Breakdown of Несмотря на то, что это аналоговый фотоаппарат, контраст здесь отличный.
это
this / it is
здесь
here
несмотря на то, что
despite the fact that
отличный
excellent
фотоаппарат
camera (for photos)
аналоговый
analog
контраст
contrast
Questions & Answers about Несмотря на то, что это аналоговый фотоаппарат, контраст здесь отличный.
Why is there a comma before что in Несмотря на то, что?
Несмотря на то, что is a compound conjunction meaning 'despite the fact that'. In Russian, subordinate clauses must be separated by a comma. When this conjunction starts a sentence, the comma is placed right before что to separate the introductory phrase from the actual fact being stated.
Is несмотря always written as one word? I feel like I have seen it as two words.
It is one word here because it acts as a preposition meaning 'despite'. It is only written as two separate words (не смотря) when it is a literal verbal adverb (gerund) meaning 'not looking at' — for example, не смотря на дорогу (not looking at the road).
Since the current lesson focuses on по сравнению с (compared to), could I use it here instead of несмотря на то, что?
Using по сравнению с here would require the Instrumental case (по сравнению с аналоговым фотоаппаратом) and would completely change the meaning. It would mean 'Compared to an analog camera, the contrast here is excellent,' which implies the camera you are currently talking about is NOT analog. The original sentence uses несмотря на то, что to emphasize that the camera IS analog, but its contrast is surprisingly good anyway.
Why does the sentence use фотоаппарат instead of just saying камера?
Фотоаппарат specifically refers to a still-photography camera. While камера is widely used today to refer to digital and smartphone cameras, it is a broader term that historically meant a video or movie camera. For a classic film device like an analog camera, фотоаппарат is the most accurate and traditional term.
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