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RULES
what’s
allowed,
what’s not
PANASONIC
AG-HMC150
| |
b a s i c
HOW TO
shoot like
a PRO
Is this thing on?
Easy-to-follow chart for successful sound
steps for
avoiding Your best shoot ever!
A pre-production checklist
4 over overexposure
7 common
CLASS CURRICULUM FREE
problems
Northwest Community Television
763.533.8196 www.nwct.org
HELP! solved
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on the cover How to shoot like a pro 10 Is this thing on? Easy-to- 5 7 follow chart for successful sound 6 SOUND MICROPHONES 4 steps for avoiding overex- Everything you need to NWCT has a variety of posure 8 know about selecting sound microphones available for inputs and setting and checkout—all of which are Rules: what’s allowed, what’s monitoring audio levels. shown here. You’ll know not 2 Consult the easy-to-follow exactly which mic to use for Your best shoot ever! A pre- chart for suc
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Portable camera policies The purpose of these policies is to manage NWCT equipment in a fair and equitable manner. Follow these rules and you’ll never have to worry about losing your membership privileges! 1. Only certified members are permitted to operate equipment . 2. Members must be on time for appointments. You must call if you are going to be more than 30 minutes late—if you are more than x 60 minutes late, we will consider you a “no show” and give away your equipment. Produci
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Portable camera checkout form 763.533.8196 3
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õ Power DC AND AC DC POWER Attaching the battery To attach the battery, lift up the viewfinder, place the battery in the bat- tery compartment toward the top, and push down—the battery will click into place. 1 2 Battery life The battery should 3 last approximately 200–300 minutes. ò Remaining battery life can be read on the LCD monitor. Removing the battery To remove the battery, FIRST TURN OFF THE CAMERA. Then lift up the viewfinder, push in the battery release but- ton (closeup pi
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Sound IS THIS THING ON? Selecting sound inputs Two sources of audio can be recorded to the camera simultaneously. Sound can be gathered from the camera’s internal microphone, an external microphone, a line level source such as an audio mixing board or CD player, or any combi- nation of two of those sources. Routing audio signals is controlled by two switches behind the LCD monitor and two switches on the front of the camera. Two switches behind LCD panel Two switches on front of camera Set
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Audio setup chart INPUT jacks and CH 1 SELECT and CH 2 Audio source INPUT settings SELECT settings Audio records on Internal microphone N/A CH 1 SELECT: INT(L) CH 1: Built in mic CH 2 SELECT: INT(R) CH 2: Built in mic External microphone INPUT 2 jack CH 1 SELECT: INPUT 2 CH 1: External mic INPUT 2: MIC CH 2 SELECT: INPUT 2 CH 2: External mic External line level source INPUT 2 jack CH 1 SELECT: INPUT 2 CH 1: Line level source INPUT 2: LINE CH 2 SELECT: INPUT 2 CH 2: Line level source Two externa
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Microphone selection Northwest Community Television has several different types of mics available. Desktop and floor mic stands are available for checkout. STANDARD ISSUE These three microphones come standard with every portable camera. Electro-Voice RE10 handheld Unidirectional, excellent for music or interviews, slightly better bass response than 635A Sony ECM 44 or Sony ECM 30 lavalier or lapel Directional, excellent for interviews, clips directly to clothing, small enough to easily hide
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Video image 4 STEPS FOR AVOIDING OVEREXPOSURE Setting an appropriate iris FIRST THINGS The iris controls the amount of light entering the camera which deter- mines how bright the image will be (exposure of the image). FIRST Determining the To set the iris appropriately, you must monitor the zebra stripes in dominant light 2 the LCD monitor of the camera. Zebra stripes appear on areas of the source image that are overexposed. In those areas, no detail is recorded Before shooting, because th
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Selecting the right neutral density filter GAIN Neutral density filters allow the camera If you to operate correctly outdoors in sunlight. followed A neutral density filter does for the cam- the setup era what sunglasses do for your eyes—it procedure and your 3 reduces the amount of light that can pass video looks dark, we through without changing the color of that recommend adding light. lights first. If after doing this the video Once the iris is set to auto or manual, the still
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Shooting better video HOW TO SHOOT LIKE A PRO HEAD ROOM Critical focus If you’re shooting with man- ual focus, it’s important that you get a critical focus (also called a calibrated zoom) of your subject every time you LOOK SPACE get a new shot. Here’s how to perform a criti- cal focus: Zoom in all the way on your subject, Head room and look space When shooting people, it’s best to follow two simple guidelines in framing. First, allow for a bit of space between the top of the frame an
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4 4 TYPICAL INTERVIEW SETUP SHOOTING BETTER VIDEO The 180° Rule If you’re shooting a scene with two subjects, imagine there is a line connecting them. That line is called the “axis of action.” Don’t shoot on both sides of the axis. Keep all your shots on the same side. We’ll begin with a wide shot Next, we’ll get closer and show which helps the viewer under- the interviewer (on the left) and In our example, the axis of stand where this interview is tak- the subject (on the right) toget
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SPECIALTY SHOOTING SHOOTING BETTER VIDEO Use high and low angles Create depth in your shots A high angle shot can make your subject appear weak and vulnerable A television screen is a two-di- or it can simply add a new dimension to your scene. Conversely, a low mensional piece of glass so extra angle shot makes your subject appear powerful and “larger than life.” effort needs to be made to create depth for your audience. Try shooting your subject with some- thing in the foreground to give th
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SDHC cards EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW CHOOSING THE RIGHT CARD There are two things to keep in mind when purchasing SDHC (Secure Digital High Capacity) cards: the Class (speed) of the card and the size of the card. SPEED CLASS SDHC cards are broken down into Class 2, Class 4, Class 6 and Class 10 cards. Class 2 cards offer a minimum sustained data rate of 2 megabytes per second (MBps), Class 4 4MBps, Class 6 6MBps and Class 10 10MBps. Although Class 4 is the minimum speed class required to r
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FORMATTING THE CARD To format the card in the camera, press the MENU button, then, using the op- 1080 eration lever, scroll down and select CARD FUNCTIONS (screen 2 of 3). In the 720 24 submenu, select CARD FORMAT, then select YES. Select YES again. It will P 30 take a moment or two, but then the card will be formatted and ready to go! i NOTE: Formatting does delete everything previously recorded on the card. 60 BY THE LETTER (AND NUMBER!) Let’s say I’m re- cording in the PH 1080/6
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RECORDING Once you select a record format, all you need to do is press the red record button—one is located with the power switch on the back of the camera, while the other is toward the front of the camera on the handle. To use the record button on the handle, move the REC selector switch on the side of the handle from OFF to ON. safe! NOTE: If you do not select a record format, the camera will default to the last user’s record settings. Safety zone setup While you only shoot in 16:9 fo
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Default menu settings To access the various camera menus, press the MENU button. Moving the operation lever up and down lets you scroll through all the options. To access a menu, pull the operation lever toward you; to select an item, push in the lever. Below is a list of all the default menu options in CAM mode with scene file F1 selected. If you’re having a problem that isn’t solved by the instructions in this booklet, go through the menu settings and make sure they are set correctly. SCEN
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Quick setup checklist for recording £ Set up camera and equipment * THE FULL AUTO £ Light Just want to power up and shoot? Here are the settings you’ll £ Power on camera need in order for the camera to automatically make adjustments. £ Hook up and set audio levels (No audio meters? Press the £ Set SCENE FILE dial to F1 (normal lighting conditions) DISP/MODE CHK button.) £ Set FOCUS switch to A (Auto) £ Adjust iris level * £ Set ND FILTER to OFF (for shooting indoors) £ Set ND filter * £ Set
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Help! TROUBLESHOOTING SOLUTIONS TO COMMON PROBLEMS THE PROBLEM THE SOLUTION PUSH HERE The LCD monitor displays a blue Press the MODE button until the screen. lamp for CAM (camera) is lit (PB is playback). THE PROBLEM THE SOLUTION PUSH HERE The camera won’t zoom. Set the ZOOM switch on the side of the camera to SERVO, unless you’re using the zoom ring, then set the switch to MANUAL. If you’re using the handle zoom, set the ZOOM switch to SERVO and the HANDLE ZOOM switch to 1 or 3—two menu
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HELP! CONTINUED THE PROBLEM THE SOLUTION PUSH HERE The video is STILL dark . . . Press the SHUTTER button until SHUTTER OFF displays in the LCD monitor. IT’S STILL TOO DARK! If you’re recording in low light, set the GAIN switch to M (me- dium) or H (high). THE PROBLEM THE SOLUTION PUSH HERE The video is too bright. If you’re outdoors, set the ND FILTER switch to either 1/4, 1/16 or 1/64. The video’s still too bright . . . Set the AUTO MANUAL switch to AUTO. My video is still too bright. Se
