Setting up a Camera

In our next lesson we had a technician come in to explain how to set up a digital camera, including settings to adapt the camera to its surroundings as it can be filmed during the night, day or with artificial lighting which need to be configured through the camera for best video quality. We also learnt how to set up the camera onto a tripod, so that we can get a still moving image unlike handheld, where it's usually prone to wobble, resulting in the unsteady video recording.

• Firstly, to have optimum video quality we went to main settings, located on top of the camera it gave us a variety of options; scrolling through them on the touchscreen with the arrow buttons until we found quality settings. Set to 1080p, 25 fps 'Frames Per Second' at a resolution of '1920 by 1080'.

• Exposure control: This determines how light or dark the video will be recorded at. The Shutter Speed is set to 50, this changes how fast or slow the shutter closes, being how long the lens is exposed to light; the faster the speed the less light goes in, and the slower it is the more light goes in. This usually depends on the subject, as the brighter it is the faster the shutter speed needs to be.

• Aperture: Located in the middle of the lens is a hole for light to pass through into the camera. A low aperture increases the opening of the lens and vice-versa. It is measured in 'F-Stops', so given that the F-Stop is set to f/1.4, the aperture, being the opening of the lens, becomes wide. This brings everything into focus as it is able to take more light in,

• ISO: Controls the sensitivity of the light sensor, this should be set on a low setting of 100 and not above 1600 if used in well-lit areas as it does not need to detect too much light as this will grain the image, giving it a static look. The sensitivity will need to be raised if used in dark areas so it can sense more light to brighten the image, however this will add grain, also known as 'noise'.

• Colour: The Q on the top corner of the camera screen gives us more settings based on colour settings. We set the picture style to Neutral and set the white balance to 'AWB'; the white balance adapts to the light in its surroundings, as if the video/picture is shot under a light bulb, it will reduce the amount of orange in the colour and add more blue to make it seem more neutral

• AF/MF Slider: Located at the front of the camera, this determines weather the focus is adjusted automatically or manually, this must be set to manual as we are able to rotate the front part of the lens to give more focus or blur out the image.