Apple Aperture Digital Photography Fundamentals - Manual (Page 10)

10 Chapter 1 How Digital Cameras Capture Images
Digital Point-and-Shoot
This is a lightweight digital camera, aptly named after the two steps required of the
photographer to capture an image. Basically, point-and-shoot cameras require pointing
the camera and taking the picture without manually adjusting settings such as the
aperture, shutter speed, focus, and other settings that professional photographers
routinely set on more sophisticated cameras. Of course, some point-and-shoot digital
cameras do include adjustable aperture and shutter settings. Point-and-shoot digital
cameras are generally light and small, have built-in automatic flash, require no
adjusting of focus, and most often include an LCD display that allows you to view the
image through the lens in real time via the digital image sensor. Most manufacturers of
point-and-shoot cameras separate the viewfinder from the lens assembly to simplify
construction and achieve a compact size. The lens, aperture, and shutter are one
assembly, irremovable from the camera itself.
Because rangefinder cameras separate the optical path between the viewfinder and
the lens assembly, optical compression and frame indicators (guidelines) are used to
approximate the image’s frame. This approximation often causes subtle differences
between what the photographer sees in the viewfinder and what is captured in the
image. This is especially noticeable when the subject is close to the camera.
Lens Digital image sensor
Viewfinder
(shows an approximation
of the image frame)
LCD display
Reflective
light
Light source