Intro To Video Camera

Having learnt about stills cameras, we then continued to go on and learn about how to use a video camera, the type of camera that we used is a DV cam. We were taught how to firstly, erect the tripod to the desired height, attach the camera to the tripod, secure the microphone, and then finally bubble the tripod so that you have a well-framed image. Then came the basics of how to set up the on screen controls. At the top of the screen, the battery meter and time code are displayed. The time code shows how many hours, minutes, seconds and frames you have filmed for and how far into the tape you are. We were taught that we should always remember to only start filming at 30 seconds into the tape, in case the beginning of the tape is damaged. We were shown how to adjust the appature and shutter speed, which control how much light is let into the image and are displayed in the bottom left hand corner of the screen, along with the gain control, this adds false light to the image. At all times this must be kept as low as possible, most preferably at 0dB as it can cause noise on the image. The white balance control that is used to tell the camera weather we are shooting inside or out and are displayed as either a light bulb or sun symbol.