Carl Cooper LRPS, Photography for Everyone
FREE, PRACTICAL PHOTOGRAPHY TUITION
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Practical exercise

Understanding your camera type: try it yourself

This is the practical for the lesson. Work through it in order. Nothing here is a test of memory. Keep the lesson open if you need it and check the instructions as often as you like.

Aim

You should finish with a simple description such as: 'I have a Canon EOS 250D DSLR with interchangeable lenses' or 'I have an iPhone with three rear camera modules'. That is enough to know which instructions are relevant.

What you need

Your own camera or phone, enough battery power to complete the exercise, and a memory card or free storage space where your equipment requires it. You do not need to buy anything specially for this practical.

Do this step by step

  1. Find and write down the exact make and model of your camera or phone.
  2. Identify whether its main lens is fixed or interchangeable.
  3. Find the shutter button or on-screen shutter control.
  4. Find the rear screen and, if present, the viewfinder.
  5. Look for a mode dial. If there is one, note the letters and symbols without changing anything yet.
  6. Find the battery and memory-card doors if your camera has them.
  7. Search the camera's own menu for its model/firmware information and compare it with the model written on the body.

What should happen

You should finish with a simple description such as: 'I have a Canon EOS 250D DSLR with interchangeable lenses' or 'I have an iPhone with three rear camera modules'. That is enough to know which instructions are relevant.

If it does not work

Stop rather than changing lots of things at once. Check that the camera is switched on, the battery has charge and the card or storage is available. Then return to the last step that definitely worked. If a named control is missing, your camera may use a different name or menu location. Check the manual for your exact model. Never force a card, battery, lens, door or control.

Before you finish

Explain out loud, or in one sentence on paper, what you changed and what happened. If you can explain the result in your own words, you have understood the exercise. If you cannot, repeat the part that was unclear.

Do not worry about getting a 'good' photograph. This exercise is about understanding the camera. A technically uninteresting photograph that clearly proves what changed is more useful here than a beautiful photograph you cannot explain.