- The most common camera type are point-and-shoot cameras, which are stripped-down and simplified versions of their more expensive and complicated counterparts. Most point-and-shoot cameras have little in the way of shutter speed or aperture control, have a limited or fixed focus lens, and use 35mm film or digital memory storage. However, in recent years, digital cameras in the point-and-shoot style have progressed, and many now come with a large range of features. These cameras are primarily used by amateur photographers, but their portability and relative cheapness, as well as the low-quality aesthetic of some point-and-shoot cameras have kept them in use by professionals as well.
- Instant cameras are similar in function to point-and-shoot cameras, with little to no manual features, but they differ in the important area of film development. Instant cameras use special film containers which hold both the film and the developing chemicals. After a picture is taken, the camera rolls a piece of film through itself, crushing the container in the film which holds the developing chemicals and releasing the chemicals into the film, and the photo is developed within minutes.
- The single lens reflex (SLR) camera is the go-to camera for most professional photographers. SLR cameras provide significant advantages to the photographer, chief among which is that the image seen through the viewfinder on an SLR actually comes through the lens, meaning that the image seen in the viewfinder will be the exact same image photographed. Most SLRs provide both fully automatic and fully manual operation of focusing, aperture and shutter speed. Many SLR camera systems use easily interchangeable lenses, making them more simple and quick than larger cameras and more versatile than point-and-shoot cameras. Digital SLRs, or DSLRs, have become the industry standard for photographers since they became commercially available in 1991.
- In addition to those listed above, there are quite a few other camera formats still in use, but they are much less common and mostly found in the hands of professionals. These include large format cameras, which were descendants of the original cameras and used very large single exposure plates of film, and medium format cameras, which use somewhat larger film than modern 35mm cameras (such as 120- or 220-film). Both of these camera types produce photographs with aesthetics, coloration and focus quality that is unique to their format, for which they are still used today by professionals. Other cameras include twin lens reflex cameras, rangefinder cameras, technical cameras, pinhole cameras and panoramic cameras.
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