PC.
1. PC connectors (sockets or terminals) are electrical connectors and wires used to connect cameras and flash units. They just carry a trigger current and do not carry digital data communications of any kind such as metering information.
The “PC” here stands for “Prontor/Compur,” a popular type of leaf shutter used in older and large format cameras. It does not stand for “personal computer” in this context, and so a camera with a PC socket cannot be hooked up to a computer through it. Sometimes referred to as a “German” socket, the PC connector is notoriously unreliable, and exists today out of historical momentum.
cf. Compur shutter, flash unit, leaf shutter.
2. Personal computer. A small microcomputer, frequently but not always a computer running a Microsoft operating system. In the context of digital photography, a computer used to store, edit and manipulate digital images transferred from a camera.
cf. digital camera, Macintosh, Windows.
3. Perspective control lens, used for the problem of converging verticals.
4. Plano-convex lens.
cf. plano-convex lens.
5. PC Card.
cf. PC card.
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