masochismtango

The Mechanics Behind the SLR

// February 17th, 2010 // Photography

A quick diagram I drew to explain the inners of an SLR, which is a mechanical setup that was developed to ensure the picture you see through the optical viewfinder matches the photo that will be taken:

This is how the mirror movement redirects the light to the sensor when a photo is actually taken:

Amusingly enough, you can view the complex mechanics that made the SLR so good for film as a drawback for the digital age – Live View, long a staple of point and shoot cameras, has been late in coming to SLRs because the whole mirror mechanism has to be bypassed.