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Operating Guide for the RTN Panasonic DVCPro Camera
Revised January 22, 2003
Tripod
The tripod is the first thing to set-up. Use the tripod whenever possible as your
shoulder is not nearly as steady as the tripod is (plus, the camera isn't exactly "light.")
Your instructors will notice when normally stationary objects, especially buildings and
signs, jiggle around on the screen.
1. The best way to set up a tripod quickly and keep it level is to extend the legs to
the desired height before separating them. Extend the legs by loosening the larger
square-like knobs by turning them counterclockwise and pulling the leg down until the
desired level. Then tighten the knobs to lock them in place by turning them clockwise.
To separate the legs, loosen the smaller knobs on the inside extender bar. Once you've
separated the legs, tighten the smaller knobs to lock the legs in place.
Note: To ensure that the camera is steady and won't tip over, spread the legs out as
far as they can go. If your shooting space restricts you from doing this, spread the
legs out as far as reasonably possible.
2. Make sure the tripod is level by checking the green bubbles located on the base
and head of the tripod. If the bubble on the head is in the little black circle then you are
level. Adjust leg heights accordingly to get the bubble in the circle if it is not there. You
can make subtle adjustments by turning the black tips of the tripod legs.
3. The panning handles are down when the camera is stored in the carrying case
so you will need to loosen the adjustments which clamp the handles in place, raise the
handles up and retighten the adjustments. The handles can be further extended by
loosening the knobs that are attached to clamps on the handles, pulling the handles out,
and tightening the knobs back up.
4. In order to tilt the camera, first loosen the tilt lock, which is located on the
upper right-hand side of the tripod by the Manfrotto logo if you are standing behind it.
When you have found the desired tilt level, tighten the knob back up. In order to pan the
camera, you have to loosen the pan lock, which is on the back of the tripod under the
upper bubble. Do not try to tilt or pan the camera without loosening these knobs, as you
will damage the tripod.
5. The tripod can be raised further by using the crank located on the base of the
tripod below the panning handles. To release the crank, push the black ring around the
crank towards the center of the tripod and pull the crank handle out. Raise the tripod by
turning the crank to the right. Lower by turning the crank to the left. When you finish
shooting, make sure the tripod is lowered all the way down. Return the crank handle to
its original position by once again pushing the ring inward and pushing the handle in
towards the tripod until it clicks into place.
6. To mount the camera onto the tripod, first locate the rectangular tripod
adapter piece in your camera case. The adapter has a grooved trapezoidal
base which needs to be slid into the opening on the top of the tripod.
First, make sure that the triangular opening on the top of the adapter is facing the
front of the tripod if you are standing behind the panning handles, and the silver "button"
on the back of the adapter should face you. Next, loosen the knob at the very top of the
tripod by turning it to the left. Then, press and hold the knob down and slide the adapter
in place. Once you have slid the adapter into place, turn the knob to the right to tighten
and secure the adapter. The camera is mounted onto the adapter by lining up the
triangular metal piece on the bottom front of the camera with the triangular opening on
top of the tripod. Place the metal piece into the opening and push the camera forward
until it clicks into place. To make sure the camera is locked in place, lift up on the
handle. The camera should not move at all. Never force anything!!!!
To release the camera from the tripod, pull the red button on the left side under
the camera base plate and then, while pressing the red button, pull the black lever. You
should then be able to pull the camera back and lift it off the tripod.
To remove the adapter from the tripod, turn the knob at the very top of the tripod
to the left to loosen. Then press the knob down towards the ground and slide the adapter
out of the tripod at the same time. Return the adapter to the camera case.
Power
The battery is placed on the very back of the camera by aligning the three copper
screws on the battery with the three holes on the camera. Place the screws in the holes
and push the battery to the right until it clicks into place. Check to make sure the battery
is securely fastened.
To release the battery, push down on the gray lever to the left of the battery pull
battery out to the left.
The power switch is on the bottom left-hand side of the camera. Push the switch
to the ON (right) position to power up the camera.
Default Settings
After you have powered up the camera, make sure the following buttons are in the
following positions: There are four switches just above the power switch. Make sure the
Gain is at 0; the AWB is at MEMO; the Output is on CAM; and the Shutter is OFF.
Remember to check this next one carefully; many students have been returning with
dark video because they haven’t checked this next switch: on the opposite side of the
camera near the lens is the camera grip (the place your hand goes when you're shooting).
On this grip just in front of the zoom adjustment you'll see a switch that has an "M" and
an "A" option. Make sure the button is switched to "A"!!!! This
makes sure the Iris is always in automatic mode, which automatically lets in the proper
amount of light.
Loading Tape
After powering up insert your tape by hitting the eject button on the top of the
camera. Insert the tape into the camera with the writing on the tape upside-down and
facing away from the camera and manually shut the tape door (gently of course).
White Balance
White balance must be done every time you set up and every time the lighting
situation changes. Place a sheet of white paper in front of the camera in the same lighting
conditions in which you will be shooting. Zoom in and focus on the piece of paper so
that the white fills up the entire screen. On the bottom front of the camera, flick the
AUTO W/B BAL switch up to AWB. Your viewfinder will go black and then come back
to the picture. Continue to hold the white sheet of paper in front of the camera until the
white balance is completed in about 10 seconds.
If you are trying to white balance the camera outside and you receive a message
inside your viewfinder that says "too bright," you must turn the ND Filter on. The switch
for the ND Filter is located on the very front of the left side of the camera. Move the
switch to the ON position and try again to white balance. If you move to a different
location to shoot, turn the ND Filter off before re-white balancing. Also, before you turn
the camera off, make sure the ND Filter is switched back to the OFF position.
Focus
Focus for the camera is done manually. To focus on an object, turn the focus ring
at the front of the lens until the object comes into focus. To have an entire scene in focus,
focus in on the furthest object and zoom out. Everything in the foreground will be in
focus.
If you're trying to focus on an object that is close to the camera and you're not
able to get it into focus, turn the focus ring all the way to the right. Then locate the
Macro focus ring, which is the ring on the lens closest to the camera. Press the Macro
button in and turn the ring until the object comes into focus.
Zoom
To zoom the picture in and out, press either the "T" or the "W" on the switch,
which is attached to the lens. The "T" is for tight and will zoom in. Consequently the
"W" is for wide and will zoom out. If the zoom controls are not working, check the
switch underneath the lens that has an "S" and an "M" on it. Make sure the white dot is
lined up with the "S."
Audio
The audio adjusting board is on the left-hand side of the camera. You'll see that
there are two possible channels which audio can go into. Each channel can be put in
either the front or rear positions. If it is in the front position, it will take the sound from
the built-in microphone on the front of the camera. If it is in the rear position, it will take
the sound from the microphone jacks on the bottom rear of the camera (this is where your
hand-held microphone cable plugs in.) There is an outlet for channel one and channel
two. Make sure the outlet you plug your mic into coordinates with the channel on the
audio board that is switched to rear. We suggest that you always have channel one on the
rear (hand-held) mic and channel two on the front built-in mic. (This only works if you
plug the hand-held mic into the rear channel one jack, and set the side audio channel one
switch to REAR, and set the side audio channel two switch to FRONT.)
On the audio panel you can also adjust the level at which your sound is coming in.
Each channel has a dial that adjusts the level of sound. You can monitor your sound level
by looking into your viewfinder at the series of minuses and pluses in the upper left-hand
corner. If the levels are going into the pluses, it's too loud, and should be reduced by
adjusting the audio dial for the appropriate audio channel.
To make sure you're getting your sound while you are shooting (which you should
always do), you can plug headphones into the phones jack on the bottom rear of the
camera next to the mic jacks. There is also a small monitoring speaker on the left side of
the camera, the level of which can be adjusted by a small monitoring dial on the bottom
left of the camera.
Recording
To record, press the VTR button on the camera grip with your right thumb. To
stop recording, press the same button again. (There is another VTR button that does the
same thing on the bottom front of the camera next to the white balance switch.)
Playback
You can play back what you just recorded once you have stopped recording by
hitting the button marked RET which is next to the zoom switcher to the right of the lens.
If you hold this button down it will rewind the tape until you let go. It will then play the
tape in the viewfinder up to the point where you stopped recording.
You can also play back a tape in the camera by using the VCR controls on the top
of the camera. The controls are hidden beneath a black cover next to the eject button.
Flip up the cover to expose the controls. You can view the tape in the viewfinder and
listen to the sound through the headphones or the small speaker.
Holding the Camera
When shooting with the DVCPro camera, always use the tripod. But if a situation
arises in which you must hold the camera by hand, here's the proper way to hold the
camera:
As a general rule, pans and zooms do not work well in television news stories. If
you decide you must do a pan while holding the camera by hand, here's how:
Advanced Features
Gain
On occasion, you might be forced to shoot in unusually low lighting conditions,
and not be able to use a stand light. For example:
· Your light stand doesn't work
· You are at a meeting or a restaurant or a nightclub and it seems awkward to suddenly
turn a light on
· You have to grab the camera and run quickly to get a shot, and don't have time to
bring the light stand
· You are doing a "hidden camera" report
Under conditions like these, there is a way to artificially boost the apparent light
level going into the camera with a feature known as GAIN. It is one of the series of
buttons located just above the POWER switch on the camera.
To boost the apparent light level, you would boost the GAIN on the camera. First,
white balance the camera with the GAIN OFF. Then try moving the GAIN switch from
the OFF or "0" position to the next position, "6/9". You should see things appear lighter
in the viewfinder. If it is REALLY dark, you might have to boost the GAIN all the way
down to the "12/18" position.
WARNING:
1) There is a tradeoff here! The more you boost the gain, the more grainy your
video will become. Often there is little or no visible graininess in the "6/9"
position, but you will almost certainly see some graininess in the "12/18"
position. You have to decide which is the lesser of the two evils.
2) REMEMBER TO TURN OFF THE GAIN (BACK TO "0") BEFORE
SHOOTING UNDER ANY OTHER LIGHTING CONDITIONS!!!
Macro
Sometimes you may want to shoot a very small object, or something so small you
need to get unusually close to it to tape it, like a paragraph from a printed document, or a
small photograph. The normal lens will not focus on anything closer than several feet
from the camera. To record subjects extremely close to the camera, you need to use
what's called the MACRO LENS.
To use the MACRO, find the part of the lens ring closest to the camera body that
has markings that looks like this:
MACRO button
MACRO
This is the MACRO lens, which includes a MACRO button. Here's how to use it:
· bring your camera close to the object you want to shoot
· zoom out with the regular lens, as wide as you can go (i.e., press the "W" side of the
regular zoom all the way)
· when you are aimed at the (fuzzy) subject, press the MACRO button towards the
camera and then slowly turn the attached lens ring to the right
· stop turning when your subject comes in focus, and start taping
· if you change the position of the camera, you'll need to adjust the macro lens again
until the subject is clear
WARNING:
Remember to exit the MACRO lens when you're done by turning it all the way to
the left. You will hear a click as the MACRO button returns to its normal (locked)
position, and the MACRO lens will stop moving. Students often have subsequent
focusing problems by forgetting to return the MACRO lens to its normal (unused)
position.
TO ENSURE THE EQUIPMENT WORKS PROPERLY, DO
NOT TOUCH ANY OTHER BUTTON OR LEVER OR
KNOB ON THE CAMERA OR TRIPOD THAT WE HAVE
NOT MENTIONED. HAPPY SHOOTING!
Before shooting use the following checklist to make sure all
switches are positioned properly:
Default Setup for the RTN Panasonic DVCPRO
Camera
1. Return all Camera Settings to the Default Positions.
A. Set the Gain Selection Switch to 0.
B. Set the AWB Selector Switch to Memo.
C. Set the Output Selector Switch to Cam.
D. Set the Shutter Selection Switch to Off.
E. Set the ND Filter Switch to Off.
F. Set the Iris Control Switch to A. (Automatic)(Top of hand grip)
G. Set Light Control Switch to On Position. (Small switch under
battery pack)
H. Set Macro Adjustment Dial to the Lock Position.
I. Set the Power/Manual Zoom Selector Switch to S.
(Servo)(Under hand grip)
2. Return all Viewfinder Settings to the Default Positions. (Front
of Viewfinder)
A. Set the Peaking Control Knob to the 12 o’clock Position.
(Indicating mark pointing upward)
B. Set the Contrast Control Knob to the 12 o’clock Position.
(Indicating mark pointing upward)
C. Set the Brightness Control Knob to the 12 o’clock Position.
(Indicating mark pointing upward)
D. Set the Character Switch to On.
E. Set the Zebra Switch to Off.
F. Set the Tally Switch to Off.
3. Return all Microphone Settings to the Default Positions.
A. Unless your professor instructs you otherwise, set the
Microphone Selection Switches.
1. Channel 1 to the Rear
2. Channel 2 to the Front
B. Set the Recording Level Dials to the 12 o’clock Position.
(Arrows point upward)
4. Physical Checks
A. Verify the Lens Locking Ring is Secure. (The lens locking ring
pin should point downward)
B. Verify the Viewfinder Locking Ring is Tight. (Hand tight only!!)
If you experience any problems in the field, please call CPS @
ext. 5660.
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