When the shutter is pressed, that mirror flips up out of the way, the shutter slides open, and light coming from the lens takes a straight shot to the imaging sensor where a photograph is made. This is how you can see what you’re shooting, right through the lens, and is where the term “reflex” comes from - referring to mirror’s reflection.
Inside the camera body is a mirror that reflects the light coming from the lens up into an optical viewfinder, by way of either a prism (in higher-end DSLRs) or a series of additional mirrors (usually in lower-end models). In the most literal sense, a DSLR camera is a digital single-lens reflex camera. Defining a DSLR A cut away view of Nikon’s D800 camera.
Here’s everything you need to know in order to understand what a DSLR is, how it works, and what sets it apart from the likes of mirrorless and point-and-shoot cameras. The popularity of the DSLR has waned in recent years with the rise of smaller mirrorless cameras, but it’s still a beloved format by many for a few key reasons. The name is practically synonymous with “professional camera,” but a wide variety of DSLRs exist, covering a broad spectrum of users from amateur to advanced. There are many types of cameras out there, but when it comes to advanced, interchangeable lens models, nothing is more iconic than the DSLR.