How to Use a Camcorder: Buttons and Contols (page 2)

Some camcorders have an iris or aperture control dial. The iris controls the amount of light that enters the camera. By turning the dial, you can make the image brighter or darker. Aperture is measured in f-stops (e.g. f/1.8 - f/16), with larger numbers indicating smaller openings. Some camcorders do not have explicit iris controls and instead adjust the overall exposure through some combination of iris and electronic amplification (gain).

Manual aperture control can be handy when your subject is standing against a bright background. The camera automatically reads the scene as being bright, so it closes the iris, making your subject very dark. By turning the iris control dial, you can make your subject brighter (with the background likely becoming overexposed). Many cameras have an explicit backlight button that may help you do this semi-automatically. You can avoid using the backlight button if you watch your backgrounds and change your shooting location. Always try to place your subject so that the background is a little darker than the subject. You can usually make your subject brighter by turning him so he almost faces the sun. You can also reduce the brightness of the background by zooming in on your subject.

Fundamentally, shutter speed controls the amount of light coming into the camera, with faster shutter speeds letting in less light. Faster speeds also decrease the amount of blur for fast moving subjects. This comes in very handy when you slow the video down in your editor. Without the shutter speed control, the slowed-down video would show blurred motion. By increasing the shutter speed, the motion will be crystal clear, even if the image is paused.

The one problem with higher shutter speeds is that it decreases the amount of light that enters the lens. If shooting outdoors at midday, this is not much of a problem, as the sun provides a lot of light. Indoors, however, you will have to add light if you want to use the high-speed shutter function.

The white balance button is a necessary feature on a camcorder. This button sets the electronics of the camera so that they see colors accurately. Surprisingly perhaps, different kinds of light sources (fluorescent, the sun, incandescent bulbs) produce slightly different colors of light. To use the white balance button, point your camera at a white piece of paper or cloth after you set up your shot. Press the white balance button and you'll see an icon in the viewfinder blink off and on. When the camera is white balanced, it will stop blinking. Make sure you white balance every time you change position or light sources. Watch out for a subtle, periodic cycling of automatic white balance under fluorescent lights, especially when using slower shutter speeds.

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