Decoding Camera Buttons

Marshal Rosenthal
June 2004

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Picking up a camcorder today can be intimidating, largely because there are so many buttons to press. And they're usually closely grouped together on the tiny camera body. This makes them harder to find, slows you down and may even discourage you from shooting. The best way to keep from drowning is to understand the purpose of each of these buttons.

When you pick up a typical camcorder and put your hand into the strap, your fingers should automatically fall near the most frequently used buttons. This includes the power switch, the record button and zoom control, which is often a rocker switch or a slider. The power button might also include a small tab that has to be depressed as well, which makes it harder to accidentally turn the camera off or on. With very few exceptions, the record button will be under your thumb on the right side of the camcorder. Yes, most cameras do indeed favor righties. (But lefties are favored in a different way, more on that later.) Sometimes, you'll find a review button close by the record button. This lets you rewind and review a few seconds of what you just shot without leaving the recording mode. The power button switch frequently lets you select from a few modes as well. Besides recording to tape, you may also be able to shoot still images in another mode, which may be marked "memory" as opposed to "tape" for video. Of course you'll also want to switch the camera into playback mode to view your video. The back of the camera is usually where the battery pack lies flush with the camera body. Look for a small button that you push in to release the battery for recharging it away from the camera.

Many professional camcorders have removable lenses, but almost all consumer models have a permanently attached zoom lenses. Usually there's a rocker button or tab that you push one way or the other to zoom in or out. This is usually right where your first couple of fingers fall when holding the camcorder.

Viewfinders are now in full color, but there are still times when having a separate LCD display can't be beat, especially when it comes to seeing and using onscreen menus. The LCD display is usually located on the left side of the camcorder. Regardless of its size or whether it is touch-screen capable or not, these displays really eat up battery power, so some cameras have a button to turn off the backlight behind the display.

Here's where the lefties have the advantage. Near the LCD panel, you might find a menu button and a directional pad control or a wheel. These controls access and activate various menus and settings. If you can't find a button with a label to control the feature you are looking for, it is probably on a menu. While not as convenient to use as a button, a menu also makes it harder to accidentally change a setting.

The exposure controls are also important, starting with the shutter speed. The faster the speed the less blurring, but a fast shutter speed needs more light than a slow one and the overall recording can become darker.

Let's say you're shooting a group of children on swings in a park. To keep them sharp as they swing you might want a fast shutter speed. To keep the image bright, you'll have to open the iris (aperture), but this might decrease the depth of field, which makes the background blurry. Artistically, it is your call if you want this or not, but the shutter speed must work in conjunction with the iris to get a proper exposure. The decision as to which to give precedence to shouldn't always be left up to the camera, especially when shooting sports or fast-moving action. Sometimes the camera will have an explicit shutter button and a separate iris button, but many cameras combine the two into an exposure button or wheel. The exposure wheel may simply have a brighter/darker function, but it may be a more elaborate control that requires a press and a turn for the iris and another press and turn for the shutter speed.

The final exposure control is the electronic gain when the camera tries to compensate for low-light situations. This can sometimes result in a grainy image.

Another button related to exposure is the backlight button, which overrides the automatic exposure feature of the camera when you have a dimly lit subject against a bright background. Since backlighting is a common problem, a backlight button is fairly common on consumer camcorders.

The mini tape cassette (or recordable DVD) usually slides into the camcorder on the right side of the camera body, either from above or below. The button that activates the opening sequence is usually placed off by itself so that you don't accidentally eject the tape.

Autofocus is a great feature, but you will frequently want to turn it off. The button to turn off auto-focus is usually somewhere near the camera lens up front. Once in manual mode, it's now up to you to focus the lens, most often using a ring that emulates a real mechanical focuser. On a professional lens, the mechanical focuser will actually move lens elements around, but in consumer camcorders, the focus ring only activates tiny servos that then focus the lens.

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