XPost: alt.photography   
   From: bob@1776.COM   
      
   On Fri, 17 Jun 2011 11:40:18 -0700, Louis Boyd    
   wrote:   
   : RichD wrote:   
   : > What does 'single lens reflex' mean?  Where/who/why   
   : > does this term come from?   
   : > --   
   : > Rich   
   :   
   : It's always meant a camera which uses a single lens for both view   
   : finding and capturing image.  That used to be done with a flip mirror   
   : between the lens and the film.   
      
   And still is.   
      
   : I assume the word "reflex came from the Z shaped light path and   
   : the flip mirror.   
      
   No. Early reflexes were "twin lens" reflexes, where the image in the upper   
   lens was reflected into the viewfinder, usually a horizontal ground glass   
   about 2 inches square. There was no "flip" mirror.   
      
   : Early high end CCD cameras still use a flip mirror in front of a CCD.   
      
   Ignore that sentence. It may be true, but it's a non-sequitur.   
      
   : Most designs now use the same CCD   
      
   Actually, most designs now use CMOS, not CCD.   
      
   : both for capturing a video viewfinder image and the the   
   : captured image without a flip mirror.   
      
   Some do; some don't.   
      
   : Most also function as video cameras.   
      
   Some do; some don't. "Most"? Possibly, but not most serious cameras (although   
   that's changing).   
      
   : I don't know who made the first SLRs.   
      
   That I absolutely believe. One of the first was Exakta, a German firm which   
   ended up in East Germany after The War. It was one of the very few East German   
   companies that any outsider ever heard of.   
      
   : Kodak and Nikon were popular the early 1960's when I got interested   
   : in photography.   
      
   I'm not sure about Kodak, but in the early 1960's (when I bought my second   
   rangefinder Nikon) Nikon had not yet started making SLRs in any significant   
   quantities.   
      
   : It obvious advantage of the SLR camera is that it gives the same field   
   : and focus to the viewfinder as to the captured image.   
      
   Some do; some don't.   
      
   : It may or may not have interchangeable lenses and be called an SLR.   
      
   All SLRs are called SLRs.   
      
   One of your respondents suggested reading whatever Wikipedia has to say about   
   SLRs. The suggestion was a bit arrogantly proffered, but is still good advice.   
      
   Bob   
      
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