Glossary
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ADI Flash metering:
Stands for Advanced Distance Integration. A flash metering mode that integrates focus distance from the lens with Pre-flash TTL to set the flash power.
Adobe RGB:
A color space developed by Adobe Systems that includes more colors than sRGB to work better with CMYK printers.
AF:
Autofocus; the system in the camera that uses phase detection to contrast detection to bring a lens to focus on a subject
Aperture:
The adjustable lens setting that regulates the amount of light that enters a lens. It works much like the ins of an eye, getting larger and smaller to let more or less light in. Maximum aperture is the most light a lens allows through.
Available light:
Light that doesn’t require special photographic equipment to generate.
Backlight:
The light that comes from behind a subject. This light can be the cause of under exposure of the subject, due to a light overload from behind. Lens flare is also a possibility with backlight.
Backup:
Saving an additional copy of your images incase of hardrive failure or accidental deletion.
Bracketing:
Taking two or more additional photographs after the proper exposure that are under & over exposed to gaurd against exposure error or used to create a HDR.
Bulb:
Bulb is a shutter setting that allows you to keep the shutter open as long as the shutter button is held down for. Best used with a remote shutter release to avoid camera shake.
Bokeh:
Bokeh describes the rendition of out-of-focus points of light. Differing amounts of spherical aberration alter how lenses render out-of-focus.
Card reader:
Optional accessory that connects to your computer and reads various types of memory cards. USB 2.0 Card readers are usually faster than the camera’s USB interface.
CMYK:
Short for Cyan-Magenta-Yellow-Black, and pronounced as separate letters. Used in most computer printers and printing houses. An RGB combination produces white; the CMYK combination produces black.
(CF) Compact Flash Card:
A type of memory card that uses flash memory with a 50-pin interface . There are two types of Compact Flash cards creatively named “Type I” and “Type II.”
Contrast:
The degree of difference in color and brightness between tones in an image.
Depth of field:
This is the area in front of and behind a focus plane that is as sharply focused as the actual plane of focus.
(DRO) Dynamic Range Optimization:
Sony’s own system, designed to analyze an image and make sure that highlights and shadows are not over or unde exposed.
(EV) Exposure value:
denotes all combinations of camera shutter speed and relative aperture that give the same exposure. The concept was developed in Germany in the 1950s (Ray 2000, 318), in an attempt to simplify choosing among combinations of equivalent camera settings. Exposure value also is used to indicate an interval on the photographic exposure scale, with 1 EV corresponding to a standard power-of-2 exposure step, commonly referred to as a “stop”.
Eye-start AF:
A Sony system that uses two infrared sensors beneath the optical viewfinder to detect the user’s face coming upto the camera. The camera then starts the autofocus system so that it’s very often focused before the user is even able to see the entire view.
Flare:
Lens flare is caused by stray light that bounces around in the lens. This usually occurs when the sun is in the frame also when sunlight hits the glass on the lens. Using a lens hood can help reduce flare.
Focal Length:
Focal length is always stated in millimetres and is the distance between the centre of the lens and the sensor.
F/stop:
This is the numerical value of the lens speed. Smaller numbers mean wider openings and more light. Each full ’stop’ let’s in half the light. Full stops are f/1.4, f/2, f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, f/16, f/22. The a300 can also use 1/3 stops in between a full stop.
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