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IIncandescent

Incandescent light refers to the illumination produced from typical household light bulbs (tungsten bulbs) incorporating a heated tungsten wire filament. The light produced is “yellow” or a warmer-than-daylight white balance. Setting a camera’s white balance to Incandescent will correct for the yellow cast.

In terms of color temperature, incandescent light generally falls between 2500 and 3500 degrees Kelvin.

Color Temperature

Light Source

1000-2000 K

      Candlelight

2500-3500 K

      Tungsten Bulb (household variety)

3000-4000 K

      Sunrise/Sunset (clear sky)

4000-5000 K

      Fluorescent Lamps

5000-5500 K

      Electronic Flash

5000-6500 K

      Daylight with Clear Sky (sun overhead)

6500-8000 K

      Moderately Overcast Sky

9000-10000 K

      Shade or Heavily Overcast Sky

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Lens Hood
A conical device placed at the end of a lens to block rays of light (most often from the sun) from entering the lens and causing glare or lens flare.
Lens Coating
A layer or multiple layers of thin, anti-reflective materials applied to the surface of lens elements to reduce light reflection and increase the amount of transmitted light.
Lag Time
The delay between the time the shutter is pressed and the camera captures the image. Also known as shutter delay, it is most noticeable in compact digital cameras. Today's digital SLRs have virtually no lag time.
Lens Shift VR
See VR
Light Modifiers
Accessory equipment that is used with Nikon Speedlights and other types of lighting equipment, to soften, direct or change the direction and quality of light. Find out more.
Live View
Live View Shooting Mode is almost exactly what it says: you're seeing what the camera's lens is seeing, but you're seeing it on the camera's LCD. Find out more.
Live Frame Grab
In the custom settings menu, you can choose the role played by pressing the shutter-release button when Movie Mode is selected with the live view selector to have it capture a live frame grab. Find out more.
Lens Drive System
Refers to the mechanisms that achieve movement in an autofocus lens. There are two types: in one, the drive motor is located inside the lens; in the other, a motor inside the camera body turns the lens via a drive shaft.
Linear PCM Audio Compression
Linear pulse-code modulation or LPCM is a method of encoding audio information digitally. It also refers to the formats that use this method of audio encoding. Find out more.
Loop Lighting
A lighting technique whereby there is a pleasing shadow in the shape of a loop under the nose. Loop lighting is flattering for many types of faces. Find out more.
Lens Speed
The maximum aperture of a lens. See Fast Lens.
LED
Light emitting diode. A semiconductor diode that emits narrow spectrum light, an LED is a source of light generally used to illuminate small areas. Often used in computer and imaging devices.
Lens
An optical device that transmits light to film or a sensor.
Lens Shutter
A shutter located near or inside the lens optical system. Lens shutters are used mainly in compact cameras and in lenses for large-format cameras.
Low-Cut Filter
The Low-Cut filter reduces the low-frequency noise, such as wind blowing over/past the mic.
Latitude
The degree to which the exposure level can be varied and still produce acceptable results.
Live View Guide
The information display, within movie live view, will show a guide to the options available during movie live view.
Low Key
Refers to an image distinguished by overall dark tones.
Lossy Compression
A reduction of image file size by disposing of unneeded data, resulting in a slight degradation of image quality.
Lossless Compression
A method for reducing the size of a photographic file so that when it is uncompressed, the resulting image matches the quality of the original source.
LCD
Liquid crystal display. A display screen on a digital camera or other digital device that lets you view information, data, camera settings or images.
Light Meter
Usually refers to a device built-in to the camera which measures the scene's light in order to determine the optimum exposure.