The internet, the web and photography are full of acronyms. Here are some of them:

ACE: Well, of course, we're the first acronym! ACE stands for All Camera Equipment and that's what ACE is all about! Cameras, photo and digital imaging equipment and related services.

AOL: America Online, the 800-lb. gorilla among internet service providers. Single largest ISP in the world. Distributor of enough CD-Roms to cover the entire surface of the United States to a depth of 27 inches. If you have to ask what AOL is, you must be a webtv user. We love visitors from AOL! However, we want to dispel one misconception among some AOL users. The ACE Index is not part of AOL. In fact, the world wide web is not part of AOL. At least not yet.

APS: means Advanced Photo System and refers to a new camera format and film size which was introduced to the marketplace a few years ago by Kodak and Fuji and is supported by all major camera manufacturers. For more on APS read here.

FAQ: If you don't know what an FAQ is, go back to the beginning and start reading again.

ISO: These three letters are most often associated with film speed, and refer to the International Organization for Standardization, the body responsible for establishing standards for many things, including setting the criteria which measures film speed. Film speed is a simple scale to understand, for example ISO 400 film is four times faster than ISO 100 film. ISO used to be called ASA.

More than you ever wanted to know about ISO
"The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is a worldwide federation of national standards bodies from some 130 countries, one from each country. ISO is a non-governmental organization established in 1947. The mission of ISO is to promote the development of standardization and related activities in the world with a view to facilitating the international exchange of goods and services, and to developing cooperation in the spheres of intellectual, scientific, technological and economic activity. ISO's work results in international agreements which are published as International Standards." - from What is ISO? on the ISO web site.

There are, for example, ISO standards for the quality grading of steel; for testing the strength of woven textiles; for storage of citrus fruits; for magnetic codes on credit cards; for automobile safety belts; and for ensuring the quality and performance of such diverse products as surgical implants, ski bindings, wire ropes, photographic film and photographic lenses.

SLR: Single lens reflex camera. With an SLR the same lens which takes the picture provides the image seen in the viewfinder. Most 35mm cameras with interchangeable lenses are SLRs. Most medium format cameras are also SLRs, including the Pentax 6x7, Bronica, Hasselblad and Mamiya.

TLR: Twin lens reflex camera. Not seen very often anymore except in the hands of a collector. TLRs are characterized by two lenses on the front of the camera, the lower lens takes the picture, the upper lens provides the image for a ground glass focusing screen. When taking a photograph, TLR users usually look down at the camera's focusing screen instead of looking at the subject.

URL: refers to Uniform Resource Locator and is the method by which your computer finds the web pages you want to look at. Think of the URL as an address to a company's or individual's web site. Enter a URL exactly as it appears. If you are one character off or you omit a period or a slash, you won't find what you are seeking. Instead you'll get a "404" message which says the file can't be found. (See Link Doesn't Work.)