• 35mm cameras remain a popular format of camera.Milton Montenegro/Photodisc/Getty Images
  
  35mm cameras have existed since the early part of the 20th century. The first 35mm SLR camera, named the Sport, was introduced in Russia in 1935. Today, four basic types of 35mm cameras exist in either analog or digital forms and sometimes both. Even after almost 80 years the 35mm camera type remains popular.
  
  

Single-lens Reflex

• The single-lens reflex camera (SLR) gets most of its use from enthusiast and professional photographers. The camera uses a single lens at a time to photograph an image but has the ability to accept different lenses to achieve different points of view. The SLR camera uses a series of mirrors to bounce the image received through the lens up into a pentaprism to the photographer's eye. This allows the photographer to see almost an exact replica of what gets recorded on film. (See references 2.) Single-lens reflex cameras date back to the 1930s but the camera that really kicked off the 35mm SLR movement was the Asahiflex I made in 1951 by Asahi Kogaku (makers of the Pentax line of cameras).
  
  

DSLR

• The digital single-lens reflex camera uses many of the same principles of the original film SLR camera. DSLR cameras come in two formats -- full-frame sensor format and compact sensor format. The full-frame sensor format uses a sensor the same size as a frame of 35mm film (24mm x 36mm). DSLR cameras with full-frame sensors typically weigh more and cost more than their compact sensor counterparts. Typically, advanced amateurs and professional photographers use full-frame DSLR cameras. The compact format DSLR camera has a sensor that measures less than the size of a frame of 35mm film. The smaller sensor makes the camera lighter and less expensive. Amateur photographers typically use the compact format DSLR camera.
  
  

35mm Rangefinder

• Before the 35mm SLR camera became popular and affordable the professional photography community mainly used the 35mm rangefinder camera. The user of the 35mm rangefinder camera does not look through the camera's lens. She looks through a viewfinder typically located above and to the left (when looking through the viewfinder) of the lens. 35mm rangefinder cameras are known for their simplicity, lightweight, spontaneity and excellent optics. 35mm rangefinder cameras have a wide array of lens choices and some even offer external viewfinders made specifically for certain lenses.
  
  

Point-and-shoot

• The 35mm point-and-shoot camera offers the easiest way to get involved in 35mm photography. Point-and-shoot cameras typically offer very little advanced features and focus on auto-everything operations. Most people have some familiarity with the automatic point-and-shoot 35mm camera. The lens and flash on a point-and-shoot camera cannot be removed or exchanged with other equipment. Typically point-and-shoot 35mm cameras reside at the bottom rung of the 35mm camera price ladder.