A dandelion chip is an electronic device, installed on the
bayonet mount
A bayonet mount (mainly as a method of mechanical attachment, such as fitting a lens to a camera using a matching lens mount) or bayonet connector (for electrical use) is a fastening mechanism consisting of a cylindrical male side with one ...
of a non-electronic
camera lens
A camera lens, photographic lens or photographic objective is an optical lens (optics), lens or assembly of lenses (compound lens) used in conjunction with a camera body and mechanism to Imaging, make images of objects either on photographic film ...
or adapter, which enables electronic interoperation with certain cameras. The device consists of an
integrated circuit
An integrated circuit (IC), also known as a microchip or simply chip, is a set of electronic circuits, consisting of various electronic components (such as transistors, resistors, and capacitors) and their interconnections. These components a ...
connected to a series of exposed
electrical contacts
An electrical contact is an electrical circuit component found in electrical switches, relays, connectors and circuit breakers. Each contact is a piece of electrically conductive material, typically metal. When a pair of contacts touch, they ...
, in a curved package which matches the lens mount. It is designed to be affixed in a particular position on the mount, in order to mate with matching contacts on the camera body. The contacts on both sides of the mount are commonly known as ''CPU contacts.''
Camera functions enabled by the chip may include exposure metering,
aperture
In optics, the aperture of an optical system (including a system consisting of a single lens) is the hole or opening that primarily limits light propagated through the system. More specifically, the entrance pupil as the front side image o ...
display and control,
focus
Focus (: foci or focuses) may refer to:
Arts
* Focus or Focus Festival, former name of the Adelaide Fringe arts festival in East Australia Film
*Focus (2001 film), ''Focus'' (2001 film), a 2001 film based on the Arthur Miller novel
*Focus (2015 ...
confirmation and fine-tuning, and
Exif
Exchangeable image file format (officially Exif, according to JEIDA/JEITA/CIPA specifications) is a standard that specifies formats for images, sound, and ancillary tags used by digital cameras (including smartphones), scanners and other system ...
metadata
Metadata (or metainformation) is "data that provides information about other data", but not the content of the data itself, such as the text of a message or the image itself. There are many distinct types of metadata, including:
* Descriptive ...
recording.
The level of additional functionality enabled by the chip depends on the camera. Some cameras provide certain electronic functions even with a non-electronic lens. For example, professional-level Nikon
DSLR
A digital single-lens reflex camera (digital SLR or DSLR) is a digital camera that combines the optics and mechanisms of a single-lens reflex camera with a solid-state image sensor and digitally records the images from the sensor.
The reflex des ...
s provide metering and focus confirmation, and store lens data programmed into the camera, regardless of whether the mounted lens has electronic contacts. By contrast, many consumer-level Nikon DSLRs require an electronically enabled lens to perform functions as basic as metering.
External links
Filmprocess: Dandelion
Digital photography
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