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Photography Quiz
Think you know all about photography? Maybe you enjoy photography and just love doing quizes. Either way, have a go at this quiz and see how you do.
There's 120 questions - some with multiple parts so I don't yet know what the score will be for getting them all right. But it's just for fun so it doesn't matter.
Multiple choice questions lave the options labelled (a), (b), (c) etc. Multi part questions are numbered with x.1, x.2, x.3 etc.
By the way if you spot a genuine error, please let us know, but if you just want to nitpik with stuff like "well actually so and so did make one model that did something for 2 weeks in 1988 even though you said it's never been done" - please remember it's just for fun.
One last thing - see how many you get without resorting to Google, Wikipedia or any other internet resource (at least initially anyway). The answers are available via the link at the side of this page.
History of Photography
1. During the 17th century, Robert Boyle reported that Silver Chloride turned dark under exposure to what?
2. The term 'camera obscura' literally means what?
3. Name the English photography pioneer born in 1800, and developer of the calotype process of photography?
4. Which company (still going today) was the first to produce a commercially successful 35mm format camera, and in which year?
5. Which company, founded in 1888, used the slogan "You press the button and we do the rest"?
6. Which Swedish manufacturer, most famous for their medium format cameras, was founded in 1841, however didn't introduce its first commercial camera until more than 100 years later?
7. What photographic invention is generally credited to the American scientist Edwin Land, and what company did he set up to exploit it?
8. In 1973, Fairchild semiconductors produced the first large image-forming CCD chip - what was it's resolution?
9. Which company made the first mass produced autofocus camera, and in what year?
10. What film format was invented in 1982 by Kodak (officially discontinued in December 1999) - each film being circular, contained in a cartridge and having 15 exposures?
Using Your Camera
11. What is the simplest thing you can change on your camera to vary the depth-of-field?
12. Most cameras have four basic exposure modes: auto/program, aperture priority, manual. What is the fourth one?
13. What does '125' mean when you select this for the shutter speed?
a. 125 shots remaining before card full
b. shutter will be open for 1.25 seconds
c. 12.5 seconds self-timer
d. shutter will open for 1/125th second
e. shutter will open for 125 milliseconds (0.125s)
14. Which of these is best suited to low light photography
a. low ISO setting
b. fast shutter speeds
c. low f-number for the aperture
d. a polarising filter
e. long focal length lenses
15. You have a 50mm prime lens for your Canon APS-C DSLR (1.6x crop factor). What focal length lens would you use on the following cameras to get the same angle of view?
15.1. a 35mm film camera
15.2. a Nikon FX camera (e.g. the Nikon D3)
15.3. an Olympus DSLR (uses the four-thirds system)
16. You have a lens which has a maximum aperture opening of 28mm diameter. Which of these lenses could it be?
a. 28mm f/3.5 lens
b. 50mm f/1.8 lens
c. 100mm f/2.8 lens
d. 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 lens
17. Name two uses for the mirror lockup function in a DSLR
18. Which of these are valid reasons to use the RAW format over the JPEG format (you can select more than one)
a. you can adjust the white balance later
b. it can more accurately describe the colour information in the image
c. RAW files are generally smaller than JPEG files
d. burnt out highlights can sometimes be recovered
e. RAW files generally use a lossless compression
f. RAW always has the potential to let you create better JPEGs than the camera
19. If you are taking a picture of a bright snow scene and you are using one of the auto modes ('P' mode), what feature of your camera might you use to ensure the image comes out looking the same as your eye sees it.
20. You have a DSLR such as the EOS 400/450D, Nikon D40/60/80 with an 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens. You want to take a head and shoulders portrait of your partner. What focal length should you use, and assuming you have plenty of light available, what aperture would you use to create a nice blurred background?
Classic Cameras
Misc. Questions
31. What type of photography commonly makes use of tilt-and-shift lenses?
32. What does an extension tube do, and why might you use it? (no rude answers please)
33. What is the name commonly given to a lens with an ultra-wide angle of view of 180 degrees all around, and what is characteristic about the pictures produced?
34. Why do modern SLRs and DSLRs use a half silvered reflex mirror which lets some of the light pass through it?
35. Where might you find a Bayer Filter?
36. Nearly all digital cameras need to carry out a process called demosaicing after the picture has been taken. What does the demosaicing process do? Also, name a DSLR currently available that does not need to carry out this.
37. A manufacturer announces that they have just produced an image sensor for a compact camera with 200 megapixels without needing to make it any bigger than the current 10 megapixel compact camera sensors. Name a potential downside to such a sensor.
38. If a 4 megapixel camera can give a 6x4" print at a certain quality, how many megapixels would be needed to generate a print twice the size (i.e. 12x8") at the same quality?
(a) 6MP (b) 8MP (c) 10MP (d) 12MP (e) 16MP
39. Which of these (might be more than one) are advantages of having a large aperture lens?
a. shallower depth-of-field is possible
b. allows faster shutter speeds in low light
c. improved autofocus performance
d. brighter image in the viewfinder
40. When comparing prime lenses and zoom lenses - which of the following are true (might be more than one):
a. primes are generally higher quality
b. primes generally have bigger apertures
c. primes are generally cheaper
d. primes are always quicker at autofocusing
e. primes are generally small in size
41. Photography forums often have questions like: "I've just bought a Canon 450D with an 18-55mm kit lens. I want to buy another lens - which is the best one to buy?" Why is this such a daft question?
42. Where in a camera system might you find the use of ultrasonic sound waves?
43. What do the terms "Full Time Manual Focus" and "Internal Focus" mean?
44. What are the following:
44.1. Vignetting
44.2. Pincushion distortion
44.3. Chromatic abberation
45. Which of the following might you find on high-end (professional) lenses (might be more than one)?
a. aspherical lens elements
b. low dispersion glass
c. metal barrel construction
d. ground glass elements rather than moulded ones
e. constant diameter apertures throughout the zoom range
f. integrated UV filter
g. concave front lens element
h. full time manual focus
i. auto focus bracketing
j. flourite crystal elements
46. Where might you see barn doors and snoots?
47. Many of Canon's 'L' lenses are white in colour. Although we all know this is a marketing ploy to make Canon photographers stand out in a crowd, what is the 'official line' from Canon?
48. Why does it matter how many blades a lens aperture has?
49. The advantage of using the widest aperture is more light and lovely shallow depth of field. The advantage of using the smallest aperture are very large depth of field (ideal for landscapes). What is the advantage of using a mid aperture (say around f/8) with regard to image quality?
50. The term bracketing is often used in association with other camera parameters. What does bracketing mean?
51. Which of these numbers is the odd one out?
110, 120, 126, 135, 160, 220, 645
52. Where on most cameras would you find a 1/4" screw socket?
53. What word do many Americans use to mean any external flash (although especially a large standalone unit) - but which in the UK is often used to describe a pulsating light?
54. Why would you use a step up ring?
55. Where would you normally see catchlights in a photograph?
56. Where might you find Silica Gel?
a. On the surface of light sensitive film
b. In coloured filters that go over the front of external flashguns
c. In little bags in your camera case
d. Inside the camera around the seals to make them waterproof
e. A coating on the sillicon chips inside the camera
57. What is 'second curtain sync'?
58. A reversing ring allows you to connect a lens onto your camera body backwards. Why would you want to do this?
59. Where might you come across modulation transfer functiolns?
60. What is meant by the term 'high key' portrait?
Symbols
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61.
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62.
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63.
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64.
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65.
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66.
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67.
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68.
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69.
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70.
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Abbreviations
71. DSLR
72. DPI (as in image is 300dpi)
73. ISO
74. AEB (a feature on many cameras)
75. DPOF
76. GN (used in the description of external flash guns)
77. Grad ND (a type of filter)
78. CCD (type of image sensor)
79. CMOS (another type of image sensor)
80. AWB (a setting on the camera)
Name the Manufacturer
Name the manufacturer associated with these products or technologies
81. 'L' series lenses
82. M-series of rangefinder cameras
83. The image sensors inside Nikon's modern range of DSLR cameras
84. Speedlite flashguns
85. Super-CCD
86. Lightroom (software)
87. FP4 and HP5 black and white film
88. Velvia and Provia film
89. Inventor of instant film cameras in the late 1940s - ceased production of them in February 2008.
90. X3 image sensor True or False
91. All SLR cameras take 35mm film
92. Opening the aperture by 2 stops lets in twice as much light
93. Polarising filters are ideal for removing unwanted reflections
94. A 20mm prime lens is an ideal portrait lens on a 35mm film camera
95. 1/125s at f/5.6 and 1/250s at f/4 are equivalent for a given ISO
96. If a lens is described as a 'fast' lens, it usually means it has ultrasonic motors to allow fast autofocusing
97. ISO was sometimes called ASA on early 35mm film cameras
98. On digital cameras, it is always preferable to use a digital zoom rather than optical zoom
99. Filters are used to clean the air entering the camera to prevent dust getting on the sensor
100. To make 10x8 prints, you must have at least 8 megapixel images
101. The smaller the image sensor, the less likely it is to generate noise in the image
102. The 'B' setting for shutter speed means 'bulb' - referring to the old squeezy bulbs that photographers used to use to take a picture remotely.
103. The first camera phone was released in 1995.
104. A lens designed specifically for a digital camera (e.g. Canon EF-S / Nikon DX lens) with an indicated focal length of 50mm will give the same angle of view as a 50mm non-digital (i.e. full frame / 35mm) lens on a full-frame / 35mm film camera
105. All modern digital SLRs have at least two mirrors
106. The White Balance setting on 35mm film cameras usually only has 2 options - tungsten and daylight
107. When shooting in RAW format, it does not matter if the white balance setting is wrong - you can fix it later
108. When shooting in RAW format, it does not matter if the ISO setting is wrong - you can fix it later
109. Hyperfocal distance is a name given to the closest point at which a lens can focus.
110. If a sensor is described as a 1/2.5" sensor, this means that the diagonal dimension of the image sensor is 0.4 inches.
The Digital Darkroom (i.e. manipulating images on the computer)
111. An unsharp mask is used for what?
a. softening an image that is too sharp
b. highlighting areas of an image that might need unsharpening
c. sharpening an image
d. rounding the edges of sharp corners in an image
112. What is the more common name for the file format developed by the Joint Photographic Experts Group?
113. To get the best from your digital pictures you should use a device such as a ColorVision Spyder or a Pantone Huey. What do these do?
114. Which of these transformations can be done to a JPEG file without needing to have it re-encoded and therefore lose quality? (might be more than one)
a. rotation by a multiple of 90 degrees
b. adjust brightness and contrast
c. sharpen the image
d. change the DPI value
e. decrease or increase colour saturation
115. What does the phrase 'aspect ratio' mean?
116. When referring to colour models, what do the following abbreviations mean?
116.1. RGB
116.2. CMYK
116.3. HSB
117. Here is a rectangle made up of 3 coloured blocks (pure red, pure green and pure blue). If you were to convert this image to greyscale, what would it look like?
118. What is the name of the adjustment tool which contains something like this...
... and what effect on the image will the above graph have on an image?
119. Match up the following descriptions to the file type extensions:
| 1. Supports a maximum of 256 colours, however limited transparency is supported as well as animated versions |
A. JPEG |
| 2. A format developed for Windows but very rarely used in photography due to big file sizes |
B. TIFF |
| 3. A format designed specifically for the internet, employs lossless data compression and can support transparency of full colour images via an alpha channel |
C. GIF |
| 4. A common format for photographs - limited to 24-bit colour or 8-bit greyscale, and utilising a lossy compression algorithm |
D. PNG |
| 5. A format specific developed by Adobe for their own photo applications, although some other packages can now read these files |
E. DNG |
| 6. A flexible file format supporting colour depths right up to 16-bits per channel. As well as RGB, the CMYK model is also supported |
F. BMP |
| 7. An attempt to create a universal raw file format for cameras. Never really took off. |
G. PSD |
120. If you want to e-mail a JPEG photograph to a friend and you want to keep the file size as small as possible - which if these things can you do to the image before saving a JPEG file for e-mailing (could be more than one).
a. resize the image so its only about 500 pixels on the longest side
b. change the DPI value in the file to a lower number
c. increase the compression level (i.e. decrease the quality)
d. use a greater level of chroma subsampling (if available in your software)
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