M Archives - Page 3 of 3

Movie Clip

What Is a Movie Clip When Talking About Cameras and Photography? A ‘movie clip’ is motion sequence captured in AVI, MOV or MPEG formats. Movie clips can be recorded on most digital cameras using the camera’s ‘movie mode’ which is usually accessed by pressing a dedicated button. When recording in movie mode a camera will capture both video and sound to a digital video file stored on the cameras onboard memory. Most point and shoot cameras do not allow control of exposure settings whilst recording video and often suffer from the recording of unwanted sound such as lens zoom and focusing motors. …

Movie Mode

What Does Movie Mode Mean When Talking About Cameras and Photography? When talking about modern digital cameras ‘movie mode’ refers to a camera mode specifically designed for capturing moving pictures. Movie mode can be found on most digital cameras, from basic point and shoot cameras all the way up to professional DSLR’s and is usually accessed by pressing a dedicated button. When recording in movie mode a camera will capture both video and sound to a digital video file stored on the cameras onboard memory. Many point and shoot cameras do not allow control of exposure settings whilst recording video and …

MP-E

What Is An MP-E Lens? There is but one MP-E lens in Canon’s lineup at the time of writing this glossary, and that is the MP-E 65mm f/2.8. It is unique in that it is the lens highest magnification DSLR lens on the planet, reaching a staggering 5x, compared to a standard 1x on a regular macro lens. In other words, objects can be displayed on the sensor at 5 times their relative size. It makes it a perfect lens for insect photography and has the ability to turn everyday objects into extremely interesting photo subjects. Only MP-E lens: Canon 65mm f/2.8 …

MTF Chart

What Is An MTF Chart? MTF stands for Modulation Transfer Function and an MTF chart is a chart that plots the optical performance of a lens across the the image, from the centre to the corner. Various lines on the chart depict the lens’ performance in both contrast and resolution, and it’s the combination of these two things that give us what we might call perceived sharpness. A lens only looks sharp when there is a good balance of both contrast AND resolution, even though most people don’t typically think so much about the contrast side of things. The x-axis of …

Multi-Pattern Metering

What Is Multi-Pattern Metering and What Is It Used for When Taking Photographs? ‘Multi-pattern metering’ refers to a metering mode selectable on a camera which is designed to meter a scene accurately in challenging lighting situations. Multi-pattern metering reads light levels in multiple areas or ‘zones’ within a scene and compares the results to calculate exposure settings that will produce the clearest exposure of in focus areas. Multi-pattern metering is particularly useful in challenging lighting situations, for example backlit subjects. In this situation multi-pattern metering can ‘sense’ the difference in light between the subject and background and compensate for a …

Multi-Point Focusing

What Is Multi-Point Focusing and How Is It Used in Photography? Modern cameras often have multiple focus points spread across an active area of the cameras frame. This allows a photographer to compose a scene and then select the single focus point closest to the position to the scene subject, or alternatively to focus on the subject using the center focus point and then recompose. Multi-point focusing allows the shooter to select a starting focus point, but the camera will automatically track a subject within a frame as they move, thus utilizing multiple focus points. This technique is particularly handy …

Multi-Zone Focusing

What Is Multi-Zone Focusing and How Is It Used When Taking Photos? ‘Multi-Zone focusing’ is an auto focusing mode which determines which zone within a scene (center, upper left, right, lower left, right) should be used for determining an images focus point. Multi-zone focusing is often used in point and shoot cameras to determine where in a frame the image subject is, the camera will then perform auto focusing based on a point in the zone within which it determines the subject is located. Multi-zone focusing is not always completely accurate, often becoming confused when a scene contains multiple objects …

MultiMedia Card (MMC)

What Is a MultiMedia Card and How Is It Used in Digital Photography? A MultiMedia Card, also known as an MMC, is a form of solid-state memory introduced by SanDisk in 1997. Measuring 24 mm × 32 mm × 1.4 mm a MultiMedia Card is similar in size and shape to an SD card. MultiMedia cards have been used in many digital cameras since their introduction. The introduction of the SD card has seen a decline in use of the MultiMedia Card, but many devices with an SD card slot support the use of MultiMedia Cards so there is no need to throw …

Multiple Exposure

What Is a Multiple Exposure and How Is It Used When Taking Photographs? A ‘multiple exposure’ is a type of photograph that is created by exposing the same frame of film to light more than once. Multiple exposures allow a photographer to superimpose one subject or scene over another on the same frame of a photograph. Think of the classic ghost photograph, often caused by forgetting to wind on an analogue camera between shots thus creating a ghostly multiple exposure image! Multiple exposures can also be created digitally, although this is done during post processing by overlaying multiple photography over …