Getting Started: The Case of the Missing Controls

Automatic point-and-shoot camcorders are convenient, but manual control of certain functions can do your videos a world of good.

If your first camcorder is a pricey model with more bells and whistles than the Santa Fe Railroad, you might face a daunting array of mysterious knobs, buttons, sliders and wheels. But if you’ve chosen a simpler appliance for getting started in video, your problem may be just the opposite: almost no controls at all. Every function is fully automatic and, to quote the ancient gag, nothing can possibly go wrong...go wrong...go wrong....

By "every function," we mean the controls for white balance, aperture, and shutter. (Though it’s true that some low-end models don’t allow you to control your focus by hand, we’ll leave that topic for another day.) Our sermon today explains what these three controls do and why you might sometimes want to operate them manually. (NOTE: all camcorders that have manual controls still let you fly on autopilot when you prefer to, and some of these models cost very little more than the auto-only types.) So after a look at white balance, we’ll cover shutter and aperture, and then explain so-called "programmed" controls that combine the functions o…