There’s a place for everything

One of the first things that you might notice when you look at a professional camera is that there isn’t an “All Auto” button anywhere.  This may put a crimp in your “set it and forget it” shooting style but you should get out of that habit right now anyway.  To be a true “professional” (whatever that means) you should really try to start relying on your knowledge rather than relying on your equipment’s knowledge.  To do this right, we need to start with the basics – hence, the camera tour.  Let’s take a look at all of those buttons and switches and try to understand why they are there.  This week, we’ll start with the lens.

The Lens Controls

Starting from the front of the lens and working our way back you have  1.)  The lens hood,   2.)  The focus ring,  3.)  The zoom ring,  4.)  The iris ring,    5.) The backfocus adjustment,   6.) Macro,  and  7.) The bayonet mount.

The lens hood is a protective covering for the lens.  It helps to cut down on lens flare but it is not as effective as a matte box in doing so.  The lens hood also helps to protect the lens from possible damage, however it is important to always use a UV filter to help keep debris from scratching your lens.  A $60 screw-on UV filter is a lot cheaper than scratching your $30,000 – $100,000 lens.  Keep that in mind.

Next is the focus ring . . . you know, for focusing.  Unlike some of the prosumer cameras that you might be used to, the professional lens focus ring doesn’t spin indefinitely.  It has a near point and a far point that actually stops.  This makes things like measuring your distance for focus SOOO much easier.  For those of you that might not be familiar, the job of the 1st AC on a film production is to “pull focus” which gives them the responsibility of making sure that the image is in focus.  To do this (prior to video taps on film cameras) one would have to actually measure the distance from the subject to the film plane of the camera.  Now it is much easier to do this with external monitors and focus assist functions built into the cameras but many people still rely on measuring the distance with an actual measuring tape.  If you’ve ever wondered why there are numbers on the focus ring of the camera, you now have your answer.  I will go into this in more detail later and we can discuss matte boxes and follow focus controls.

Next in line is the zoom ring. Zooming the camera changes the field of view for your image.  This ring is controlled by the zoom servo which has a rocker switch that allows you to zoom in and out electronically.  We’ll get to this in a minute when we look at the buttons on the other side of the lens.  When this ring is dis-engaged from the zoom servo, you will be able to manually zoom in and out.  This is useful for effects like a snap-zoom but should really only be used if you know what you’re doing.  Never dis-engage the servo if you are shooting normally.  Some might say that it drains your battery but it would be better to bring extra batteries rather than sacrifice good smooth motion for zooming.   However, if you find yourself in a situation where you only have one battery left and you need to make your camera last a little longer, this would be one area to save power – stop zooming.

That brings us to the iris ring. The iris ring controls the lens’ iris – the amount of light that passes through the lens.  As in photography, film and video utilize f-stops (well t-stops in film sometimes too, but I’ll get to that a bit later) to measure the amount of light.  This is useful information when working with a gaffer or lighting director because they have instruments called light meters that help them to accurately light a scene.  This information is passed to the Director of Photography and/or the camera operator.  They can then set the f-stop of the lens’ iris ring accordingly to achieve proper exposure.  Of course, this is a VERY simplified explanation of the process – in future posts I will go into the exposure process in much greater detail.

On some lenses, this is where the extender usually goes. The extender of the lens is a component that may not always be available.  Many standard lenses (like this one) do not utilize an extender because it brings the cost down quite a bit.  The extender (or doubler as some may call it) simply “extends” the field of view.  In most cases this is a doubling effect (hence the name) giving the camera 2 times the field of view.  What does this mean to you?  Well, you would engage the extender to zoom in closer to an object.  However, it is important to remember that this will also cause your lens to lose light capacity (usually 1 to 1.5 stops) giving you a problem in low light situations.  Something to keep in mind.

Moving on to the backfocus adjustment. If you have never been around a professional camera you might find this a little difficult but have no fear . . . that’s exactly why I’m here.  In simple language, it is the adjustment that puts the rear optics of the lens in the proper alignment with the camera’s imager or sensor.  This often occurs when you switch lenses on the camera.  You will notice a problem with your backfocus when you zoom in to focus on a subject then zoom out.  If you have a backfocus problem, the entire image will go out of focus.  Obviously this is not supposed to happen. You will have to set up the proper focus by doing the following:

1. Put your camera on a tripod
2. Set up a star chart on a solid surface (like a wall) about two to three feet away from the camera.
3. Properly light the chart so that your exposure is in the middle of the lens – usually an f-stop of 5.6
4. Set up a good quality monitor to view your beautiful work.
5. Zoom into the chart and focus. Make sure that when you zoom in all the way, you are able to achieve critical focus.  If you can’t focus, reposition the camera so that you can get the chart in focus.  Some lenses have different minimum distances than others.
6. Zoom out
7. Unscrew the backfocus knob and twist the ring until the star chart “pops” out at you.  This is something that you will notice right away.
8. Tighten the backfocus knob and double-check your work

Of course, I have to point out that this is a very simplified way to get the job done.  I will get into more detail later.  It sure feels like I’m saying that a lot here, but you will learn all of this in due time.

Macro is the adjustment that you would use for focusing on close up objects. All lenses have a minimum focal distance.    This means that the lens can only focus to a specified distance.  If objects are closer than the lens’ minimum, the focus ring will not work to sharpen your image.  Enter the macro adjustment.  Macro will allow you to get critical focus on objects that fall inside this minimum distance.  Cool.  However, if you change your zoom the focus will also change.  It is a very critical adjustment and usually requires a steady hand or a tripod.  I’d recommend a tripod.

Finally, the bayonet mount. This is the locking mechanism that secures the lens to the camera.  Your job as a beginner is to understand how this works and always check to make sure that it is tight. Do this before every shoot and you will be a much happier camera operator.  Until you know what you are doing, never try to remove a lens yourself. I know that you might be curious, but why risk dropping a $50,000 lens.  If you insist on doing so (and don’t say that I didn’t warn you) please make sure that the camera is secured to a tripod or on a stable surface and always make sure that you have a firm grip on the lens.  You drop it and you can kiss your chances of working with that crew again goodbye.

The other side of the lens – more controls for you to forget

Now let’s move to the other side of the lens and see what controls exist on the back side.  That thing that looks like a strap is exactly that – a strap.  This is where your hand goes. You might think that’s funny but I have seen people carry the camera like this:

Strangely enough, I have seen that in movies as well.  Don’t do this.  The camera is built this way for a reason.  This is the proper way to hold a professional camera on your shoulder:

When holding the camera like this you will see that the natural tendency is for your right thumb to be positioned over this button here:

That’s the record button.  It starts and stops the roll of the camera’s recording mechanism.  Also, you will notice the switch and the button where your pinky rests. See pic below.  That is the “Auto Iris” button and the “Auto/Manual” switch for the lens’ iris.  The switch sets your iris in either “Auto” mode or “Manual” mode.  It’s very rare that you would have this in “Auto” mode so don’t be lazy. When you get comfortable enough to use a camera on a daily basis you will be tapping that “Auto Iris” button a lot.  NEVER rely on that button. It is almost never correct.  However, it is safe to use it as a baseline for exposing your shot.  After you use a camera for a while you will get a feel for where the auto exposure is set and adjust accordingly.  If you feel really saucy, you can actually tweak the lens until you have perfect exposure when tapping the auto button but to be honest – I have spend hours with this and it still gives me inadequate exposure levels.  It’s best to just develop an eye for exposure, learn to read your zebra settings and use a waveform monitor to achieve the desired results.

In the middle you should notice the zoom rocker.  This controls the servo for the zoom that we talked about earlier.  Just like any other camera that you’ve ever used the zoom rocker controls the zoom or field of view for the camera’s lens.  Think of it this way, “W” stands for “wide” and “T” stands for “tight.”  If you want to widen out push on the “W” and if you want to tighten up your shot push the “T.”  The zoom rocker switch is very sensitive which allows for really nice movement.  Spend some time practicing how this works so that you can get the hang of doing some really smooth zooms with the camera.

The last button on this side of the lens is the “RET” button.  This is referring to camera return.  Camera return is used mostly when the camera is in a studio configuration mode.  The “RET” or return button will show the operator a feed that the director set up to help the operators better compose their shots.  This could be a graphic overlay – to help in positioning.  It could be the program out of the switcher – to help the operators see which camera is currently “Hot” or “live” in the show.  Or it could be an embarrassing photo of you – just because you forgot to properly strike your gear the day before.  Who knows?  When using the camera in the field this “RET” button usually plays back the last few seconds of video recorded.  This helps to check back tape or to simply review what you just shot.

Finally, we come to the bottom of the lens. There are a few things to understand on the bottom of this expensive piece of glass.  First, and usually the only thing that most people need to worry about is the zoom servo switch.  This switch engages the servo motor.  Remember what we talked about before?  Engaging this thing will allow you to use the zoom rocker, dis-engaging it will allow you to rotate the zoom ring manually.  This is usually engaged unless you are trying to achieve an effect.  The other ports are for remote control of the lens and recording system.  If you are going to use the camera on a Jib or camera crane you would attach the appropriate cables so that you can control the various functions of the camera from a remote location.  For now, that’s all you need to know.

Wrap up

That about covers it for the lens portion of the camera tour.  Always make sure that your lens is clean of dust and smudges before you shoot anything.  Never use your stinky shirt to do this!  Always use lens cloth or lens tissue.  If it isn’t in the kit, ask for it.  Until next time – happy shooting!