Introduction to a DSLR Camera
The Front
Your DSLR is a wonderful but intimidating array of buttons, dials, screens and wheels. What do they all do?
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 1. Shutter releasePress this to take your photo. A half press will activate the autofocus and show you the results in your viewfinder. The switch surrounding this button is how you turn the camera on and off |
 2. Flash hot-shoeAttach an external flash gun to the top of a DSLR for more power and flexibility than the pop-up flash |
 3. Pop-up flashStrong flash which can be activated manually or can appear automatically according to your settings |
 4. Finger wheelUsed to scroll through settings like aperture and shutter speed. Changes may be reflected on-screen or in the viewfinder’s LED display |
 5. Depth of field preview Pressing this button allows you to see how much of the scene will be kept in focus with the aperture size you’ve chosen |
 6. Lens mountDSLRs let you swap lenses depending on what you’re photographing. The lens will need to be compatible with your make of DSLR |
The Back
We all know what the LCD screen is for, but what do all those little buttons do?
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 1. Viewfinder Unlike compact digital cameras, you have to look into the viewfinder to line up your shot. But DSLRs do show you exactly what the camera will shoot |
 2. Autofocus and auto-exposure locks Being able to lock autofocus and auto-exposure settings let you keep settings when you change focal point or if the lighting changes |
 3. Thumbwheel Like the finger wheel on the front of a DSLR, the thumbwheel lets you change settings like aperture or shutter speed without accessing a menu |
 4. Four-way selection pad Used to navigate the menus displayed on the LCD screen and scroll through images on playback. Can also offer shortcuts to camera settings |
 5. Function keys This row of keys gives access to the main menu, settings shortcuts, image playback, image zoom and system help features |
 6. LCD screen The screen lets you review your images and to access the camera’s main settings menu. 2.5-inch screens are standard |
 7. Memory card slot Flip the door open to insert or remove your memory card. Higher-spec models have weatherproof seals to keep out rain and moisture |
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The Top
The top panel of your DSLR is its control centre, where you choose your mode and check settings and memory space
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 1. Filter thread Attach filters to your lens here. The required diameter measurement is usually printed on the lens itself |
 2. Zoom and focus rings The pattern on the lens makes it easier to grip to zoom in on a subject and to manually adjust the focus |
 3. Focal lengths The numbers refer to the adjustable focal length of your lens in millimetres. The higher the focal length, the greater the zoom |
 4. Lens release button Press this button while turning the lens to detatch it from the body of the camera. When attaching another lens, hold it down |
 5. Top-left controls: advance mode dial + WB, QUAL, and ISOThis dial sets the frame advance rate (single frame, continuous low or continuous high), engages Live View, the self timer or flips the mirror up. The shortcut buttons above allow you to change file format/compression (QUAL), White Balance and ISO |
 6. Dioptre Slightly long- or short-sighted users can adjust the viewfinder to match the difference in their eyes and use the camera without glasses or contact lenses |
 7. Top-plate LCD Displays information on settings, battery life and free memory card capacity |
 8. Top-right controls: exposure mode button and exposure compensation buttonSwitched between shooting modes: Program (P) for auto exposure, Shutter Priority (S), Aperture Priority (A) and Manual (M) exposure modes. The +/- button makes the picture brighter (+) or darker (-) |
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Unfortunately, all of these buttons and dials appear in slightly different places on different camera models! More professional DSLRs have even more functions, controls and displays. However, if you get to grips with the basics explained above, it will enable you to operate all kinds of DSLRs to a reasonable level. As we used the arguably more intuitive Nikon model above as an example, let’s take a look at the different symbols found on Canon cameras…
Canon DSLR camera icons explained
A handy visual primer that gives definitions to all the cryptic icons on Canon DSLRs and their software interface
Canon DSLR mode dial icons and acronyms
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Automatic Depth-of-field mode |
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Manual exposure mode |
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Aperture priority mode (Aperture Value) |
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Shutter priority/Action shot mode (Time Value) |
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Program AE mode – shutterspeed (exposure) and aperture set automatically |
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Full Automatic mode |
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Portait mode |
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Landscape mode |
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Close-up mode |
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Sports mode |
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Night portrait mode |
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Flash off |
Canon DSLR – Camera Setting Display
| White Balance icons | |
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Automatic White Balance |
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Daylight |
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Shade |
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Cloudy |
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Tungsten light |
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White fluorescent light |
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Flash |
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Custom |
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User-Defined |
| Image size and compression quality | |
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Large image/fine compression quality |
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Large image/normal compression quality |
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Medium image/fine compression quality |
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Medium image/normal compression quality |
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Small image/fine compression quality |
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Small image/normal compression quality |
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RAW with Large image/fine compression quality |
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RAW image |
| Metering mode | |
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Evaluative metering |
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Partial metering |
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Center-weighted metering |
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Spot metering |
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