Camera Basics Intro to TV Production

It’s like riding a bike… You can learn to operate a camera only by doing it.

DVCPro Digital Camera

Sony PDX-10

Panasonic DVc30/DVx100

Panasonic DVC 20

Focus How clear an item appears. Adjustment made to the focal length of the lens. Manual or Automatic. Ring at the front of the lens.

How to Focus

Focus Adjustment made to the focal length of the lens

Important Operational Controls Manual/automatic focus selection – turns automatic focus feature “on” and “off.”

Calibrate the Zoom Lens Process of setting the focus… Zoom in tight on the first shot. Focus the camera manually using the focus ring. Zoom out slowly, make sure image maintains focus. Repeat when you change position

Beware the Auto-Focus Very bright or low-contrast scenes Can’t tell which image is the focus Left with blurry image Will focus on the most prominent object closest to the camera

ZOOM The process of changing the field of view of the camera. Use the rocker switch at front of camera. T= Telephoto, W=Wide Use MINIMALLY!!

Optical Zoom Lens Television Production: A Classroom Approach, 2 nd edition Wide AngleTelephoto “Zoom Out”“Zoom In”

Optical Zoom Lens Zooming-in actually lengthens the lens. That’s why many nature and sports photographers and videographers have long camera lenses.

Digital Zoom Camcorder selects center of image and enlarges it to fill the screen.

Field of View What you can see Compare to Peripheral Vision Greater zoom, larger field of view

Field of View

Range of Focus The minimum and maximum distances that an object can be, but yet still be in focus

Iris How much light is let into the camera Also called exposure setting

Hot or Cold Running Pictures Overexposed UnderexposedPerfect

Iris Controls the opening (aperture) of the lens. Low light = large aperture Bright light = small aperture

Zebra Stripes at Work

White Balancing Do this before focusing Adjusting the red, green and blue chroma channels in the camera so white looks white on TV Every time you change lighting/turn camera off Zoom in on white – press white balance button – scroll/push in - will flash when white

Important Operational Controls White Balance – adjusts the camcorder’s color response to the surrounding light. Not white balanced (bluish tint) White balanced (natural tint)

Shutter Speed Avoids image blur when shooting a fast moving object Increase for faster moving objects Sony from ¼ to 1/1000 – increased speed with the smaller number

Important Operational Controls High-speed shutter – details of fast-moving objects; divides the CCD into sections. Graphics – built-in titles available on many camcorders. Find out how to TURN THEM OFF!

Macro lens Enables you to focus on items that are either very small or very close to the camera

Important Operational Controls Power Switch – usually VCR (for playing), Camera (for recording), and Off Battery Release – a switch or lever that releases the battery from the camcorder

Important Operational Controls Recording Start/Stop – pressing once starts recording; pressing again stops recording. Zoom lens control – “T” for telephoto (zoom in) and “W” for wide angle (zoom out)

Important Operational Controls Automatic Gain Control (AGC) – boosts the video signal to its optimum output level. Electronic Image Stabilization (EIS) – corrects shaky video shots by comparing each video frame to the one before.

Important Operational Controls Videotape Playback Controls – standard VCR controls. Important if you are using your camcorder as a VCR (segment duplication, editing, etc.)

Tripods Quick release system

Mini-Tripod

Monopod