Camera Museum Copyright Mark D. Martin 2004-2022, All Rights Reserved

WELCOME TO THE CAMERA MUSEUM! Similar types of cameras are grouped together in the museum. To view a particular group of cameras, click on a picture or word link below. To learn more, click CAMERA CLASSIFICATION. To learn more about photography, click PHOTOGRAPHY AND MATH. Feel free to browse and enjoy!

35mm SLR	35mm SLR Autofocus	35mm Rangefinder/Other	Medium Format
126	Subminiature	Movie & Video	Digital
Large Format	Projectors	Microscopes & Telescopes

CAMERA CLASSIFICATION: Film cameras are classified by two characteristics. First, what size of film they take. Second, how you view and focus. A common type of camera is a 35mm single lens reflex camera. The 35mm refers to the film size and the single lens reflex (SLR) refers to how you view and focus.

Film Size: Let's examine film size. A 35mm camera uses film that is 35mm across. There are holes on the edges to help move the film from one frame or picture to the next in the camera. The actual width of one frame of a negative is hence only 24mm across. (A negative or slide is simply the film after the film been processed.) The other dimension of one frame or picture on 35mm film is 36mm. The dimensions of one frame of 35mm film are hence 24mm x 36mm. Different cameras use different size film. For example, some large format cameras use film 8 inches by 10 inches. Some movie cameras use film only 8mm wide. Below are the approximate dimensions in millimeters of the film format for several types of still and movie cameras.

1. 35mm still camera film: 24mm x 36mm	6. Medium format still camera film: 60mm x 60mm(6cm x 6cm or 2 ¼" x 2 ¼")	11. 126 Instamatic film: 28mm x 28mm
2. 35mm motion picture film: 18mm x 24mm	7. Medium format still camera film: 60mm x 70mm	12. Advanced Photo System (APS): 30mm x 17mm
3. 70mm IMAX film: 28mm x 65 mm	8. Medium format still camera film: 60mm x 45mm	13. 110 film: 17mm x 13mm
4. 16mm movie film: 7.42mm x 10.5mm	9. Large format: 203mm x 254mm (8” x 10”)	14. Disc: 10mm x 8mm
5. Super 8 movie film: 5.3mm x 4mm	10. Large format: 100mm x 127mm (4” x 5”)	15. Brownie Model 2a: 63mm x 108mm

View and Focus: With a single lens reflex (SLR) camera you look through the actual lens that will take the picture. To focus a SLR camera you turn a ring on the lens until the subject is clear. Other cameras ("direct viewfinder cameras") have a separate window or viewfinder you look through. The focus on some of these cameras is not adjustable. These are called "fixed focus" cameras. Others direct viewfinder cameras have "rangefinder" focusing. With rangefinder cameras, you turn a ring until there is no longer a double image. Many SLR and viewfinder cameras today focus automatically.

Digital Cameras: Today there are also digital cameras. Digital cameras may represent the most fundamental technological change in the over 150 year history of photography. Digital cameras store the image electronically instead of using film. Therefore, instead of film size, digital cameras are classified by the number of pixels that make up the image. Pixel is short for picture element. For example, you can have a 6.3 megapixel camera with the image dimensions of 3072 pixels x 2048 pixels. (1 megapixel equals 1 million pixels.) A 3.2 megapixel camera has the dimensions of 2048 pixels x 1536 pixels.

Like film cameras, digital cameras are also classified by their viewing and focusing method. There are single lens reflex digital cameras very similar to SLR film cameras where you see an optical image through the same lens that will take the picture. Many digital cameras have a separate window or viewfinder just like many film cameras. Unlike film cameras, however, you can also usually view the image electronically in a window on most digital cameras.