The SLR Camera

"The SLR camera is by far the most popular type of camera for novice and professional photographers. One of the main reasons for this is its what you see is what you get factor."

While most point and click cameras have a viewfinder that is usually located above the lens, the SLR's viewfinder lets the user look directly through the lens.
So as long as the aperture, shutter, and film settings are set up for the scene's lighting conditions, what is seen through the viewfinder is what will appear on the photograph.

Proper Settings

To make certain that the camera is set up for the lighting conditions, three settings must be considered:
Aperture - This must be set to allow the proper amount of light through the lens in order to get the desired depth of field.
Shutter - This speed setting will depend on available light, movement of subject, and exposure of film or film setting.
Film Settings - These must be chosen depending on available light, shutter speed and desired exposure effects (silhouettes).
Nowadays, most SLRs have auto settings that will choose the proper settings. But there are some neat effects that can be obtained by experimenting with these settings, particularly the aperture settings that control the depth of field.