Setting Up a Shot

All of these settings can be set to 'AUTO'. If you're in a rush then 'AUTO' will usually give okay results. On the big black HD cameras, lightly press the 'menu' button on the screen, this will allow you to change the common settings. If one of the settings has a yellow/orange bar next to it then it's been set to manual and you ought to check that it's been set appropriately.

Exposure

This determines how much light enters the camera. It is done by controlling 'Shutter Speed' and 'Iris' (referred to as 'aperture' in still photography).

YSTV almost always uses a shutter speed of 50 per second. Any slower and things appear to move indistinctly, any faster and you reduce the amount of light. The only two times you might want to do this:

• You're filming something that moves really fast and want the footage to blur less. If the view is still light enough after increasing the speed, go for it.
• To stop on-screen monitors flickering, increase the shutter speed to 60. (Computer video pretty much always draws at 60Hz.) If the shutter speed is not on the main menu; you have to enter the detailed menu to alter it. Press the Menu button, then from there go through P.Menu -> Camera Set -> Shutter Speed.

The iris is a physical barrier inside the camera which can be opened or closed (by internal motors) to limit the amount of light entering the camera, in the same way as the iris of an eye does. Closing or opening the iris doesn't have any (significant) effects on the image recorded by the camera. (Having it more open will reduce the 'depth of field' of the camera, but this isn't something that often needs to be known.)

White Balance

When filming in light that isn't evenly white (ie it has a tinge of a certain colour) the camera needs to be told what it should consider truly white. If the white balance is set to auto, and the camera is, for example, used indoors where the light normally has a red tinge, the camera will assess the entire image, determine that red is the dominant colour, and reduce the amount of red in the recording.

'Auto' will usually produce useable results, or at least ones which can be improved later in editing, however it is best and easiest to set it manually when the recording is taking place.

To set white balance manually on an HD camera, press the menu button on the screen. Select 'White Balance', then 'one push' to set it. Crucially you also have to set the new white balance. Get something truly white (EG white balance card, or thick white paper on a clipboard) to occupy the whole of the screen at the position your subject will be. Then press the button on the screen which looks like a square above two triangles, keep the camera steady until it's finished changing the white balance. You can now exit the menu.

Focus

(Most of the tips in this section assume you're using the Sony HDV cameras.)

Focus on the camera can work in one of two ways; Auto and Manual. Manual involves telling the camera how far away from the lens your subject is, and that's what it'll focus on. Auto involves the camera looking at your footage and working out by itself how far away your subject is.

If you're filming in decent light and frequently changing zoom and/or composition, then Auto is advised. If you're in dark situations, or the camera shot won't be changing at all then Manual will give much better results. Remember that auto-focus can cause the camera to suddenly think it needs to re-focus when it doesn't, and your shot briefly dips out of focus.

Additionally, while in autofocus, the camera can stubbornly lock on to a completely incorrect focus. This can be solved by switching to manual focus and forcing the focus to change to something sensible, then switching back to auto and letting it carry on. Alternatively, briefly covering the lens might persuade it to change the focus. This effect is made worse by a dirty filter, as the camera attempts to focus on the dust on the filter.

To set manual focus: In the menu press the 'focus' button. Select manual. Here you can also alter the distance at which the camera focuses. Using the LCD to set the focus on your fully framed shot is very difficult, because the screen is just too small, and in the dark it's almost impossible because you have to be even more accurate. A trick that usually works better is to zoom right into the subject, switch to auto-focus, wait a few seconds for auto-focus to work its magic, then switch back to manual and zoom out.

More Complicated: In the Menu there is a 'Ring Set' option. This will normally be set to 'Focus', so that the Ring by the lens controls the focus While in Manual Focus. With 'Ring Set' set to 'Focus', the 'Manual' Button on the left hand side of the camera (IE facing you) will switch between Manual Focus and Auto Focus. This is a very useful set up for everything described above.

If using manual focus be sure that the shot is focussed, otherwise all of the recorded footage will be blurry. If you're using auto-focus, then for god's sake be careful where you point the camera!

Microphone & Sound Levels

The short answer: set everything to Auto. The long answer (for good results): More on sound setup