Photographic Equipment Part IV

Even more compact are the so-called pocket 110 cameras that became popular in the 70s. Some of these are fixed-focus cameras, and some are complex rangefinder and even SLR types. All use tiny 110-format (13 by 17 mm) cartridge-loading film, which is best suited for wallet-size and photo album pictures.

The disc camera arrived in the market in the early 1980s. The film for this camera is mounted around the edge of a small plastic disc. The disc camera is very simple to use. It is almost completely automatic. You aim the camera and press the button. The camera looks over the scene. It sets the right exposure. It decides whether the built-in flash is needed. It takes the picture. It advances the film to the next frame. And it recharges the flash as needed. All this happens in about a second.

View cameras were the most common in professional studios. They use individual sheets of film that may be as large as this page or even larger. They are used mostly by photographers who make portraits, pictures of products for advertising, or other types of pictures that call for precise control of the image.

Large pictures need little or no enlargement in printing. Thus the picture quality is excellent. But the cameras are big and heavy. They must be used on a tripod. This is a three-legged stand that supports the camera. View-camera lenses and shutters are large and expensive. Large film is also expensive.

Cameras used in commercial studios focus the image on a sheet of ground glass. The glass is at the rear of the camera. The photographer replaces the glass with film before the exposure is made.

Instant-photo cameras produce a fully-develop print shortly after the picture is snapped. This is possible because the film includes the developing chemicals. After an image is exposed, the film comes in contact with the developers. It is then automatically processed as either a black-and-white or a color print, depending on the film.

Filmless cameras are in fashion nowadays. In this type of camera, photographic images are recorded on a magnetic disc instead of on film. The pictures can be shown immediately on a television screen or saved in a computer. Now even mobile phones have built-in cameras.
Special-use cameras include many special kinds of cameras used in industry, science and technology. These include underwater cameras, heat-imaging cameras, and cameras used with telescopes for astronomical pictures. They are designed to do one or two types of photography very well. Generally they are not used for the more common types of pictures.