A reflex camera is a

camera A camera is an instrument used to capture and store images and videos, either digitally via an electronic image sensor, or chemically via a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. As a pivotal technology in the fields of photograp ...

that uses a mirror to reflect the image upwards to a ground glass screen, so that the image can be seen for focusing and framing. This permits the photographer to view the image that will be seen through the lens, and therefore to see exactly what will be captured, contrary to

viewfinder In photography, a viewfinder is a device on a camera that a photographer uses to determine exactly where the camera is pointed, and approximately how much of that view will be photographed. A viewfinder can be mechanical (indicating only direct ...

cameras where the image could be significantly different from what will be captured, due to different optics, and optical path location which changes the perspective of the viewfinder.

Variations

single-lens reflex camera In photography, a single-lens reflex camera (SLR) is a type of camera that uses a mirror and prism system to allow photographers to view through the lens and see exactly what will be captured. SLRs became the dominant design for professional a ...

typically uses a mirror and prism system (hence "reflex", from the mirror's reflection) to accomplish this. The

mirrorless interchangeable-lens camera A mirrorless camera (sometimes referred to as a mirrorless interchangeable-lens camera (MILC) or digital single-lens mirrorless (DSLM)) is a digital camera which, in contrast to DSLRs, does not use a mirror in order to ensure that the image ...

achieves the same result by providing the photographer with a digitally captured image. The

twin-lens reflex camera A twin-lens reflex camera (TLR) is a type of camera with two objective Photographic lens, lenses of the same focal length. One of the lenses is the photographic objective or "taking lens" (the lens that takes the picture), while the other is use ...

provides both a viewfinder image by reflecting the image onto ground glass and an image through another lens to the film. The image exposing the film is not reflected.

Footnotes

References

* {{cite encyclopedia , title= Reflex cameras , editor-last= Morgan , editor-first= Willard D. , date= 1964 , volume= 17 , encyclopedia= The Encyclopedia of Photography , url= https://archive.org/details/bwb_O8-DJI-051_17/page/3178/ , pages= 3178–3181 , url-access= registration , access-date= 2024-09-12

Variations

Footnotes

References

See also