Photography Abbreviations & Slang - The Jargon Buster-dSider

Photography Abbreviations & Slang. The Jargon Buster
©Bill Bagshaw

Photography abbreviations invented by manufacturers & techno geeks get ever more confusing.
Un-neccessary techno babble is most confusing, and is often used extensively by photographers with very little knowledge about the creative side of photography.
An example is ATGNI – All The Gear No Idea – refers to someone who mistakenly thinks buying expensive gear is all you need do to be an ace photographer.

Most recent techno gibberish spotlight.
You thought there was just DSLR (digital single lens reflex), mirrorless cameras & compacts ? Wrong. There has always been different types of cameras but digital is now spawning multiple abbreviations.
Compact Camera Systems (CSC) now have pseudonyms /variants/acronyms including MILC, MSC, EVIL, DSLM, micro four thirds.
Have you met a smudger or seen a zoom creep ?
Is your camera EVIL ?
Do you know a chimper, an Uncle Bob or a sprayer?

Here’s a handy techno babble list:-
Don’t get bogged down by all this techie stuff, it will drive you mad.
Concentrate on the creative side of your photography instead.
The simple fact is that spouting all this guff won’t help you to take great photos.

If you meet someone who spouts this nonsense it’s highly likely they know nothing about what photography really is.
They could be a smudger dweeb who sprays and prays, – or maybe a numpty camera reviewer.

2D two dimensions

3D three dimensions

35mm. 35mm film format i.e 24x36mm. sensor/film size. Also known as “full frame” as in digital formats.

4/3 Four thirds -digital camera format with sensor size 17.3X13mm

4K display devices such as TVs & monitors having a resolution around 4,000 pixels

54 5X4 inch format, originally a film format with film size 5×4″, but digital backs can now be used

45 American way of saying “54”

645 6X4.5cm format, originally a film format with film size 6×4.5mm, but digital backs can now be used

66 6X6cm film format, originally a film format (e.g. Hasselblad, Bronica) but digital backs can now be used.

67 6X7 cm film format

108 10X8 inch film format

AA anti aliasing. An anti aliasing filter is also known as a “low pass” filter and is mounted over many camera sensors

AA small battery used in camera equipment , torches etc

AAA smaller battery than AA

A Aperture Priority

A amps

ABC auto backlighting control

ACR Adobe Camera Raw

A-DEP automatic depth of field exposure mode (Canon)

AEL Auto exposure lock

AF Auto focus

AF DC Defocus control

Ai Adobe illustrator

AI Aperture indexing (Nikon)

AI Artificial intelligence (Canon)

a.k.a. also known as

Alien Bees – American flash equipment

Analogue – not digital

API application programming interface

App A computer application

Applet small computer programme for a particular task

APO apochromatic

APS advanced photo system – amateur film size

APS-C Advanced Photo System type C, digital sensor size as
APS

APS-H Sensor size 28.1x 18.7mm

AC alternating current

ACR Adobe camera raw

AE automatic exposure

AEB auto exposure bracketing

AE-L automatic exposure lock

AF automatic focus

AF-L autofocus lock

Algorithm – a mathematical routine that manages colour, or that is supposed to help you get the right exposure. See GIGO.

ATGNI All the gear no idea.

AR aspect ratio

ASA American standards association (now called ISO for film speed)

ASAP As soon as possible

ASL Aspherical glass

ASP Aspherical lens

ATB all the best

Av aperture value

AV audiovisual

Avater picture representing a person

AWB Auto White Balance

B bulb (for long exposures)

B&W black & white

Back interchaneable camera back
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Back End the part of a website that makes it work (seef ront end)
Back Focus – can refer to a lens focusing behind where it should do.

Backup duplicate

Bandwidth amount of data able to travel through a connection

Barndoors – set of hinged movable lighting modifiers

Bayer type of sensor

BBAR Tamron anti reflective coating

BIF Bird In Flight

Bigma slang for Sigma 500mm lens
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Bit Binary digit. 8bits= 1 byte

BIS back illuminated sensor

Bit rate The number of bits that are conveyed per unit of time

Biz business

Blaster – powerful form of Zap flash, as in Bowens old flash bulb arrays

Blow up – magnify or make a large print out of an image

Blinkies – flashing over exposure indicator

Body a camera with the lens detached

Bokeh out of focus background blur

Bottletop – a cheap low quality lens

BKT bracket

Blad slang for Hasselblad

BLC back light compensation

Bluetooth short range wireless communication protocol

Blog website documenting a persons thoughts

Blown overexposed

Blocked – overexposed, particularly as in “blocked highlights”

BMP bitmap

Boot to start your computer

Bot automated internet programme

Bowens UK electronic flash manufacturer

BPS bits per second

Br Bridge – Adobe image management software

BRB be right back

Brick heavy item of photography gear especially relates to a heavy lens

Brief photographic assignment

Bridge A camera that’s a cross between DSLR & a PAS

Brit Brittish

Brolly flash umbrella (sometimes Brollie)

Bronnie – slang for extinct medium format (6x6cm & 6×4.5cm) film camera manufacturer Bronica. ©dsider.co.uk Great cameras sadly missed.

BTL behind the lens

BTW by the way

Buffer temporary storage area to smooth out incoming streams

Buffering failure of buffer to keep up with incoming data

Bug software error

Bulb long exposure camera setting

Bulb may refer to a “flash bulb”

Burn to darken an area of an image

Burn to create a CD or DVD

Burst rapid series of exposures

Bus wiring to main component on a computer

Bust broken or bankrupt (sometimes “bost” )

B/W or B&W – black and white

Byte basic unit of information

C41 negative film development process

CA Chromatic Aberration

Cache store of computer information

CAD computer aided design

Cam camera

Capture 1 RAW software

CAF Content Aware Fill

CAT A lens of catadioptric construction which is designed to cancel out certain lens aberrations

CC Creative Cloud – Adobe cloud software subscription

CC colour compensating

CCD charge coupled device

C&C comments & critiques

CD compact disc

CD-R a recordable CD can’t be re-recorded

CD ROM Compact disc read only memory

CD-RW a re-writable CD

Cds cadmium sulphide cell used in some meters

CCD charge coupled device

Center how Americans spell centre

Centre how Brits spell center

CF compact flash (card)

CF crop factor

C.Fn custom function

Chatroom website wher you “chat” to others

cheesecake – smiley boring bad photography of people

chiaroscuro – form of high contrast lighting

chimping – the habit of checking your histogram, exposure or composition on a digital cameras LCD screen

chip microchip (also a potato based food UK photo students live on)

Chrome google internet browser

CIFF camera image file format

Cloud Stored information or software held on servers and usually not on your own computer

Clipping – overexposure

Clipboard temporary storage space on memory

CMOS complimentary metal oxide semiconductor

CMS colour management system

CMYK cyan, magenta,yellow, key(black)

CODEC coder decoder

COF circle of confusion relates to resolution

Color how Americans spell colour

Colour how the British spell color

Comp composite

Compat Compatible

Configure set up computer to work well

Copal a make of mechanical shutter

corrupt – data which has been damaged e.g corrupt file

CPL Circular Polarising Filter -designed for digital cameras, see also “PL”

CPU central processing unit

CPS characters per second

Crash computer failure needing a reboot

Crawler a programme that indexes the web

Crawler a person who is a creep

CRC close range correction

Cross Front – a camera movement

CRT cathode ray tube

CRW Canon camera raw

CS, CS2, CS3, CS4, CS5, CS6, then CC (creative Cloud) – versions of photoshop. The larger the “CS” number the more recent the programme. ………and then came creative cloud. (CC)……..

CSC Compact camera system – mirrorless camera

CSS cascading style sheets

Curve Characteristic curve

CW centre weighted

CWB Custom white balance

DAM Digital Asset Management

dB decibel

DC direct current

DC digital crop

Default basic setting of programme that you have not changed or can change back to

dev developer/development

DF dual focus

DG Sigma lens terminology

DI digital imaging

digi digital

Digerati – persons supposedly expert in digital concepts

Digicam digital camera

DIN German version of ISO speed rating

dinky small (also a small toy manufacturer)

DIR directory
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DNG Digital Negative

DNS domain name service

DO Diffractive Optics, as in lens construction

DOC document

Dodge to lighten an area of an image

DOF depth of field

Dolly a wheeled attachment for tripods usually used in film making

Dongle small hardware device for software copy protection

Doughnuts – out of focus highlights typical of mirror lenses

Downtime how long a computer system has not been working

DOS disk operating system

DPI dots per inch

DPOF digital print order format

DR Dynamic Range

Driver small programme used to control hardware

Drop backdrop

Dropdown sub menu in software

Drop offs – shots that didn’t work

DRS dust reduction system (not to be confused with racing car Drag Reduction System)

DRM digital rights management

DSLR Digital Single Lens Reflex Camera, Not to be confused with an SLR which is a film camera

DSLT digital single lens translucent

Dust Pump – a zoom lens which moves a substantial amount of internal air whilst zooming, and thus pumps dust onto the sensor, and/or onto the lens elements.

DVD digital versatile disk

Dweeb inept, often due to being “expert” about irrelevancies.

DX code on 35mm film to set film speed

DX Nikon APS-C camera

DXO Raw software

DZ digital zoom

E Exposure

E6 transparency film developing process

EC exposure compensation

ECU extreme close up

ED extra low dispersion glass used in lenses

EF electronic focus

EF a Canon EOS autofocus lens

EFS a Canon autofocus lens for the APSC format

EI exposure index

EIS electronic image stabiliser (in some Canon lenses)

Element – an individual lens within the overall construction of a composite lens

Elements – Adobe software

ESC electronic still camera

ETTL Canon’s evaluative through the lens exposure system

EV Exposure Value

EVF electronic viewfinder

EVIL Electronic Viewfinder with Interchangeable lens

EX Sigma high quality lens

EXIF data stored along with your digital image

Extender – usually refers to tele converter see “TC”

EXR type of Fuji CCD or CMOS sensor

Exif exchangeable image file format

Ext extension

EC exposure compensation

EFC electronic first curtain

ETTL evaluative through the lens (Canon flash metering)

EOS electrical operating system (Canon)

EV exposure value

EXIF exchange image file format (image data)

F focal

F focus

f f stop – indicates the size of the lens opening

fanboy loyalist to a camera brand, to the point of stupidity

fangirl female fanboy

Fast refers to a lens with a large aperture, a high ISO speed or a fast shutter speed

FAP Fine art photography

FAQ frequently asked questions

FAX facsimile

FC foot candle

FE flash exposure

FEB flash exposure bracketing

FEL flash exposure lock

FF Full Frame i.e. a camera sensor of 24x36mm

Fill fill in light

Firefox a web browser

Firewall computer security set up

Firewire fast data transmission method

Fisheye – a super extreme wide angle lens

FIX fixer

Fixer chemicals used to make film prints or negatives light resistant

FL f ocal length

FFX for f**** sake – rude slang

Flake an unreliable person

Flare unwanted directional light affecting the image

Flag an item inserted into a light path to blank off illumination

Flir make of heat sensing camera

FLM Focal length multiplier usually referring to a teleconverter or sometimes to difference in sensor formats sizes

Font typeface of a certain size and design

Four Thirds – Sensor size 17.3X13mm

FOV Field of view

FP focal plane

FPS frames per second

Frame – the size or size ratio of a composition boundary

Frame – picture frame for hanging on a wall

Framing – composing a photo within specific boundaries

Framing – mounting photos into a picture frame

Fresnel – A type of flattened lens used in lighting and in focussing screens

Fringes or Fringeing – usually refers to lens aberrations

Front End part of website users can see

Front Focus – can refer to a lens focusing too close and not where it should.

FSE film speed equivalent
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FTMF Full time Manual focus

G No aperture ring

G Gigabyte

G force of gravity

Gamma – contrast, relates particularly to “curves”

Gaffer – relates to fixing of lighting as in chief lighting technician, or self adhesive fixing tape, or fixing clamps.

GB gigabyte. 1GB=1000 megabytes of storage

Gel colour filter

Geotagging adding location data to photo

GIF graphics interchange format

GIGO Garbage In Garbage Out. Camera algorithms on auto settings are not psychic. Learn how to control your camera.

GIMP free image manipulation software
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Gizmo an article of equipment of little merit, or a new function which may be of dubious merit

Glass slang for a lens

GN guide number

Gobo an article inserted in the optical path of a light to project patterns.

Golden hour – the hour after sunrise and before sunset

GPD gallium photo diode

Grad graduated (usually a graduated filter)

Grain The appearance of individual film grains on an image. Often used in error to describe digital noise.

Gremlin – unforseen item in an image such as dust or something the photographer did not notice

Grid layout on a page/web page

Grip – lighting support

Grip & Rip – See “spray and pray”

Grip & Grin – amateur “snap”

GSP gelatin silver print

GUI graphical user interface

Gun flashgun

HAND have a nice day (often ironic)

Hang when a computer freezes

Hard refers to small light source giving contrast effect – the opposite of “soft” light

Hard excessive use of contrast

Hard the sort of person you don’t want to mess with

Hassy Hasselblad

Hard Disk same as hard drive

Hard Dic same as hard drive

HD hard drive

HDR High Dynamic Range

HDTV high definition television

Hertz cycles per second

High Def High Definition

High Key -uniform lighting with a low lighting ratio

Highlights – the white tones of an image

Hotshoe – electronic flash mount on top of a camera

Hotspot location where you can pick up wifi

HSM Hyper Sonic Motor

HSS High Speed Sync

HSL hue, saturation, luminence

HTH hope this helps

HTML hyper text mark up language

HTMLS latest version of HTML

HTTP hyper text markup language

Hub a connecting device

Hung when a computer freezes

Hybrid see CSC and mirrorless

Hyperlink link attached to website items

Hypo fixer

ICC International Colour Consortium

ICE image correction & enhancement

Inf infinity

INFO information

i.e. that is

IF internal focussing

IM instant messagin

iOS internet operating system

IQ Image Quality

IR infra red

i-TTL Nikon exposure system

IP internet protocol

IS Image Stabiliser

ISDN integrated services digital network

ISO International Standards Organisation. Refers to sensitivity of a digital sensor or film to light. Also known as “speed”. Previously known as “ASA”.

ISP internet service provider

IT information technology

Jaggies – see pixelisation

Java a programming language

Jimmy a clueless web developer

JPEG joint photographic experts group

K degrees Kelvin, relates to colour temperature. Zero degrees K = minus 273 degrees Centigrade

KB kilobyte. 1KB is 1,000 bytes of disc storage or 1024 bytes of processor storage.

Kerning to adjust space between characters

KISS Keep It Simple Stupid

L Canons premier lens range

LAB an type of colour space

LAN local area network

LCD liquid crystal display

LD low dispersion glass

LE long exposure

LED light emitting diode

legs tripod

LH lens hood

Li lithium as in batteries

Li-on lithium ion as in batteries

light bucket – a very fast wide aperture lens

Linux an operating system

LL low light

LOL laughing out loud

Long Tom Out dated term for long telephoto lens.

Low key – lighting with a high lighting ratio i.e. little or no fill light

Low Pass – see “AA” (anti aliasing)

Lr Lightroom

LTE long time exposure

Lumen unit of light measurement

Lumix type of Panasonic camera

LV live view

M manual

Mac an Apple computer

Machine Gun -see “Spray & Pray”

Macro refers erroneously to close focus but correctly refers to higher magnification close focus

Macro small programme used to automate repetitive tasks

Male jewellery – camera equipment

Malware software installed by stealth for spying or criminal purposes

Matrix metering from several zones in the scene

MB Megabyte 1 MB is approximately 1000 bytes

MEG megabyte

MC multi coated

Mega million

Mega very big

Mega Pixel a million pixels

MF manual focus

MF medium format

MFD minimum focus distance

Micro four thirds – a type of MILC camera

MILC Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Cameras

Mirror – refers to either a camera internal mirror or a type of lens construction known as a mirror lens

MHz mega hertz

MLU mirror lock up

MMC multi media card

Modem modulater demodulater

Moire’ – unwanted interference patterns in an image

Motherboard main computer board

MP mega pixel

MP3 audio compression file

MP-E Macro photo exposure

MPEG moving picture expert group

MS memory stick

MSC mirrorless system camera

MSC micro system camera

MTF modulation transfer function- used to test lenses

MUA make up artist

MUAH make up and hair

NCC Nano Crystal Coat

ND neutral density

NEF Nikon RAW image data

Neg negative

Network two or more computers linked together

Newbie newcomer

NF near field

NFC near field communication

NiCAD nickel cadmium

NiMH nickel metal hydride

Noise unwanted digital signal particularly related to high ISO speeds. The digital equivalent of film grain and often called grain in error.

NR noise reduction

NTSC national television standards committee (TV standard) used in several countries including America Canaada and Japan. Not used in the UK , France, Australia or Germany where PAL is used instead

numpty an affectionate term for someone who doesn’t know what they are doing

OCF off camera flash

OCR optical character recognition

OEM Original Equipment Manufacturer

OIS optical image stabilisation

OL Off line

OLPF optical low pass filter

OOC out of camera

OOF out of focus

OM Olympus

OP refers to the opening poster on a forum

ORF Olympus Raw Format

OS Optical Stabilisation

OS Operating System

OSX Mac operating system

Ortho orthochromatic i.e. sensitive to green and blue light but not sensitive to red light

OTF optical transfer function (used in lens testing)

OVF Optical View Finder. Increasing being left off cameras in favour of LCD screens

OZ optical zoom

P programme

P2P peer to peer

PAL phase alteration by line (TV standard) used in many countries; including the UK , Germany, Australia, France, Spain, Italy & China; but not used in North America or Japan

parallax – discrepancy in what you see through a viewing lens and the actual result from a (separate) taking lens.

Patch a programme to update software – to combat bugs and threats

pan to rotate a camera

panning to pan

PAN panchromatic – sensitive to the entire visible spectrum

Pano panoramic

PAS point and shoot – simple camera, sometimes simple photography (also P & S)

Pap short for Paparazzi

PC personal computer or name of flash coupler socket

PC Prontor/Compur (name of flash coupler socket used on many cameras)

PCE Perspective control through tilt shift

PCD photo compact disk

PCI peripheral component interconnect/interface

PDA personal digital assistant

PDF portable document format

Peanut – a very small flash “slave”

PeeCee – derogatory term for a computer which is not a mac

Phishing scam to access your data

photoshop 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7 – old versions of photoshop preceding photoshop CS versions

pics pictures

PICT picture

pix pictures (also pics)

PIXEL picture element

Pixelated same as pixelisation

Pixelisation the individual pixels can be seen

pixel peeper – someone who is over impressed with technical image quality particularly in the corners of images

PJ photojournalist

PL linear polarising filter – may cause problems with digital cameras

Plug in – application which works within a host application

PNG portable network graphics

Pola polaroid

POP post office protocol

Pop Up opening of a new unexpected window

Port part of computer which can connect with external device

Pos positive

Post post production

Post to place or send a message

PP post processing

PP professional photographer

P&S point and shoot

PM personal message

PNG Portable Network Graphics

PPI pixels per inch

PQ picture quality

Preview – see proof

Pro professional – frequently used word to advertise equipment which is anything but

profile relates to colour management

profile a sideways on view used in portaiture

program how Americans spell programme

Prontor a make of mechanical shutter

Proof a.k.a. “Preview”. A small image intended to give an impression of what the final image will look like

Props things in your photo

PROPS Proper respect and acknowledgement

Prosumer – Equipment marketing people target at non professionals who have more money than “average” consumers.

Prime a lens of fixed focal length i.e. not a zoom lens

P&S point and shoot

PS photoshop

PSE photoshop elements

PSD photoshop document

PSP paintshop pro

PT line printer

PTZ pan tilt zoom

Push to try and increase the ISO speed

Pull to try and diminish the ISO speed, or to “snatch” a print from the developer

PW Pocket Wizard, a make of flash transmitter

Q&A questions and answers

QR Quick Release

® registered trademark, as in www.dsider.co.uk

RAID Random Arrangement of Independent Discs

RAM Random Access Memor

Raster to loose pixel data by styling it

RAW unprocessed digital file direct from the camera

Rays sunlight

RC resin coated

Reboot restart computer

reciprocity – the reciprocal relationship of exposure with time

reciprocity failure ( Does not apply to digital cameras) the failure of the reciprocal relationship of exposure with time during long exposures with film cameras

rep representative for photo product brand. A photographers rep represents a photographer.

Res resolution

RF rangefinder

RF radio frequency

RF rear focussing

RGB red green & blue

RIP raster image processor

RIP rest in peace

Rip copy – possibly made illegally

Rising Front – a camera movement

ROM read only memory

RP Resolving Power

RSS really simple syndication

RTFM Read The F’ing Manual

Rubber ducking talking with others to solve a problem

S shutter priority

S shutter

SAM smooth autofocus motor

Scrim device used to reduce light intensity

Scheimpflug -principle of camera movements

Schneider – highly respected make of lenses

SD Secure Digital (card)

SDHC secure digital high capacity

sealed usually refers to if a lens is weather or dust resistant (see “Dust Pump”)

Sec second

Selfie self portrait

Sensor solid state device to record digital images

SEO search engine optimisation

Server computer that supplies service to other computers

Sharp in focus

shop Photoshop

Shift relates to camera movements on some types of cameras and lenses

Shoot to take a photograph or a series of photographs during one brief

Shooter – term used by amateurs to describe a fellow photographer

Shot a photo you have taken

Shutter drag – using a slow shutter speed with flash to get blurred effects

Shutter lag – just what you don’t want – you press the shutter then the camera takes ages to get round to firing.

Shutterbug – someone who lives for photography

Siri Apple’s voice control interface

Sitter subject of a portrait shoot

Sitting a studio portrait shoot

Slave photo electric cell which fires further flashes, or a photographers assistant

Slow a lens with a small maximum aperture or a low ISO speed

SL skylight as in “SL filter”

SLOMO slow motion

SLT single lens translucent. DSLR camera with translucent mirror (mirror doesn’t move)

SLR Single Lens Reflex. As in a film camera. Not to be confused with a DSLR – which is a Digital SLR.

SMC Pentax multi coating

Smiley symbol used to communicate emotion

SMTP simple mail transfer protocol

smudgers – amateur photographers of low ability who call themselves professionals

snap – low quality quick amateur photo

snaps – frequently used as derogatory term for collection of photographs

snap happy – an older term for a sprayer

snapper – someone who takes images of dubious quality, or the process of taking unprofessional images

snatch to remove a print quickly from the developer and place it in the stop bath before its allotted time

snoot a cone shaped electronic flash light modifier

soft unsharp image or a description of a type of lighting

softbox – a lighting attachment that achieves soft lighting

softlight diffused lighting can also refer to a softbox

softy a soft light or soft lighting attachment

softy a type of gentle vignette

softie a sentimentalist, as in “you big softie”

SOOC straight out of camera

SP shutter priority

SP Super performance – Tamron lens description

Spam junk email

SPD silicon photo diode

Speed Refers to ways of increasing or decreasing the effective transmission of light to a digital sensor or film e.g. Wide aperture lenses & high ISO speeds.

Spray and pray – what many amateurs do. i.e. Shoot large numbers of images hoping one might “turn out.”

Spyware programme installed by stealth to steal your information

SS shutter speed

Stringer – freelance photojournalist or freelance journalist

sticks tripod

stock image/s from a photo library which are usually available for purchase

soup developer chemicals

spec specification

spec dust or foreign body

SR shake reduction

Steadicam make of anti camera shake device

Stitching – combining several images to make a panorama

SS Steady Shot

Stop usually refers to aperture variants. Can also mean variants of shutter and ISO speed

Strobe electronic flash

Surf to move around on the internet

Sync synchronisation

Sv sensitivity value

SWM Silent Wave Motor

Tablet small portable omputer

Taskbar bar used to access computer info

TB terrabyte i.e. 1000GB (gigabytes) of storage or one trillion bytes

TBH to be honest

TC teleconverter – a secondary lens mounted between the camera and its lens

TCP transmission control protocol

Techie – a person who thrives on technical information

Tele telephoto – as in telephoto lens

Telephoto lens – a long focus lens which is shorter than its focal length.

Telescopic lens – what numpties erroneously call a telephoto lens.
A real telescopic lens would collapse down to a compact size.

Tethered Camera directly connected to computer

TFT Thin film transistor

TFP Time For Prints. An expression meaning a model, and/or a stylist, and a photographer all work together on an assignment unpaid in order to mutually enhance their folios with prints or digital images.

Thin underexposed

Thumbnail a small image used for image identification

TIC thermal imaging camera

Tilt relates to camera movements on some types of cameras and lenses

Tilt relates to tilt mechanism on a tripod e.g. pan & tilt tripod head

Traffic amount of information handled by communication system

TS-E tilt shift len

TIFF tagged image file format

TLR twin lens reflex. Inetrchangeable lenses are in pairs one to look through and one to photograph with – hence subject to “parallax error””

tog I really hate this one, it’s an amateur term for a fellow photographer

Trannie transparency film

Tri X grainy black & white Kodak film

Trojan (Trojan Horse) malicious code which can spy on or hijack your computer

T/S tilt and shift

TTL through the lens

TTV through the viewfinder

TV television

Tv time value

Type L old type of Bowens flash reflector fitting

Type L film designed for long exposures, usually tungsten balanced

Type S current type of Bowens flash reflector fitting

Type S film designed for short exposures, usually daylight balanced

UD ultra low dispersion lens

UE under exposed

UHD ultra high definition, as in UHD TV (television)

UI user interface

UK United Kingdom

Uncle Bob – an amateur photographer who gets in the way of a professional

Unzip to decompress a file

Upload send info from your computer to a remote computer

Uptime how long a computer system has been working

Urbex the often dangerous practice of photographing decaying ruined buildings

URL uniform resource locater (spelt locator in America)

USB universal series bus

USM ultra sonic motor (Canon)

USM unsharp mask

UV ultra violet

UWA ultra wide angle

UX user experience

V volts

VC ivibration control

VCL video camera lens

Vector image styled to not loose quality when enlarged

VF view finder

Virus a programme deliberately created to harm a computer

Virtual not real

VM virtual machine

VOIP voice over internet protocol

VPN virtual private network

VR virtual reality

VR vibration reduction, Nikon version of Canon’s IS

VGA video graphics array

W watts

WA wide angle

WAL wide angle lens

WALH wide angle lens hood

Wallpaper the picture on a desktop

WB white balance

Web world wide web

Webmaster person responsible for maintaining a website

WEP wireless equivalency protocol

WFOV wide field of view

Wip Pan nerdy name for blur caused by panning in long exposure

Wide open – using a lens at its maximum aperture

WiFi wireless connection

WLAN wireless local area network

WLF waist level finder, usually found on obsolete medium format film cameras

Worm malicious programme similar to a virus

WPA wifi protected access

WR weather resistant or water resistant (but not waterproof)

www world wide web e.g. www.dsider.co.uk

WYSIWYG – what you see is what you get

XR Extra Refractive glass

XT X Trans fuji sensor

X Sync – Flash sync terminal also known as PC

X Trans – type of Fuji sensor

YAC yet another camera

Y/Y – Yes, Yes

Yesterday – as in I want it yesterday. See “ASAP”

Zap – to light, as in “Zap it with electronic flash”

Zip to compress a file

Zombie unsecure computer taken over by a hacker

zoom variable focal length lens

zoom to magnify an image or to magnify a view of an image as in “zoom in”

zoom creep – poor zoom lens design, where gravity changes the zoom setting when pointing downwards

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