You might have come across this acronym many times while reading about digital photography. As technology advancements are being made, more and more people are getting aware about digital photography jargon. These days, even if you are not a professional photographer, you can be well versed with such terms. Here is SLR in brief.

SLR stands for single lens reflex. An SLR camera can be used for shooting pictures from a great distance; it can also be used to get close-up shots of your subject with good macro lens. Basically, your SLR camera requires two things to be efficient: the mirror and the camera lens. Interchangeable lens are often used with digital SLR cameras. The mirror directs the light to your camera viewfinder when you are shooting a picture. This mirror is positioned just behind the camera lens. This helps the photographer to know how the image will look.

Digital SLR or DSLR cameras are widely used these days. Pictures taken with these cameras are better than the normal shots, sharper and of better quality. That is why most professional photographers own good DSLRs. The ISO level is good and hence, lighting is not a problem. DSLR cameras have digital memory cards and light sensors-this distinguishes them from film SLRs. The only thing is that SLR cameras are slightly bulky and more expensive when compared to normal digital or film cameras with which you point and click. They also give you far better control and are more responsive than normal cameras.

Most of the good quality digital SLRs have white balance and auto focus mechanisms. With flash compensation, you can control the amount of exposure by overruling the camera’s automatic exposure setting. Your SLR camera will also have a good metering mechanism for partial, full or spot metering which measure the light to adjust aperture.

There are different SLR camera types available in the market today.

1. SLR style cameras: these ZSLRs cannot be exactly classified as a type of SLR cameras because they have no mirror like normal SLRs. But they have electronic viewfinder mechanism. The EVF gives you a quality almost equal to that of the SLR’s pentaprism.
2. Fixed lens DSLR: the stationery mirrors let some light into the viewfinder and guide the remaining into your camera lens. The lens cannot be changed, though.
3. Interchangeable lens DSLR: these are the most popular cameras. These help you to choose the focal length and the angle you want. So these are good for long and short distance shots.