Camera Lesson 1

On Friday 16th of September, we took our media lesson into the studio with Matt and Paul to have a hands on look at the camera that we will be using throughout the 2 year course and how to use it best.


We used the Black Magic camera for this lesson and we learned a lot about its functions. There were certain settings we needed to know and make sure were in place in order to use the cameras successfully. We took the tripod from the bag and began to set it up and learn how to tighten and loosen the bolts to make the tripod secure when it is at the height you want it to be. After learning of how to set up the tripod we learned about how to stop it from tilting but how to allow it to pan, this is important because it prevents the camera from falling off the tripod or the whole set up collapsing all together, meaning safety of both the people and the cameras are taken care of. We also learned that when the tripod is set up securely you must adjust the spirit level. A small yellow liquid circle is towards the back of the tripod and it has a small air bubble inside that must be exactly central before the camera can be placed onto the tripod and begin to be used.


We then moved forward and placed the camera securely onto the tripod, there is a small button that must be pushed when gliding the camera into the slot in order to keep it completely stationary. You push it down and slowly push the camera in to the slot and release the button before then locking it into place. There was a large battery which was attached onto the back of the camera that gave a loud and satisfying 'click' when in place, which ensured the camera did not die during our use of it.

We learned many important aspects of the camera, what they are for, and how they work. We first had a look at the SA (Shutter Angle) which indicates how blurry a moving camera shot will be. The shutter speed must remain on 180 when not in use for filming, however, the lower the shutter angle the less blurry the shot becomes and the higher it is the more blurry it becomes. We next looked at the white balance which essentially means making sure the colours look good on camera, when in an outside environment 5600 is the number the white balance should be set to and only 3200 when inside.

We then proceeded to look at the ISO, this is in control of the film speed and specifically how sensitive the camera is to the lighting which moved us swiftly onto learning about camera focus. When choosing a particular part in the room that was a far distance away you must twist the lens to zoom in to the place you wish to film, it will appear as an unrecognisable blur which brings us onto focusing the camera before zooming back out to create the clear shot.

The last piece of information we retrieved was how to adjust the exposure, this means making the shot either lighter or darker to make a clearer image. However I found this a particularly frustrating task because the blue part that adjusted the exposure was directly adjacent to the lens release button which if pressed can cause the lens to fall and break. I learned a lot in this lesson and whish to learn much more.