera even in poor light conditions.
  • Long battery life.
  • High memory card capacity. While with an average film you have only 36 tries to catch an ideal frame, a digital cam allows you to take hundreds and thousands of pics.
  • Quick and precise autofocus.
  • Wide range of models, starting from very affordable entering-level ones and up to high-professional expensive cams.

On the other side, there are certain disadvantages as well:

  • DSLR cams tend to be bulky and clumsy, you may need a special backpack to carry all its accessories.
    • DSLR camera accessories example
  • The optical viewfinder doesn’t show the correct exposure, you can check it only after taking a picture.
  • On average, they are more expensive than mirrorless cameras.

But, being honest, you don’t really have to know the technical details of DSLR cams to use them. It’s much more important to learn basics such as aperture, ISO and other camera settings.