Swivel lens

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A Nikon CoolPix 900 (1998), an early swivel-lens design. Nikon Coolpix 900.jpg
A Nikon CoolPix 900 (1998), an early swivel-lens design.

A swivel lens is a lens that freely rotates while attached to a camera body. They are used on some compact digital and video cameras (camcorders). These lenses make it easy for a photographer to aim a camera without moving around too much. Swivel lenses come in different sizes and shapes. A swivel lens is also known as a swiveling lens, swivelling lens, and rotating lens.

Camcorder video camera with built-in video recorder

A camcorder is an electronic device originally combining a video camera and a videocassette recorder.

Contents

In contrast, swivel LCDs (also known as articulating screen) are displays that freely rotate while attached to a camera body. Usually, the camera body is much larger than the swivelling display. Swivel LCD devices can be considered as swivel lens devices because the camera body can swivel around the small display; albeit, aiming the camera is more difficult. Most camcorders have a swivel LCD.

Articulating screen

An articulating screen is a liquid-crystal display (LCD) which is not fixed, but rather can be repositioned using a hinge or pivot. The articulating screen is known under different other names such as flip-out screen, flip screen, adjustable screen, articulated screen, or hinged screen. According to the way it moves, there are three main types:

  1. The LCD moves around one axis, so that it only tilts. It is called tilting screen or tiltable screen.
  2. The LCD moves around two axes which are at a right angle to each other, so that the screen both tilts and swivels. This type is called swivel screen. Other names for this type are vari-angle screen, fully articulated screen, fully articulating screen, rotating screen, multi-angle screen, variable angle screen, flip-out-and-twist screen, twist-and-tilt screen and swing-and-tilt screen.
  3. The LCD moves into a variety of angles; it tilts horizontally and vertically and also rotates to a certain extent while staying aligned with the lens axis. It still can not be turned all the way up, down or to the side to be seen from the front of the camera for self-portraits. This type of articulating screen is called cross-tilt screen, flexible-tilt screen or flex-tilt screen.

Uses

List of cameras that have swivel lens

Nikon Coolpix S4 digital camera model

The Coolpix S4 is a brand of digital camera produced by Nikon. Its image sensor is a CCD with 6.0 million pixels. It has a 2.5-inch (64 mm) thin-film transistor liquid crystal display device with 110,000 pixels. The S4 incorporates Nikon’s popular swivel design which allows the addition of a powerful Nikkor 10X Optical zoom lens, yet retain a compact form. Other features include D-Lighting and Face-priority AF.

Nikon Coolpix 950 digital camera model

The Nikon Coolpix 950 was a digital camera released by Nikon in early 1999. The 950 model superseded the Coolpix 900 in the Nikon Coolpix series. The Coolpix 950 was a durable camera with swivel lens, magnesium body, a maximum resolution of 1600×1200, 3× optical zoom and a minimum focusing distance of 2 cm. It was in turn superseded by the Coolpix 990.

Nikon Coolpix 995 digital camera model

The Nikon Coolpix 995 was announced on April 25, 2001 to supersede the Coolpix 990 in the Nikon Coolpix series. Similar in appearance to the 990, changes include a switch to a high-impact plastic case for the lens half of the swivel body, a pop-up flash to reduce red-eye by moving the bulb away from the lens, an increase in zoom capability to 4x, CompactFlash Type II compatibility and use of the EN-EL1 rechargeable Li-Ion battery in place of the previous four AA batteries.

List of other devices with swivel lens

PlayStation Portable handheld game console made by Sony

The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console that was developed by Sony Computer Entertainment as part of the seventh generation of video-game consoles. Development of the handheld console was announced during E3 2003 and it was unveiled on May 11, 2004, at a Sony press conference before the next E3. The system was released in Japan on December 12, 2004; in North America on March 24, 2005; and in the PAL region on September 1, 2005. It competed with the Nintendo DS.

Go!Cam

The PSP Camera is a digital camera peripheral by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation Portable handheld video game system. In Japan, the PSP-300 was released as the Chotto Shot(ちょっとショット "Quick Shot") on November 2, 2006, and was released in Singapore in the same year. For PAL regions, it is named the Go!Cam and was released May 25, 2007. A lower resolution version, the PSP-450x, was introduced in 2009. The PSP-450x camera was released in North America bundled with Invizimals on October 12, 2010, and was also bundled with EyePet on November 2, 2010.

Game Boy Camera Game Boy accessory

The Game Boy Camera (GBC), released as Pocket Camera in Japan, is a Nintendo accessory for the handheld Game Boy gaming console and was released on February 21, 1998 in Japan, which ceased manufacture in late 2002. It is compatible with all of the Game Boy platforms. The camera has a 128×128 pixel CMOS sensor, and can store 128×112, black & white digital images using the 4-color palette of the Game Boy system. It interfaced with the Game Boy Printer, which utilized thermal paper to print saved images, making a hardcopy. Both the camera and the printer were marketed by Nintendo as light-hearted entertainment devices aimed mainly at children in all three major video game regions of the world: Japan, North America, and Europe. N64 Magazine dedicated a monthly section to the device.

Cellphones

LG CU500

The LG CU500 is a mobile phone manufactured by LG and was released in December 2006. It was LG Group's first cell phone in the United States to include HSDPA capability, and also the first cell phone to work with Cingular's HSDPA network. The LG CU500v is a software upgrade to the LG CU500 which supports video calls. The CU500v also supports microSD cards up to two gigabytes in size

Nokia N90 2005 smartphone

The Nokia N90 is a smartphone, announced as part of Nokia's then-new line of multimedia devices, Nseries, on April 27, 2005. It had a unique swivel design encompassing four 'modes'. It has two displays and has a camera with Carl Zeiss optics and integrated flash, and can record video with audio. The screen can be swiveled 270° to let the phone be handled more like a conventional video camera. The camera lens can also be swiveled. The phone has no vibration feature. The 2.1-inch display has a pixel density of 259 ppi, which made it incredibly sharp and the crispest Nokia screen at the time, and continued to be joint-highest with the N80, E60 and E70 for four years, before being beaten by the Nokia N900 in 2009 with 267 ppi. The Nokia N90 can print with some printers over USB or over Bluetooth.

Cellphones with pseudo swivel lens

Some cellphones have lens that rotate and allow users to take self-portraits but are limited in the angles where the camera can take pictures.

Nokia 3250

The Nokia 3250 is a smartphone running Symbian OS v9.1, announced on September 26, 2005. It features a unique 'twist' design that transforms the traditional phone keypad into a camera and dedicated music control keys. It was marketed as a music phone and can store up to 2 gigabytes of music and other data thanks to a microSD memory card slot, and features a two-megapixel camera as well as other smartphone capabilities.

See also

Related Research Articles

Digital single-lens reflex camera digital cameras combining the parts of a single-lens reflex camera and a digital camera back

A digital single-lens reflex camera is a digital camera that combines the optics and the mechanisms of a single-lens reflex camera with a digital imaging sensor, as opposed to photographic film. The reflex design scheme is the primary difference between a DSLR and other digital cameras. In the reflex design, light travels through the lens, then to a mirror that alternates to send the image to either the viewfinder or the image sensor. The traditional alternative would be to have a viewfinder with its own lens, hence the term "single lens" for this design. By using only one lens, the viewfinder of a DSLR presents an image that will not differ substantially from what is captured by the camera's sensor. A DSLR differs from non-reflex single-lens digital cameras in that the viewfinder presents a direct optical view through the lens, rather than being captured by the camera's image sensor and displayed by a digital screen.

APS-C image sensor format

Advanced Photo System type-C (APS-C) is an image sensor format approximately equivalent in size to the Advanced Photo System film negative in its C ("Classic") format, of 25.1×16.7 mm, an aspect ratio of 3:2. It is therefore also equivalent in size to the Super 35 motion picture film format, which has the dimensions of 24.89 mm × 18.66 mm.

Nikon Coolpix 4500 digital camera model

The Nikon Coolpix 4500 is a digital camera - the penultimate model in the famous 950-995 lineup of swivel lens models. The last model was the Nikon Coolpix S4, most of its features match the Nikon 995. The Coolpix 4500 was announced by Nikon on May 29th, 2002.

The Contax N Digital was a six-megapixel digital SLR camera produced by Contax in Japan. The camera was announced in late 2000, and began to be sold in spring 2002, after several delays. The camera received mixed reviews from the press, and was withdrawn from the market within a year of its introduction.

Full-frame digital SLR

A full-frame digital single-lens reflex camera (DSLR) is one with an image sensor format that is the same size as 35 mm format film. Historically, 35 mm was considered a small film format compared with medium format, large format and even larger.

Bridge camera Type of photo camera

Bridge cameras are cameras that fill the niche between the single-lens reflex cameras (SLRs) and the point-and-shoot camera which are prominent in the prosumer market segment. They are often comparable in size and weight to the smallest digital SLRs (DSLR), but lack interchangeable lenses, and almost all digital bridge cameras lack an optical viewfinder system. The phrase "bridge camera" has been in use at least since the 1980s, and continues to be used with digital cameras. The term was originally used to refer to film cameras which "bridged the gap" between point-and-shoot cameras and SLRs.

Nikon Coolpix L100 digital camera model

The Nikon Coolpix L100 is a semi-compact digital camera produced by Nikon Corporation and is part of the Nikon Coolpix series. It belongs to the "Life" series of Nikon digital cameras, which are intended for beginner and amateur users, announced in 2009.

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX1 is a premium fixed-lens compact camera made by Sony as part of its Cyber-shot line of digital cameras. The DSC-RX1 is notable for being the world's first fixed-lens, full-frame digital compact camera, and as of its announcement, it is the world's smallest full-frame digital camera but is also considerably more expensive than most other compact cameras. It was announced on September 12, 2012.

The Nikon Coolpix S800c is the first digital compact camera with Android operating system announced Aug 22, 2012.

The Nikon Coolpix P7800 is a digital compact camera announced by Nikon on September 5, 2013.

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX200V is a hyperzoom bridge digital camera that features:

A full-frame mirrorless interchangeable-lens camera is a mirrorless interchangeable-lens camera with a digital sensor the same size as 35 mm format film.

References

  1. ↑ Archived March 8, 2005, at the Wayback Machine
  2. ↑ "Nikon Coolpix 3500: Digital Photography Review". Dpreview.com. Retrieved 2014-06-04.
  3. ↑ "Nikon Coolpix S4: Digital Photography Review". Dpreview.com. Retrieved 2014-06-04.
  4. ↑ "Nikon Coolpix 995 Review: Digital Photography Review". Dpreview.com. 2001-04-25. Retrieved 2014-06-04.
  5. ↑ "Sony DSC-U50: Digital Photography Review". Dpreview.com. Retrieved 2014-06-04.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 "Swivelers: Swivel-lens digital cameras list and compare -- joy of twisting" . Retrieved 2011-10-23.
  7. ↑ "Sony Cyber-shot DSC-F88 Review: Digital Photography Review". Dpreview.com. Retrieved 2014-06-04.
  8. ↑ "Contax U4R: Digital Photography Review". Dpreview.com. Retrieved 2014-06-04.


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