A small question on terms

[Robin Casady]

I can recall when the acronym SLR became popular in the 1960's. My understanding is that it means "Single Lens Reflex" as contrasted to the then popular Twin Lens Reflex cameras.

Now I see DSLR used to mean just those digital cameras based on 35mm SLRs. I assume it means "Digital Single Lens Reflex." Are not the H1, H2, H3, Hy6, etc. also single lens reflex cameras? When those cameras have digital back, are they not DSLRs? Why is DSLR used to indicate non-MF SLRs?

I must have missed something somewhere along the line.

Regards,
Robin Casady
http://www.robincasady.com

[Dale_Cotton]

When I came up with that acronym back in 2000 the hot camera was the 2.6 mp Nikon D1. There was so much discussion on the Pro forum of dpreview.com about its colour space(?) problem that it got to be a nuisance to type digital SLR, so I shortened it to dSLR.

I don't think there was any such thing as an MF/DB back then, so the association between the acronym dSLR and 35mm-style digital SLRs had several years to take hold.  You're quite correct that a digital medium format SLR is a dSLR and I have seen that usage on occasion. But there does need to be some way of making the distinction between the different digital formats. One could attempt to convert people to some new, more rational suite of acronyms - like dSLR-APS, dSLR-FF, and dSLR-MF - but inertia is a daunting opponent and one not to be bet against lightly.

[David WM]

I don't think there was any such thing as an MF/DB back then,[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=99827\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

I think it was 1992 that Leaf bought out the DCB 1

[BJL]

Are not the H1, H2, H3, Hy6, etc. also single lens reflex cameras? When those cameras have digital back, are they not DSLRs? Why is DSLR used to indicate non-MF SLRs?
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=99809\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

I have no problem with that usage, but the more common usage is that "digital SLR" refers to a single integrated unit that has both the "digital" and the "SLR", as distinct from the traditional medium format digital combinations of an SLR (film and digital capable) combined with a digital back, often purchased separately and even from a different manufacturer.

The jargon gets hairy with newer products like the Mamiya RZ (definitely a DSLR) and the Hasselblad H3D products, which I am willing to count as DSLR's since all the pieces come in one package from one company with an integrated design, even though it is possible to remove the digital bit and replace it with a film back. But maybe, for historical reasons, clarity is better served by calling this sort of product "an integrated package of MF SLR body and digital back".


P.S. This is a bit like the fact that "digicam" generally refers only to single piece cameras with integral lens, and not to "digital cameras" with separable lenses and bodies. Sometimes you have to look beyond the logic of the words to the history of usage, at least so long as the resulting inaccuracy is not to misleading or prejudicial.