How to tell your child what a camera is

A camera is a device that creates pictures using light. The still image obtained thanks to him was previously called light painting (from the ancient Greek photo - light and grapho - I write), but then they began to be called photographs, ceasing to translate the foreign name into our language.

What does it consist of?

In a camera, all the details are aimed at helping to save exactly the image that we need. To do this, he definitely needs:

• housing that does not allow excess light to pass through;
• lens - a device through which the desired light passes;
• shutter - a door or cover that covers the lens when we are not shooting anything;
• the canvas on which the drawing is created (film or matrix - a device consisting of many light-sensitive points).

These elements are complemented by others. So, if we are talking about a device that saves images on film, then inside the case there will also be parts that allow it to be changed or rewound.

And in a modern digital camera, the rays that hit the matrix are converted into electrical signals. To turn them into computer-readable code, you need a processor. In order to save this code, a memory card will be useful. Well, for all these devices to work, they need energy, which is stored in the battery.

How does it work

The camera is somewhat similar to our eye: it sees only those rays of light that were reflected from objects and directed towards it.Then these rays pass through the lens, compressed into a beam that matches the size of the canvas on which the image will be stored.

In old cameras, these rays come into contact with a film on which substances that react to them are applied. After the reaction has occurred, the film is rewound so as not to spoil the picture with the next batch of rays. Well, when the film runs out, it is processed in a dark room with a special solution that makes it insensitive to light.

Now images can be stored for a very long time. If you want to turn them into photographs, then using special equipment they are transferred to paper.

In modern cameras, rays passing through the lens come into contact with the matrix. It consists of many points that can convert light energy into an electrical signal. It is then transmitted to a small computer - a processor. This computer processes all received signals and puts them into a digital picture - an image that we can see on the display or save to a memory card in the form of a code.

If we want to turn such an image into a real photograph, then we simply send this code to a device that can read it and turn it into a regular drawing drawn with paints.