The basic film camera 

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In this lesson we will look at the camera of the olden days.  The one, which worked with film, but could also take beautiful pictures if you knew how to do so. 

The camera is a simple piece of apparatus; simpler than the film it needs to capture the image on.   

The camera consists of the following: 

1. The viewfinder
2. The film spool and winding mechanism
3. The film
4. The shutter
5. The aperture
6. The lens
7. The focusing mechanism 

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1.  The viewfinder:

The viewfinder enables you, as the photographer, to see what will be included in the picture 

2.  The film spool and winding mechanism

A series of exposure, allowed to be made, without opening the camera to change the film.  This is held between two spools, and a winding mechanism can be used to move the film along each exposure. 

3.  The film

If the shutter of the camera opens, an image is recorded on the film.  This image will later be converted into a visible image by the development process, which is known as the photo. 

4.  The shutter

The shutter controls the length of time during which light reaches the film. Standard cameras have a fixed shutter speed of about 1 sixtieth of a second.  Advanced cameras can have shutter speeds of 1 thousandth per second. 

5.  The aperture 

The aperture is a circular hole in the camera where light must pass through to reach the film.  This is used to control the intensity of the light. The bigger the aperture, the lighter the image will be. 

6.  The lens 

All cameras usually come standard with a 35mm lens.  You are a able to buy bigger lenses for cameras with this function. 

7.  The focusing mechanism

When the lens of the camera is moved forward or backwards, depending on what picture you want to take, the objects in the picture can be brought into focus.  To focus on what you want to take a picture of, the focusing mechanism is pressed to get it into focus, before a picture is taken. 

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In the next few lessons we will go more into detail about this lesson and the different parts of a basic film camera.