My glossary - if it helps anyone - One problem is people assume you know what they mean . An example is AI - AI (Nikon)
Automatic Index or AI (Canon) Artificial Intelligence . Another is cpl which should mean circular polarizer linear , but it has changed to mean the non linear type .
ACR
Adobe Camera RAW - the RAW image editor that's bundled with Adobe Photoshop
AE
Automatic Exposure
AEB
Auto-Exposure Bracketing
A-DEP
Automatic Depth of field exposure mode (Canon)
AF
Auto Focus
AI (Nikon)
Automatic Index
AI (Canon)
Artificial Intelligence
APO
Apochromatic (APO) telephoto lenses greatly minimize color aberration, a phenomenon created by different wavelengths of light refracting at different angles. This causes each color to have a slightly different imaging point, resulting in poor image quality.
APS
Advanced Photo System
APS-C
Advance Photo System C, a type of digital sensor smaller than FF (Full Frame) 22.2 x 14.8 mm (More info)
APS-H
Advance Photo System H, a type of digital sensor smaller than FF (Full Frame) 28.7 x 19 mm (More info)
ASA
American Standards Association - now ISO
Av
Aperture Value (Aperture priority)
AWB
Auto White Balance
BBF
Back Button Focusing
BG
Background - what's behind the foreground subject in a picture
BIF
Bird In Flight
Blooming
BTL
Behind the Lens, a reference to putting the photo sensor of the meter inside the camera body (ca. 1960)
B&W
Black and White
CA
Chromatic Aberration
Card Strut = picture holder
CCD
Charged Coupled Device - refers to the image sensor at the heart of many digital cameras
CDAF
Contrast detect Auto focus
C&C
Comments and critiques
CdS
Cadmium Sulfide, a reference to the first battery-powered photo sensor which could read lower light levels than were possible with Selenium cell meters. (Also CDS -CyberDyneSystems - POTN forum moderator)
CF
Compact Flash memory card (can also stand for Custom function, depending on the context - see C.Fn)
C.Fn
Custom function - Allows custom settings to be applied to Canon cameras
CMOS
Complementary Metal Oxide Semi-conductor. The heart (image sensor) of most Canon DSLR's
CMS
Color Management System
CMYK
Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black - Color space used for printing
CP also CPL
Circular Polarizer (filter)
CS3 or PSCS3
Most current version of Adobe Photoshop (CS - Creative Suite)
CWB
Custom White Balance
DG
A Sigma lens corp labeling of crop-factor lenses
DIN
Deutsche Industrie Norm (German Industry Standard) - European equivalent of ISO/ASA
DIY
Do It Yourself (Sometimes, Destroy It Yourself ) Photographers, probably more than any other group are known for ingenious modifications, hacks and inventions created as inexpensive methods to get a better photograph
DNG
Digital Negative - Adobe's royalty-free raw image format (Also see Raw)
DO
Diffractive Optical
DOF
Depth Of Field - range of sharp focus in a picture (Also referred to as Bokeh)
DPOF
Digital Print Order Format
DPI
Dots per inch
DPP
Digital Photo Professional (Software included with Canon SLR Cameras)
EE
Electronic Exposure, the first cameras with Auto mode referred to 'EE' on the controls
E-TTL
Evaluative Through The Lens (Also see TTL)
EC
Exposure Compensation
ECF
Eye Control Focus
EF
Electro-Focus. Refers to the focus motor built into the lens that is common to all EOS-mount lenses
EFS
Electro-Focus Short Back Focus. Canon's new lines of lenses made specifically for small-sensor EOS digital cameras
EOS (Canon)
Electronic Optical System (also the goddess of the Dawn - Thanks Pete )
EULA
End User License Agreement
EV
Exposure Value
EVF
Electronic Viewfinder
Exif
Exchangeable Image File Format (official abbreviation Exif, not EXIF - Wikipedia)
FD
Canon's SLR Lens mounting system prior to the introduction of EOS cameras. There is no definitive meaning agreed upon for 'FD', and Canon has never said what it stands for. (Source - Wikipedia)
FEB
Flash Exposure Bracketing
FEC
Flash Exposure Compensation
FEL
Flash Exposure Lock
FF
Full Frame - referring to a digital sensor that is approximately equal to the size of a frame of 35mm film, 36 x 24 mm (More info)
FLM
Focal Length Multiplier (such as 1.6 for APS-C). This is usually considered to be an erroneous use of the term. Most photographers consider APS-C sensors to crop the image rather than multiply the focal length.
FM
fredmiranda.com - Another popular photography website & forum (Second only to P.O.T.N)
FOV
Field of View
FOVCF
Field of View Crop Factor - Reference to Canon's 3 sensor sizes:
1.0 = 36mm X 24mm - 5D, 1Ds Mark II, 1Ds Mark III
1.3 = 28.7mm X 19.1mm - 1D Mark II, 1D Mark II N, 1D Mark III
1.6 = 22.5mm X 15mm - 10D, 20D, 30D, 40D, 300D (Digital Rebel), 350D (Digital Rebel XT), 400D (Digital Rebel XTi)
FP
1.) Focal Plane
2.) Focal Plane bulb, a reference to special type of long-duration flashbulb made for use with focal plane shutter cameras (vs. leaf shutter lenses)
FPS
Frames Per Second
FTM
Full Time Manual focus. (A feature of higher quality lenses, such as "L" Series lenses) You can let the camera auto focus, then manually adjust focus yourself prior to the shot without lifting your finger from the shutter button.
GB
GigaByte
GIF
Graphics Interchange Format - image file format that is more appropriate for flat color graphic. JPEG, TIFF, and PSD are more popular file formats for photographic images
G&N or GN
The Glamour & Nude section on POTN
GND
Graduated Neutral Density (Filter - Also see ND)
GWC
Derogative term for a Guy With Camera that shoots female models (preferably with little or no clothes) with no intention of doing anything with the photos more then attracting more female models to let him take pictures. There is no model equivalent standardized, although there are models who are just after the attention.
HDR
High Dynamic Range
HSM
Hypersonic Motor (Sigma lenses)
HSS
High-speed sync
Hyperlapse
for anything that uses big camera movements well outside the range of a dolly or conventional motion control equipment.
IF
Internal focusing (the lens does not change shape when focusing)
IQ
Image Quality
IR
Infrared
IS (Canon lenses)
Image Stabilization
ISO
International Standards Organization - As in: ISO speed - The "speed" of a digital camera's sensor (or film's) light-sensitivity
JPEG or JPG
Joint Photographic Experts Group - compressed (lousy) image file format
L
"Luxury" - Canon's L, or top of the line lenses. These lenses are distinguished by a red ring around them.
LCD
Liquid Crystal Display
LED
Light Emitting Diode
LD
Low Dispersion glass. Canon optical technology typically found in their "L" series lenses. (Also see UD)
LR
Light Room - Adobe's new product designed for digital photography workflow
LTE
Long Time Exposure
M
Manual – Can be Manual settings on SLRs or “User Manual” as in "Read the [Fine] Manual
MB
MegaByte
MF
1.) Manual Focus
2.) Medium Format (Normally referring to medium format film cameras)
MFD - Minimum Focus Distance
MLU
Mirror Lock Up
MM
Model Mayhem (popular modeling forum)
MMC
Multi Media Card - Memory card
MP
MegaPixel - (Also Model Place - another good sized modeling forum)
MR
Macro Ring flash (Also see MT)
MS
Memory Stick - Sony brand memory card
MT
MT macro twin flash (Also see MR)
MUA
Makeup Artist
MWD
Minimum working distance
ND
Neutral Density (Filter - Also see GND)
OEM
Original Equipment Manufacturer
OMM
On My Monitor
OMP
One Model Place (a large internet modeling forum - possibly the largest in terms of member base)
OOB
A post process of making a photo look "out of bounds"
OOC
Out Of Camera, before any post processing
OOF
Out Of Focus
OP
Original Poster - referring to the first post or poster in a thread
OTF
Off The Film, a reference to metering TTL flash from the surface of the film at the film plane, a technique rendered impractical by the shiny surface of the digital sensor.
PC
1.) Prontor-Compur - A type of flash-sync connector - (the two shutter manufacturers that set the standard)
2.) Perspective Control, a reference to a lens which permits rise/fall and left/right shift of the lens, resulting in a different portion of the image circle to be capture on film/sensor; similar to some large format camera movements
3.) Personal Computer
PDAF
Phase detect auto focus
PF = purple fringing .
PJ
Photojournalism or Photojournalist
PM
Personal Message
PNG
Portable Network Graphics, a bitmap image format that employs lossless data compression (typically uses the "png" file-extension)
POTN
Photography on the Net (Duh!)
PP
Post Processing, usually meaning Photoshop, Digital Photo Professional, etc.
PPA
Professional Photographers of America
PPI
Pixels Per Inch
PS
Adobe Photoshop
PSD
Photoshop Document. Adobe's native uncompressed file format which allows layers, selections & many other attributes to be saved with the file.
PSE
Adobe Photoshop Elements
PW
Pocket Wizard - a device designed to trigger your flash(es) wirelessly with your camera from up to 1600 feet away
Raw (Not an acronym, but some assume it is, so I thought I'd add an explanation here)
An image file containing the "raw" data that has not been processed by the camera. (Also see DNG)
Reverse gnd This is a graduated filter that has a dark fade line in middle to shoot the sun . Like a normal granulated filter other than that
RGB
Red, Green, Blue (Also see sRGB)
RoF
Ring of Fire - Enable all AF points on a 1D Mark III or 1Ds Mark III and shoot in AI Servo mode. More info here.
SBC
Silicon Blue Cell, a reference to the successor to CdS photo sensors, which had less residual light after affects which could bias your next exposure.
SD
Secure Digital - Memory Card
SHARP CUT - Means that the filter stops every wavelength beyond a certain value with no 'bleed' past that wavelength. Most filters have a certain +/- around the stated wavelength they block - not usually a problem unless you are doing very accurate stuff.
You may notice that 'sharp-cut' filters tend to cost more than ordinary filters!
What does "Sharp Cut" mean? [Archive] - Canon Digital Photography Forums
SLR
Single Lens Reflex - type of camera that allows through-the-lens (TTL) viewing
SM
Smart Media - Memory card (Smart Media cards max out at 128Mb. No cameras have been introduced that use SM cards since 2003.)
SOOC
Straight Out Of Camera
sRGB
Standard RGB - (Also see RGB)
SS
Shutter Speed
SSM
Super Sonic Motor (Sony, Minolta)
SWM
Silent Wave Motor (Nikon)
TFP
Time (or trade) For Prints
TFCD
Time For CD (or DVD) Both of the above indicate model's time in return for photographer providing prints or CD (internet version of a test shoot) with the expectation both sides will only use for portfolio updates.
TIFF or TIF
Tagged Image File Format - Lossless image file format
T&L
Travel & Landscapes section on POTN
TLR
Twin Lens Reflex. An older style camera with two objective lenses of the same focal length. One was used for imaging the other for the waist-level viewfinder.
TTIWWOP
This Thread Is Worthless Without Pictures
TTL
Through The Lens (Also see SLR & E-TTL)
Tv
Time Value (Shutter speed priority)
UD
Ultra-Low Dispersion glass. Canon optical technology typically found in their "L" series lenses. (Also see LD)
UDMA (Ultra Direct Memory Access
USB
Universal Serial Bus - A file transfer technology commonly used between cameras & computers. This technology was developed to succeed Serial & Parallel technology. (Also, when discussing transfer speed, referred to as USB 1.1 & USB 2.0. - USB 2.0 is significantly faster)
USM
Unsharp Mask (A Photoshop tool)
*Also Ultrasonic Motor - Canon's fastest, quietest auto focus lens mechanism
UWA
Ultra-Wide Angle
VR (Nikon lenses)
Vibration Reduction
WB
White Balance
Wiki = Wikipedia
W-S
Watt-Second, a measurement of studio strobe power. A unit of energy, commonly used in advertising for AC-powered studio flash units. It is not, however, a unit of actual light output, so comparing the watt-second ratings of different flash units is not usually useful.
WTD
What The Duck Comics - The best (only?) comic strip staring a duck as a photographer
xD
extreme Digital, or xD-Picture card - Memory card jointly developed by Olympus & Fuji film
