Читать книгу Digital Video Secrets - Tony Levelle - Страница 8

QUICK START

Make sure you have everything you need

1. Camera, two fully charged batteries and battery charger.

2. Blank media.

Depending on the type of storage your camcorder uses, make sure that you have either: two tapes, two flash-memory cards or two DVDs. If your camera uses a hard disk, check to see that you have adequate storage space on the disk.

3. Tripod.

4. Microphones including cables, and fresh batteries for the microphone (if your microphone uses them), and a wind screen.

5. Headphones.

6. Camera manual.

Set up the camera

1. If your camera has a diopter adjustment, adjust it for your eyes.

2. Clean the lens. On these small cameras, every speck of dust will show up on the final image.

3. Decide if you are going to shoot “full auto” mode or “manual mode.”

• Shoot auto mode when you have to shoot quickly, or don’t yet understand the camera controls.

• Shoot manual mode when you have time to set up the camera and want the best possible image.

If you decide to shoot auto mode

1. Turn ON: auto focus, auto exposure, auto white balance and automatic gain control (AGC).

• Many camcorders have a single button that will engage full auto operation. It may be called something like “Easy” or “Auto.”

• Use a tripod whenever possible.

• When shooting people, open the lens wide and get close to the person.

• Keep your subject in the middle of the frame.

• Keep the distance between the subject and the camcorder about the same while you are recording. (If the distance changes, the image will go out of focus momentarily while the camera’s auto-focus circuits “hunt” for new focus.)

If you decide to shoot manual mode

Not all cameras will have all of these settings. (Settings are explained in chapter 9, Choosing Camera Settings.)

1. Format to HD or SD.

2. Screen ratio to 16x9 or 4x3.

3. Frame rate. (NTSC=60. PAL= 50. Film look=24.)

4. Shutter in manual mode (auto iris OFF)

5. Shutter speed to normal (NTSC=1/60, PAL=1/50, 24-frame film look= 1/48)

6. Focus in manual mode (auto focus OFF)

7. ND filter OFF

8. Audio gain control OFF (AGC OFF)

9. Audio to 16-bit 48 KHz

10. Video gain OFF or ZERO

11. White balance to manual

Shoot a short test

1. Connect the microphones and headphones.

2. Listen to the audio over the headphones.

3. Shoot a short test.

4. Play the test back on a monitor or TV. Compare the picture on the monitor or television to the picture on the LCD. Turn the LCD brightness down until it matches the image on the monitor or TV. Otherwise, the LCD image will mislead you when you are in the field.