Sony EX3
We began with this camera (Sony EX3) which I had never used before so this was all new to me. We all got given a basic operations handbook but here are the notes I took myself which help to understand the functions of this camera:
- With this camera you should always begin by setting everything to manual. This is so that you are able to adjust all the setting rather than having the camera do it for you. You can change it to manual by going on the the actual camera menu.
- While also on settings you can adjust the settings to match the lighting you are using. Most studio lighting is 3200 Kelvin so you should if in the studio usually be setting your camera to this but this does change depending on where you are and what kind of studio lighting you have chosen to use.
- The ISO is fixed to 320 ISO but this is very good for studio shoots anyway.
- It sounds silly but always remember to make sure the Shutter is open so you can see what your doing on the display screen.
- With a camera like this even though there is a zoom ring it is advised not to use it especially in studio shoot situations. In a studio you should just be able to move yourself around to the right place and distance and this result will look a lot better than trying to zoom in.
- Your recording settings should be 1080P 25FPS which is the standard to work with anyway in Britain. The P means Progressive and FPS means frames per second.
- Before you begin shooting anything you should always format your Memory Cards (SD card) so that it is clear and ready to save stuff. If you forget to do this then someone else footage could be left on there taking up valuable memory space. Also you should always avoid deleting stuff off the memory cards during shooting with the camera because this causes risks such as your files corrupting so simply format the card before you start and just leave everything on there that you capture.
- Another handy tip which is again obvious is to always check the equipment over before walking away with it from wherever your hiring it from and always charge both battery packs in advance and get as many spares as possible.
- Some more useful camera setting to know are...
Video Setting = HD
SDI Out Display = On (to see menu on screen or external monitor) or Off (allows us to see live shoot on screen or external monitor)
Video Format = 1080 25P
Video Out = On (to see live shoot mode)
The rest of the settings on this camera were okay to work and use just by experimenting with it and playing with it but this is just the basics of setting it up etc.
We then moved on to...
Atomos Samurai Blade EVF/Hard Drive Recorder
Again I had never used this piece of equipment before so this was all new to me. The Samurai Blade work with cameras as a recorder, monitor and playback device. We practiced using it with the Sony EX3 and again even though we were given a basic guide here are the notes I took about it:
- The Samurai needs to be attached to the EX3 using a plastic arm. You must be really careful when screwing the arm into the bottom of the Samurai though as if you over screw/tighten you will burst the bottom of the Samurai and break the internals of the device. So go gently and only hand tighten it. You then attach the bottom of the arm device to the hot shoe/plate in top of the camera. Even though you have done this you still need to use the wire to connect the Samurai into the camera.
- The Battery pack for the Samurai slides into it and requires a firm push till you feel it pop in. You should always charge this up before a shoot too as the Samurai runs on its own battery and not the cameras.
- On the Samurai you can change the Codec in which you record in. This depends on what you are using it for afterwards and what editing programme you intend to use it with. ProRes = Adobe Premiere Pro Codec, DNxHD = Avid Editing Codec. For the sake of our studio shoot we will need to record Avid Codec as a lot of us are learning how to edit with Avid so we will set the Samurai to DNxHD. However to keep it available for Premiere as well we will have it recording on the Cameras SD card in Premier readable Codec so that it is available for both. When you are changing the format of the Samurai it will ask you for an access code which is always printed on top of the Samurai device with the Universities supplies so you have it always available.
- In the same way you did with the cameras Memory Cards you need to format the Samurai as well before you begin shooting so that you know it is completely empty and ready for you to use.
- Some more useful settings for the Samurai are...
Menu - Timecode - Source - HD-SDI
220x (x means 10bit)
- So that you can see the most realistic representation of your image you should make sure the colour settings on the Samurai have been reset back to standard. You do this by clicking on the Yellow Button (touch screen) - then go onto waveform/colour control - Reset Colour
- The blue button on the Samurai is very useful because it is where you can find all your monitoring tools such as waveforms and colour graphs etc which can be helpful during shooting to make sure you are capturing things correctly.
- To get the menu and buttons up you just need to tap the screen and tap again if you want them to disappear. The same applies on your monitoring tools/Graphs where by if you tap them they will enlarge on the screen to make it easier to see. Then tap again and they will go back to their original size.
- The most useful monitoring tool will probably be the Waveform Graph which will help you see light spikes and issues with exposure that you might not have noticed with your eyes alone. This is why the use of Graphs can actually be every helpful because your eyes may not see it how it actually is on screen.
- When you upload your footage from each day you can also get it so you have bars and tone (industry standard) at the front of each days filming. This always you to check it over and assess the look of it easily.
The best part I found with the Samurai was simply having a realistic larger monitor on the camera that you could look at to check everything was coming out how you wanted. I feel like will be one of the most valuable tools for the camera crew on our studio shoot. I found out a lot more about it by simply having a play with the camera team on it.
EW100 Radio Microphone
Moving on to look at the new sound tools we can use we firstly looked at these Radio Mics which I again hadn't used before however I had heard a bit about them. In the kit comes...
Transmitter, Receiver, Microphone, Microphone Cover and Clip.
- Firstly we looked at how you would attach the tiny microphone onto someone. You use the clip which can be take off and flipped to the left or the right to suit whatever that person is wearing or whatever they have you are attaching it too. The microphone should be about 8inches away from the persons mouth (about an average hand span). Also because these microphones are so sensitive you should not have anything like fabric etc over the top of the microphone or it will create very loud rustling noises.
-Then we looked at the Transmitter and Receiver. To make it easy to tell which is which it has it written on the back! The Transmitter is where the Microphone gets plugged into. The Receiver has an audio out connection so you can plug a minijack cable from it into the camera or mixing desk etc.
- You could plug the transmitter into any microphone with an adaptor and it would allow you to make it wireless.
- The transmitter and microphone will be attached to the actor and the Receiver will be at the camera or mixing desk.
- You begin by turning both the Transmitter and Receiver on using the button. Then you can begin to sync them to one another. When doing this you always set it up from the Receivers menu. So you press the Set Button which brings up the menu and then you use the two scroll buttons to go through the menu till you find the Sync option. Click on Sync and then hold the Receiver and Transmitter face to face so they connect then the light will come on on both to show you they have synced up.
- Now if you have more than one set of microphones then you will have to Sync them in a manual way so that they are all on different frequencies and won't be effecting one another. You do this again from the Receiver. So use the Set Button to go to the Menu. Then scroll through the menu to 'Easy Set Up' then click 'Scan New List' which means the device will start scanning to find all the available frequencies. This will take about a minute usually. Then it will come up with a list of banks and each bank will have a certain amount of channels with in it. You will need to choose a bank with enough channels in for what you want to do and also you will need to stick with in the Frequency range of the UK (list provided within the kit). When you then choose a bank click on a channel you want to use. Then go back to the Sync option in the very first menu and click it holding the Receiver and Transmitter face to face again. This means they will now both connect to the channel you chose and when the light comes on again you know it has worked.
- On the transmitter you can go menu then sensitivity and then you can turn it up or down depending on how much noise you want the microphone to pick up. Then you can go check the levels on the Receiver where you will see a little bar level graph. It should be hitting about 3 quarters of the way up the bar when the actor is speaking. If it is set too high it will create distortion an if it is too low it won't be heard properly. There is also a Peak indicator which lights up on the receiver which is an instant indicator that your sensitivity is too high so always avoid this!
I am not usually too interested in Sound but I enjoyed getting to use this new equipment which could be very useful in future. I am also now considering if we could use these microphones in our Studio Shoot to help record breathing sounds etc of the actors which could be very useful for the soundscape.
701D Tascam Sound Recorder/Mixer
This is again new technology to me but I have been told that these are very useful to use when you have lots of different microphones that you need to record the sound from at once because you can have up to 4 microphones connected to it at the same time.
- At the front of this Recorder you will find 2 speakers which are used for playback then you have in the centre the Battery and Memory card slots.
- As well as connecting microphones to it you can record the sound from your camera onto it too which is always useful to have as a reference point.
- This device can record up to 6 track on it which include the 4 microphones then a camera sound and this device can record its own sound as well but only on tracks 3 and 4.
- If you go onto Menu you can see how many channels are available for you to connect to.
- To connect up devices to it you go Menu then Select Channel and then choose your Channel you want to use and then select which input your device (microphone etc) is connect in by. Each input is numbered.
- When monitoring the sound levels from devices with this you can adjust the level and you want ti to hit between -20db and -12db. There is also guidelines on the screen to get the sound between.
- You can also plug headphones into it so you can listen to the sounds being recorded. There is a volume dial to use for these which lets you decide which track your listening too as well.
This sound device was a bit more complicated however I feel I now understand the basics of it and having a play about with it did help a lot as well. I feel like this could be useful on our Studio Shoot if we did decide to have several microphones recording at once.
Panasonic GH4 DSLR
Lastly we finished off the day by being inducted into using the GH4 which we are advised not to use for the Studio Shoot as it won't be as good as the EX3 however it is still handy to learn so that we have that possibility if we need or want it at any time.
- The GH4 comes with an adaptor which means you can fit lenses from other standard sized cameras onto it as the GH4 is actually a 24mm lens and smaller sensor. However it is still really good quality.
- You can also use the Samurai with this camera using a HDMI cable to connect it up meaning you could also record off this in avid Codec as well.
- This camera isn't as good quality as EX3 however because its smaller it is much more portable for movement and dance pieces etc so could consider it for our Studio Shoot Piece.
- With this camera the settings are fairly easy to change and work out because it is similar to most DSLR's in layout. However once you have chosen setting for a shoot you shouldn't go and change them mid way through filming otherwise it won't match up and continuity will be broken. To get to the ISO and Exposure settings etc you go into the Quick Menu function and there you will find them.
- MOV is the least compressed format you can shoot in on this camera.
- You can change the frame rate speed for different effects (slow motion) but generally for normal speed you want 25FPS.
- ISO 800 is the 'sensor sweet spot' for this camera but you obviously can change this like most cameras. Always keep in mind ISO will effect aperture slightly as well so don't adjust this mid shoot either.
- With this camera you can shoot 4K but it really isn't advised unless absolutely necessary! If you do it takes too long to Transcode normally.
- This camera comes with Prime Lenses!
- The top file which most DSLR's have changes the shoot mode but it will only do this when the centre part of the bottom is pressed down. This is so that once its set it is locked which means you can avoid accidentally changing it.
This camera seems a bit more user friendly to me than the EX3 but I think thats only because in the past I have used DSLR's a lot. I feel like the camera team need to make a decision now for the Studio Shoot between a heavier bigger camera with better quality (EX3) or a smaller more portable camera but with lower quality (GH4).
This day was full of inductions and was a lot to take on board but I feel a lot better off knowing it because now I have a lot more equipment options for the Studio Shoot and in the future too.
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