I. CAMERA MODE / VTR MODE Quick Reference Guide to the Sony I & II MiniDV Camera BE CAREFUL WHEN INSERTING AND EJECTING TAPES FROM THE CAMERA. FOLLOW ALL LABELS ON THE CAMERA ITSELF AND THESE DIRECTIONS. A. The power switch on back of the camera is a mode selector switch. 1. Push in the center button and turn up or down. 2. Raise it to the upper position, CAMERA, to record new footage. 3. Switch it to the lower position, VTR, to review your footage. B. The PLAY, PAUSE, FFWD, REW and STOP buttons above the cassette compartment will be active in VTR mode and they work just like a home VCR. II. USING THE MENU A A. Open the back battery door, there are four buttons to the right of the battery, MENU, UP & DOWN AR- ROWS and EXECUTE. 1. Press MENU to open the menu, you can view it through the viewfinder.
2. Press the UP & DOWN ARROWS to select a feature that you wish to change. 3. Press EXECUTE to see the options of any feature. (These are the only options that you need to pay attention to, the rest you can ignore.) 3. A SHUTTER: This is the automatic shutter, unless you re an advanced user leave this feature ON. 4. D Zoom: This is the digital zoom, by default it is ON, if you want to limit your zoom to the lens dis tance only then turn this feature OFF. 5. Zebra: Turning ON this feature will display a zebra pattern (diagonal stripes) in any area of your image that is overexposed. This pattern is not recorded on to tape. You can adjust your exposure and lighting to eliminate the zebra pattern to minimize overexposed portions of your shot. 6. Headphone: you can adjust the headphone volume, LOW MID HIGH. III. FOCUSING THE VIEWFINDER focus Underneath the eyepiece of the viewfinder there is a dial. By turning it to the left or right you can focus the eyepiece glass to help you see better. IV. LOCK VS. STANDBY (AUTO-OFF) Lock Standby A Photo Standby A. The black toggle lever surrounding the main record button on the back of the camera is the mode selector switch. 1. LOCK mode is a power setting that will put the camera into energy saver state in which the viewfinder will go black and the camera will appear to be OFF but it is still ON, just at a low level in order to conserve battery power. You can easily switch in and out of lock mode by using the black thumb toggle lever around the main record button.
2. STANDBY mode is the normal operating mode for the camera. After so a number of minutes of non-use the camera will automatically go into lock mode, the viewfind er will go black. The camera will be ON but in a energy saver state. This feature is to conserve battery power. It can be confusing because the camera will still be in standby mode. All you have to do is switch the camera from standby to lock and then back to standby and the camera will be ready to shoot. (All of your settings will remain the same as long as you set the camera correctly. (See LOCKING THE CAMERA for more details.) 3. PHOTO STANDBY mode puts the camera into photo mode. (This is an unnecessary feature. If you need still images for your video, either capture them in post or take a still image with a 35mm still or digital camera.) Photo Button. Do Not Use! PHOTO BUTTON (DON T USE) This button on the top of the camera next to the zoom toggle buttons will take a 5 to10 second still capture on tape. (This is an unnecessary feature. If you need still images for your video, either capture them in post or take a still image with a 35mm still or digital camera.) V. LOCKING THE CAMERA Power Hold(white dot)/ Auto Lock A. On the rear left side of the camera just below the power button, there is a small grey thumb toggle button. In order to adjust any of the exposure, white balance or audio level controls you will have to move this lever to the middle white dot. B. Once you are finished setting all your manual settings. It is crucial to remember to move this level to the upper Hold white dot. This will lock in all your manual settings. **Note: switching the camera s power into lock mode will not reset your manual settings IF YOU HAVE THE CAMERA SET TO HOLD MODE. (However a complete power failure or a dead battery will reset the camera settings.
VI. COMPLETE AUTO MODE Power Hold(white dot)/ Auto Lock On the rear left side of the camera just below the power button, there is a small grey thumb toggle button. By moving this level all the way down to the Auto Lock dot in green. The entire camera will be locked into auto mode, every thing from white balance, exposure to audio recording level will be automatically operated by the camera. This is not recommended for best quality. VII. WHITE BALANCE You need to white balance your camera every time you begin to shoot. You ll need to repeat this process every time the lighting changes during your shoot. Especially when you move from indoor to outdoor shooting. You may notice sometimes that a white object in your shot appears yellow or blue. This means you need to white balance your image. When you white balance you re telling the camera what is white so it can adjust all the other colors in the shot so that they appear correctly on the video. The best way to white balance is to have someone hold a white piece of paper or poster board and then zoom the camera into that and follow the instructions below. An empty white wall and or a blank white shirt will work as well. Just make sure to have no other color in the viewfinder while doing this process and never white balance off of a highlighted area. That means never use a shiny object or something that is reflecting the sun or another light source as your white balance object. Zoom In/Out White Balance LCD Screen Instructions: 1. Zoom the camera into a piece of white paper, a white wall or something similar. Make sure that no other
color can be seen in the viewfinder. 2. On the back of the camera directly below the small LCD screen on the battery door, the second button from the right is marked WHT BAL. 3. Press that button several times to pass through the various settings, stop when you see the white balance symbol. It is two triangles facing each other with a rounded square in the center. 4. Once that symbol is selected in the viewfinder. It will be blinking slowly. 5. Press and hold the small button below the WHT BAL button, it is next to the DV IN/OUT port and there is a white balance symbol with a line pointing to it. 6. Press and hold that button. 7. The white balance symbol in the view finder will blink rapidly (make sure that you re still zoomed in tight on that white paper). 8. Once the blinking stops you should notice that the colors in the viewfinder have adjusted themselves. 9. When you zoom out the colors should look correct. If not you ll have to repeat the procedure. VIII. ADJUSTING THE EXPOSURE There are several ways to adjust the exposure of your shot. Make sure the camera is in manual mode. (See LOCKING THE CAMERA.) Exposure Button A. EXPOSURE BUTTON 1. On the side of the lens next to the cassette compartment there is a button labeled EXPOSURE and a dial with + and symbols. 2. Press that button and then raise or lower the dial to adjust the exposure of your shot. 3. You ll see an exposure level appear in the viewfinder as you do this. 4. If you press the EXPOSURE button again it will reset the settings back to their original state. B. AE PROGRAM 1. On the back of the camera directly below the small LCD screen on the battery door, the first button from the left is marked AE. 2. Pressing this button will cycle through three options. 3. The first is aperture control. A f-stop number will appear onscreen and you can move the CONTROL wheel up and down to adjust the f-stop. 4. The second control is shutter speed. Again a shutter speed number will appear onscreen and you can move the CONTROL wheel up and down to
adjust the shutter speed. 5. The third option is a moon symbol, this may help in shooting in low light conditions but is mostly useless. 6. All this options will adjust the exposure of your image. C. SHUTTER SPEED This is the button right next to AE and it works the same way and is another way to control the exposure of your shot. Shutter Speed ND Filter D. ND FILTER This is a switch on the side of the lens behind the focus ring, sliding this lever ON actually covers the lens with a neutral density glass filter. This filter is great when shooting in bright outdoor locations, however usually you do not want to use it for indoor settings. IX. FOCUSING THE CAMERA Focus Switch Focus Ring A. FOCUS is a switch right behind the focus ring on the lens. There is an AUTO and MANUAL mode. B. AUTO will switch the camera into automatic focusing mode and deactivate the focus ring. The camera will choose what to focus on in each shot. (Not Recommended) C. MANUAL will switch the camera into manual focus mode and you can rotate the focus ring to bring the shot in and out of focus. D. Pulling the switch down to INFINITY will quickly focus the camera in on whatever is furthest away in the shot. After you press this button it will switch back into manual focus mode. E. The PUSH AUTO button underneath the FOCUS switch will temporarily focus the camera automatically
and then switch back into whatever mode it was in before the button was pressed. F. Remember; to achieve the best focus, zoom in to a detail then focus the camera, then zoom out and every thing will be in focus. X. USING HEADPHONES (The steps are the same for CAMERA and VTR modes) Menu Headphone Jack A. Plug the headphone cord into the green headphone jack on the side of the camera. It is above the main re cord button and underneath a grey rubber cover. B. Once the headphones are plugged in, press the MENU button and select HEADPHONE, in that menu you can select LOW MID HIGH. Then press the MENU button to close the menu. XI. USING A MICROPHONE Mic Input REC Level Control Wheel A. The red input jack for the microphone is located right behind the camera microphone above the lens. It is underneath a grey rubber cover. B. The camera will switch from using its built in microphone to your microphone as soon as you plug your microphone in. C. Make sure to monitor the audio with headphones while shooting to ensure that your recording the audio at the highest quality. D. You can adjust the audio level by pressing the REC LEVEL button. It is the first button from the right on the back of the camera directly below the small LCD screen on the battery door.
E. After you press that button a number will appear in the view finder and you roll the CONTROL wheel up and down to raise or lower the audio recording level. F. There is a monitor level on the LCD screen, make sure to watch your levels so that they do not go into the red and peak out. There is a red light that will blink if your levels are starting to peak. XII. HOOKING THE CAMERA TO A TV S-Video 3-RCA Out A. To view the camera or footage on a TV or to use the Remote Monitor. 1. Hook the camera up to a TV or VCR by borrowing a TRIPLE RCA and S-VIDEO cable from the Media Lab and plugging them into their respective jacks on the side of the camera with the hand strap. They re underneath a grey rubber cover. 2. Once the video cables are plugged in you can hook the RCA cables up to your TV or VCR to view your shot and/or review your footage. XIII. IMPORTING FOOTAGE INTO THE COMPUTER or DUPLICATING MINDV TAPES WITH TWO CAMERAS If you want to do either of these processes please use one of the other cameras available from the Media Lab. Thank You. IV. CHARGING THE BATTERY Sony #2 Sony #1 A. Remove the battery from the camera through the back door. B. Attach the battery to the charger, match the arrows on the charger with the battery, DON T FORCE IT. C. Plug the charger into the wall.
Note: The charger does not need to be plugged into the camera to charge it can charge on it s own as long as it plugged into the wall. D. Depending on the charger you may have to set a switch to CHARGE. E. The light will blink while charging and stay solid when complete or the LCD screen on the charger will tell you when the battery is done charging. REMEMBER: Do not force the battery in or out. Use the battery RELEASE button next to the battery housing. And match the arrow labels on the camera and battery when inserting.