Choosing and using a professional camera

Moving from a phone to a dedicated camera brings a handful of new words. Taking photos for other people, or for money, brings in some UK rules as well.

Lenses, sensors and settings

Some cameras let you take the lens off and fit another. A camera built this way is called a system camera. Its body is designed to take interchangeable parts, and the lens is the most important one.

The image sensor is the part inside a digital camera that light falls on. Its shape and size are called the sensor format.

On these cameras, a mode dial usually gives access to manual settings. In manual mode, marked M, the photographer sets each of three things.

RAW and JPEG

JPEG is a common type of picture file. Standard JPEG is lossy, which means it removes data to make the file smaller, and the picture quality drops as a result.

Professional cameras may offer a choice of image formats. Richard Wright, writing for the Digital Preservation Coalition, says one of them should be a RAW format, with no compression at all. Some people see a RAW file as the digital version of a film negative.

RAW comes in many versions. All of them are proprietary, meaning each is owned by a company.

Backing up your photos

A backup is a copy of your important data, kept in a separate safe location. That is usually cloud storage on the internet, or removable media such as an SD card or an external hard drive.

Unplug a backup drive whenever you are not using it. The NCSC (National Cyber Security Centre) warns that viruses and ransomware can move to attached drives automatically.

Photos of people

Under data protection law, an image counts as personal data if it identifies a person. It also counts if it could identify them when put together with other information, even with no name attached.

The law does not apply to purely personal or household activity.

Who owns the copyright

Photographs are generally protected by copyright as artistic works. Copyright in a picture generally belongs first to whoever took it.

When an employee takes pictures as part of their employment, the employer will generally own the copyright.

When someone commissions a photograph, the photographer owns the copyright first, unless the two of them agree otherwise in writing. A photographer taking private photos for a client, such as at a wedding, needs the client's permission to put them on the internet.

Cameras on drones

Before flying most drones outdoors in the UK, you must take a theory test and register with the CAA (Civil Aviation Authority). Passing the test is free, and it gives you a Flyer ID.

An Operator ID registers whoever is responsible for the drone, and they must be 18 or over. A drone weighing 100g to less than 250g that carries a camera needs an Operator ID as well as a Flyer ID.

Insurance

Home insurance policies vary from one to another. According to the Association of British Insurers, they can differ on whether they cover accidental damage, and possessions away from home.

Useful links