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What doe SLR mean when it comes to a Nikon camera.

What does “SLR” mean?

All Canon EOS cameras are SLRs, which stands for “single lens reflex.” Very simply an SLR is a camera in which there is only one lens, which is used for both picture-taking and viewfinding. When you peer through the viewfinder at the back of the camera you’re looking directly through the main picture-taking lens, so you can see pretty well exactly what’s going to be in the final picture. There isn’t a separate viewfinder lens on the front of the camera like on a point and shoot camera.

The word “reflex” in there refers to a mirror used to reflect light from the lens up into the viewfinder. SLRs also have glass pentaprisms or pentamirrors on the top, which explains the protruding section on top of the camera.

What is the history of EOS cameras?

While today Canon and Nikon are considered the big two Japanese 35mm SLR manufacturers, and thus the world, this was by no means always the case. German camera makers dominated the global camera market for the first half of the previous century, with many local players selling products successfully in generally less prestigious markets. Then, in the 1950s, Nikon became the 35mm frontrunner with a host of smaller firms – Pentax, Minolta, Canon, Olympus, Miranda, Ricoh, etc – following on behind. Canon made some breakthroughs with their F1 and A1 cameras in the 1970s, but by the 1980s they were definitely lagging and Minolta (now sadly gone from the camera market) were making considerable inroads.

Canon’s first step to pull itself ahead in the SLR market came with 1986’s innovative T90, a manual-focus camera designed in collaboration with the noted German industrial designer Luigi Colani. The T90’s curved organic shape, heavy reliance upon computer automation and intuitive user interface set the direction for the entire Japanese SLR industry for the next 10-15 years.

The company realized, however, that the future of photography lay in autofocus. Their early experiments – such as the T80, which shipped with somewhat clumsy autofocus lenses adapted to the FD manual-focus lens mount – weren’t particularly successful, so Canon took the risky and unusual step of abandoning their FD mount altogether. In 1987 they released the first cameras and lenses of the EOS system.

EOS cameras were utterly incompatible with Canon’s previous products; a move which obviously alienated legions of Canon FD owners. The risk was calculated, however. EOS cameras with their EF lenses did not rely on any mechanical linkages between body and lens. Unlike all other camera makers Canon chose to house both the autofocus motor and the aperture diaphragm motor in the lens barrel itself.

This gamble paid off when Canon were the first maker to release lenses containing fast and silent focussing ultrasonic autofocus motors. Canon’s comprehensive line of USM lenses, along with the professional-quality EOS 1 and 1N camera bodies, helped Canon firmly establish themselves as a strong favourite of professionals. Massive sales of their low-end EOS cameras also allowed the company to enter markets in which Nikon, with a traditional emphasis on mid to high-end cameras, could not compete.

The EOS lineup branched out to encompass digital image sensors in the mid 1990s. First Canon teamed up with Kodak to release a number of EOS 1 series pro bodies combined with large digital add-on gear. Then, in October 2000 Canon introduced the D30, its first fully homegrown digital SLR camera. Canon now sell a wide range of digital EOS SLRs, covering the familiar consumer/advanced amateur/pro ranges, and are the largest DSLR maker in the world, with Nikon close behind.

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