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ADOBE PREMIERE PRO CS5 CLASSROOM IN A BOOK
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Setting your focus
To set up your focus, adjust the focus on your camcorder
until the focus indicator
in the Camera Setup Assistant component grows as large as possible. You will also
notice the focus fine-tuning in the monitor window.
Setting your iris/exposure
To set up your iris/exposure, adjust the exposure on your camera so that the expo-
sure meter in the Camera Setup Assistant panel grows as far to the right as possible
but remains even. Achieving this exposure gives you
the maximum range of darks
to whites without overexposing the video. Note that the top exposure line indicates
darks, and the bottom exposure line indicates lights.
About exposure
Exposure is determined by multiple factors: lighting, iris/aperture, shutter speed,
and gain.
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Adjust the physical lighting of your scene (ambient or created) to achieve the
best exposure.
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Adjust the aperture of your camera to let more or less light into the camera.
(The
wider your iris, the shallower your depth of field.) Try to achieve optimal
exposure via the aperture, since boosting brightness
via gain can inject noise
into the video and lower quality.
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Adjust the shutter speed to allow light into the camera for shorter or longer
periods of time. (Shutter speeds of 1/60 second are typical for shoots not
involving very fast action.)
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Adjust the gain to set the level of electronic lighting enhancement.
Boosting
gain to achieve the desired exposure should be considered a last resort after
adjusting lighting, aperture, and even shutter speed, since gain injects noise
into the video.
