Is it time to change “stupid” and illogical photography terms?
Feb 7, 2018
Dunja Đuđić
Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, concerts, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.
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Like all industries, photography has its jargon, and most photographers don’t even think about the words they use on a daily basis. Photographers Tony and Chelsea Northrup discuss some of the most common photography-related terms and suggest that they are “stupid.” They suggest replacement terms which would sound more logical. When you think about it, some terms we use every day indeed sound illogical. But, would you change them?
Stops: it’s a term originating from 1858 and Tony suggests it’s dated. Since it denotes doubling the exposure, it doesn’t make too much sense, according to the couple.
Fast: fast lenses let in more light, and fast films are more sensitive to light. But if the shutter speed is fast, it will let less light pass through to the sensor. The Northrups suggest we call lenses “bright” instead.
As a non-native English speaker, I found it strange that a lens with a wide aperture is called “fast” when I first encountered with the term. It’s interesting to see that native speakers can find it illogical, too.
Shutter speed: since it’s not the speed of the shutter, Chelsea suggests it should be called “exposure time” all the time, not just for long exposures.
ISO: it should be short for International Organization of Standardization. So, shouldn’t it be IOS? Chelsea believes it should.
Focal length: according to Tony, using the focal length in millimeters to describe the angle of view is illogical and confusing.
F-stop: when I first started learning photography, I found this a bit confusing. You increase the f-number to make the aperture smaller: it does sound a bit strange when you’re just starting out. But it takes, like, five minutes to get used to it.
Exposure triangle: according to the Northrups, the exposure triangle is “completely meaningless” and doesn’t make much sense as it doesn’t include the light which you can add and control. Although, I don’t think he’s serious about it.
Depth-of-field: according to Chelsea, depth-of-field would make more sense if it was named “depth-of-sharpness.”
I found this video amusing, and it made me remember my first steps in learning photography. It looks like it was the point of the video. Indeed, some of the photography terms don’t make much sense when you first hear of them. But of course, they become a part of your knowledge and vocabulary over time.
The question is, should we try and invent more logical terms for us and future generations of photographers? Personally, I don’t think so. As I mentioned at the beginning, every industry has its jargon, and so does photography. As you learn what these terms mean, you’ll find them logical even if they didn’t seem it at first.
On the other hand, every language evolves and changes. I assume that some photography-related terms could change over time. But, I don’t think it will happen soon, and we certainly can’t force it.
What do you guys think? Should the photography terms mentioned in this video change to be more logical? Are there any photography-related terms you wish were different?
[Stupid Terms in Photography via FStoppers]
Dunja Đuđić
Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, concerts, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.
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27 responses to “Is it time to change “stupid” and illogical photography terms?”
That’s because they’re Americans. It makes sense to the British.
Instagram.com/LuJiaChenPhotography
Follow for follow =)
This is totally stupid.
This was after a snack of tide pods wasn’t it?
LOL
Love these two, I’ve been watching them for years. Nice to see Chelsea sober!!!
Change it why ? Because of dumbass Tony and his wife ? If you’re dumb enough, hide yourself in the closet!!! I still wonder what the fuck possessed all the companies that give him shit to test!!!!!
This is the stupidest guy I’ve ever seen on and off video!!!!
I don’t like them and this video is very one-sided. It feels like they would force me not to say those words
For example: WTF is a “bright lens”????
It comes very arrogantly.
or “lightpower lens” :)
No. The lingo is established and historic. In fact, it’s part of the mathematics that make up the science of photography.
It’s early and I’m on my first coffee. I’m having a bit of fun with this, so don’t take this all too seriously.
The whimsical terms that are needlessly confusing, and that I think should vanish are:
Equivalence: equating anything to the 35mm film format doesn’t make sense if you’ve never handled 35mm. Using this logic a sparrow is equivalent to an ostrich since they’re both birds.
Crop factor: see above. This bit of absurdity came about during the transition from film to digital. It was created to ease the anxiety, and aid the comprehension, of using 35mm camera lenses on digital cameras that had a sensor smaller than 24X36mm. This leads to the equally illogical….
Full Frame: All cameras are “full frame” to their design. How 35mm became “full frame” is pure marketing. That leads to…
APS (anything): APS (anything) is a sensor size, but there two. That leads you back to crop factor and equivalence, but says nothing about the size of the sensor.
MFT: MFT is a standard, a design spec, not a camera or sensor, but the design specs that define those cameras.
dSLR: Another throwback marketing term to the old days that originally meant “this camera uses a mirror in the light path so that the same lens you compose with you capture with”. They threw in “d” so that you stop trying to open the back to cram in film. That leads to:
Mirror-less: When the MFT standard came about, part of that spec was that the cameras didn’t use a mirror box in the optical path. “Mirror-less” is a lot easier to comprehend than “ILC”, “MILC” or “CSC”, although I happen to like “CSC”. Compact System Camera has a nice sound to it, bt then you’d have to define “system”.
OVF: If it has a viewfinder, and it has optics to compose with, then it’s an optical viewfinder. What those optics are focusing on can be a digital screen or a “ground glass”, which, of course, isn’t glass anymore, but plastic, If you’re seeing what the lens is seeing with a viewfinder, it’s an optical viewfinder.
Bridge Camera: This is a camera with an integrated lens, sometimes a zoom lens, sometimes a fixed focal length. A “bridge” from what to where is never explained. It’s another marketing term. ILC should have meant “integrated lens camera”, but no.
Professional camera: People are professionals, cameras and their attachments are tools. Having a “professional camera” doesn’t necessarily make you a “professional photographer”. Come to think of it, it’s a subset of “equivalence”.
TTL: This is an all encompassing ancient term meaning “through the lens”. It’s still valid in many cases, but a bit broad.
Normal lens: This is a different focal length for different sensors. Broadly meant to be a lens with a focal length that is that equivalent to the diagonal of the capture medium area. (Mathematically, 50mm isn’t the diagonal of 35mm/24mmX36mm, but there you have it.)
Lens ratio: The long string of numbers on a zoom lens. For example 14:140. If you’re going to have that, then 10X would also be helpful. So would magnification factors in relation to the image size. If nothing else it makes for a decorative flourish and makes a lens look “professional”.
I was about to refer to drug use, implying that these two Darwin award candidates were way off, but then I saw the comment about Tide Pods, and it all makes sense now.
Mirrorless DSLR doesn’t make any sense.
Fecal Speed
‘Mirrorless lenses’, EVIL cameras, lol!
What doesn’t make sense to me is most of Tony Boys Blathering!!! they have NEVER comer up with ANYTHING ORIGINAL, THEY REHASH ALL THE INCORRECT STUFF OVER AND OVER AND OVER
I made it through about 45 seconds of the video…what’s the current record?
lol 2:25 here – do I win something? lol
lol
sorry couldn’t watch it to the end. This is stupid, really.
Bokeh
“So I set my camera’s IOS…”
“Oh, you have an Apple camera?”
ISO: Because ‘International Organization for Standardization’ would have different acronyms in different languages (IOS in English, OIN in French for Organisation internationale de normalisation), our founders decided to give it the short form ISO. ISO is derived from the Greek isos, meaning equal. Whatever the country, whatever the language, we are always ISO. http://www.iso.org (BTW, Europe used to deal with dueling standards: ASA and DIN)
Shutter speed: Apparently Canon thinks along the same lines–they call it Time Value (Tv on mode dial)
F-stop: Comes from the time when photographers had to swap panels to change the aperture. The panels were called stops. To remember the whole less light thing, an instructor of mine called it the “fraction stop” in class to get everyone thinking it is focal length divided by 2, 2.8, 4, 5.6, etc. It would be easier if typed the way it is often written: f/stop.
Depth of field: Wait until they discover depth of focus and circles of confusion
Exposure triangle: Most teach it wrong today anyway. You can’t change the sensitivity of your digital sensor they way you could swap out film with different light sensitivity. In the digital world, you are changing the gain on the electrical signal coming off the sensor (similar to volume on a speaker)
Just fucking stupid. The focal length is the focal length because it IS THE FOCAL LENGH and has little to do with the angle of view. Only if you are too stupid and always think in 35mm you could think it is related to the angle of view. I can put my 150mm on 3 different cameras and will have 3 different angles of view. A fast lens is a fast lens, because the exposure is faster, you can use a faster shutter speed. Speed is the only term I agree is not correct. It is a shutter or exposure time. These terms are technical terms, and if you don’t understand them, better not videos.
A bright and fast 150mm lens :D
Lighten up guys. This was an amusing nerd attack that gave a much needed laugh. Thanks Tony.
I don’t care for some of the critical comments here. Maybe it’s not the most polished they’ve ever been, but I love these two, and their target audience is newbies and cool people. So, if you didn’t like this video, no biggie… that’s fine. But if you had to post a snarky comment about how much you didn’t like the video, it’s because you’re a snobby jerkface, prima-photo-donna. Yeah, you. You’re probably the type of person who uses the oddest terms and throws obfuscating vocabulary around just to show how special you think you are. As for me, I am not really new to photography, and I know and use those terms, but I enjoyed the video because… (target audience) I am cool. But you probably already surmised that. Some of these jokers need to climb down from their high horse and chillax.
I think we should continue using proper photo jargon, but… it’s okay to laugh at ourselves once in a while.
cool???? LOL OH dear /0 /0 This gets more and more embarrassing
Oh FFS….. All industries have terms and jargon. They are there for a reason. Stop dumbing down the entire world. Learn stuff. It’s good for your brains. This is so ridiculous.