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I would share with you about the basic terms of camera and functions.

Choosing the correct camera does not have to be a daunting
task if you buy according to your needs. Cameras cour tesy of
Englewood Camera, Englewood, Colorado

• Lag time Make certain the camera reacts quickly to the shutter press.
• Speed of the lens Th is dictates how much light the lens allows to pass and
  therefore will aff ect the shutter speed. Th e little pocket cameras are cute, but they will generally have a slow lens, probably an f4 or f5.6, which can slow things down.
• Speed of the in-camera processor After you take the photo, it’s stored in the camera’s buff er (memory) as it processes the image and downloads it to your capture media. Th e buff er also has a limited amount of images it can hold. Ask about this, as the less expensive models will hold fewer images. Th is can be extremely frustrating on a limited buff er because the camera will not allow you to shoot more photos until it has cleared its buff er.
• Noise In fi lm images, noise refers tograininess. Due to the smaller sensors on point-and-shoot cameras, greater noiseis the natural byproduct of the smaller sensor size. Th is will show up more readily in shadows and dark areas.
• Pixel size Smaller sensors typically have smaller pixels. Smaller pixels hold fewer electrons and are therefore noisier than bigger pixels.
• ISO settings Th e consumer-level camera has a narrower window of ISO
  (image speed) settings. Limited to the lowest ISO of 100 to 400 or so, this
  restricts the camera’s (and thus the photographer’s) ability to increase the ISO to shoot faster exposure in lower light. Th is can be an issue if you enjoy photographing sporting events. Th e ability to shoot at a higher shutter speed requires either a lot of light or an increased ISO setting. Th e pro cameras will go up to 3200 ISO and beyond, which enables very fast shutter speeds necessary to stop action.

Understanding Shutter Speed

• Shutter speed is measured in seconds – or in most cases fractions of seconds. The bigger the denominator the faster the speed (ie 1/1000 is much faster than 1/30).
• In most cases you’ll probably be using shutter speeds of 1/60th of a second or faster. This is because anything slower than this is very difficult to use without getting camera shake. Camera shake is when your camera is moving while the shutter is open and results in blur in your photos.
• If you’re using a slow shutter speed (anything slower than 1/60) you will need to either use a tripod or some some type of image stabilization (more and more cameras are coming with this built in).
• Shutter speeds available to you on your camera will usually double (approximately) with each setting. As a result you’ll usually have the options for the following shutter speeds – 1/500, 1/250, 1/125, 1/60, 1/30, 1/15, 1/8 etc. This ‘doubling’ is handy to keep in mind as aperture settings also double the amount of light that is let in – as a result increasing shutter speed by one stop and decreasing aperture by one stop should give you similar exposure levels (but we’ll talk more about this in a future post).
• To freeze movement in an image (like in the surfing shot above) you’ll want to choose a faster shutter speed and to let the movement blur you’ll want to choose a slower shutter speed. The actual speeds you should choose will vary depending upon the speed of the subject in your shot and how much you want it to be blurred.

Remember that thinking about Shutter Speed in isolation from the other two elements of the Exposure Triangle (aperture and ISO) is not really a good idea. As you change shutter speed you’ll need to change one or both of the other elements to compensate for it.

For example if you speed up your shutter speed one stop (for example from 1/125th to 1/250th) you’re effectively letting half as much light into your camera. To compensate for this you’ll probably need to increase your aperture one stop (for example from f16 to f11). The other alternative would be to choose a faster ISO rating (you might want to move from ISO 100 to ISO 400 for example).

Understanding The Aperture

Aperture is referred to the lens diaphragm opening inside a photographic lens. The size of the diaphragm opening in a camera lens REGULATES amount of light passes through onto the film inside the camera the moment when the shutter curtain in camera opens during an exposure process. The size of an aperture in a lens can either be a fixed or the most popular form in an adjustable type (like an SLR camera). Aperture size is usually calibrated in f-numbers  or f-stops. i.e. those little numbers engraved on the lens barrel like f22 (f/22),16 (f/16), f/11, f/8.0, f/5.6, f/4.0, f/2.8, f/2.0, f/1.8 etc. Each of this value represents one time the amount of light either more or less in quantity. Meaning to say, f/16 will let in 1X the amount of light than a diaphragm opening of f/22 and so forth; while on the other hand, an aperture of f/4.0 will let in 1X lesser than that of f/2.8 etc.