TECHNICAL
TIPS

BUYING
A CAMERA

NEWS
& EVENTS

MIKE YORKE’S JARGON-BUSTER.

A.
AE mode Auto Exposure mode of the camera; not recommended as it is fooled by dark or light backgrounds.
AGC Automatic Gain Control; circuitry usually found in the audio inputs which prevents the audio signal being recorded to high and distorting, but which may introduce unwanted audible side-effects.
Amplitude/Amplification The strength of an electrical signal.
Analogue Recording Representing an audio or video signal as a fluctuating electrical
Anamorphic A method of creating a wide screen image with standard film, using a special lens on the camera and projector that compresses the width of the image that is exposed on the film and then expands it when projected.
Animation Simulated movement by shooting slowly changing position of a subject a few frames at a time.
Aperture Variable sized opening through which light enters the camera also known as the Iris.
A.S.A. This is the sensitivity to light of a particular type of film. It is the specific number used to measure Film Speed. It is the same as I.E. and I.S.O. A.S.A. stands for American Standards Association, the organization that standardized the scale of measurement of film speed.
Aspect Ratio The proportions of the frame. In 16mm and 35mm the camera photographs a slightly square image, with an aspect ratio of 1.33 to 1. Aspect Ratios are usually shorted to leave out the “- to 1,” taking for granted that it will always be in relation to 1, an so “1.33 to 1” can just be called “1.33” In 35mm 1.33 is known as the Academy Aperture. In 35mm the image is usually shot with the Academy Aperture and then masked in the projector to produce a wider image: 1.85 in the U.S. and 1.66 in Europe.
Autolock Control on camera that locks all functions (except focus & audio) to automatic mode.
Attenuator Device for cutting down the level of audio or video.
Audio Another word for sound .
Auto-conform When you edit on a low budget or low resolution off-line editing suite, you have to recreate your edit on a high end on-line suite in order to make a colour corrected TV transmission quality copy. You do this automatically by using an EDL, Edit Decision List, to re-conform your original rushes.
Auto-exposure An automatic device in the camera that decides how much light strikes the light sensitive chip, the CCD in the camera.
AWB Auto White Balance mode on the camera; adjusts colour balance to ambient conditions.

B.
Backlight A light from behind a subject to separate it from the background.
Beach Box Box that adapts professional sound equipment to DV camera's domestic sound input.
Big Close Up (BCU) Very close shot of the face cutting off at the top of the head and below the chin.
Bluescreen See CSO. Colour Separation Overlay
Boom A pole, often telescopic, with a microphone mount on one end.
Buffer Shot Disguise for Crossing The Line.
Burnt Out When an area of the image is so over-exposed or flooded with light that it contains no information at all and is totally white.

C.
Camera left Position of a subject on the left of a TV picture - as viewed from the camera.
Camera Noise The sound of the camera running. Even supposedly quiet cameras will make some noise.
Camera right Position of a subject on the right of a TV picture - as viewed from the camera.
Cardioid mic. A directional microphone sensitive to sound mainly in the front.
CCD CCDCharge-Coupled Device - technical term for the chip or sensor that converts the light entering the camera lens into an electronic signal. On cheap cameras they are ¼” wide and not very good. On mid range cameras they are 1/3rd” wide and are good. Big professional cameras are ½” wide and they are very good and very expensive. (see also CCD)
Clone Copy made in the digital domain and therefore not degraded. Close Up (CU) Shot showing person's whole head from collar upwards. Colour Balance Procedure to ensure that a camera is combining the three primary
Colour Temperature The colour of light, expressed in degrees Kelvin (k); light bulbs are at approx. 3200k, sunlight at approx. 5600k.
CMOS CMOSComplementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor image sensor. It does the same as a CCD. They take up less space. They are smaller and use 110 times less power than a CCD - all good for a portable camera. However, they are less good in low light. They need IEA (Image Enhancement Application) to help them in low light (see Lux)
Compression (digital) A system of reducing the amount of information recorded to save storage space.
Compression (analogue) Reduction of dynamic range using electronic device; see also Limiter.
Conform Recreation of programme using EDL, Edit Decision List, and original rushes.
Continuity The seamlessness of detail from one shot to another within a scene. Continuity refers particularly to the physical elements, rather than to the choices in Coverage that can result in a lack of seamlessness. Elements of continuity include any actions of the actor, the placement of props, the lighting, the costumes, and so on.
Contrast Ratio Difference between lightest and darkest area of a scene.
CSO Colour Separation Overlay: the system of replacing an area of a shot of one colour with material from another source. The DV series of cameras For more information visit www.oadf.co.uk are usually unsuitable for this purpose because the resolution of the image is not good enough and it leaves an outline round the subject; also known as Cromakey or Bluescreen.
Crab Moving the camera (normally on a camera mount with wheels or rails) sideways relative to the subject.
Cromakey see CSO Crossing The Line Reversing the
Cutaway A shot used to avoid a jump-cut, usually of something related to, but not necessarily included in the main shot, usually a close-up of some detail, or landscape, that is used break up a matching action sequence, and is often very helpful in editing to rescue you from an impossible break in continuity or coverage. A cutaway, as the name implies, is a shot that does not focus on some detail of the shot before or after it but cuts away from the action at hand, unlike an Insert Shot. However, the two terms are sometimes used vaguely or interchangeably, although this is not always a useful practice. The best cutaways are the ones that have some logic to them, that relate to the scene.
Cue Signal to start action or continuous passage of commentary.

D.
Decibel (dB) Logarithmic measure of gain (signal boost) in video or audio; 6dB represents a doubling of the signal. So is an measurement of amplification of any electronically record signal, be it sound, light or anything else. So the term is applied to many different things.
Depth of Field The depth of a shot that remains in sharp focus. While a lens focuses on a single plane of depth, there is usually an additional area in focus behind and in front of that plane. This is depth of field. Depth of field increases as the iris is closed. There is more depth of field the wider the lens and less the longer the lens. There is a deeper area in focus the further away a lens is focused than there is when a lens is focused close. Depth of field does not spread out evenly; the entire area is about 1/3rd in front and 2/3rds behind the plane of focus. To factor together all these variables, it is best to consult a depth of field table, such as the ones found in the American Cinematographer’s Manual.
Digital Recording Representing audio or video as numerical values instead of as a fluctuating electrical signal.
Digital Zoom An electronic method of reducing the scanned area of the CCD giving apparent extra magnification of the zoomed image; but the picture is degraded.
Diopter The diopter is part of the viewfinding system of a camera that can be adjusted to compensate for your own particular eyesight, allowing you to see the ground glass clearly. Director Person responsible for details of creative
Director Person responsible for details of creative input to a programme made by technicians, artistes and designers.
Dissolve A transition between two shots, where one shot fades away and simultaneously another shot fades in. Dissolves are done at the lab in the printing phase, but prepared by the negative cutter, who cuts in an overlap of the two shots into the A&B rolls. Labs will only do dissolves in fixed amounts, such as 24 frames, 48 frames, etc.
Dolly Shot A dolly shot is one where the camera is placed on a dolly and is moved while filming. Also known as a tracking shot.
Dropout An imperfection on videotape which causes a fleeting loss of picture.
Dubbing Mixing final sound track from recorded sound, music, commentary and effects or putting different language on a programme.
Dynamic Range (audio) Difference between the loudest and quietest sounds a system can cope with.
Dynamic Range (video) Difference between the darkest and lightest parts of a scene that a system can cope with; sees also Contrast Ratio.

E.
EDL Edit decision list: a list of timecodes, reel numbers and other technical information from an offline edit; the EDL can be used to conform the online copy.
Edit Point A good moment in a shot to edit it so that it will cut well with the next shot. A visual moment of punctuation.
Effects (sound) Recorded noise other than music or speech.
Establisher General View (GV) of location.
Exposure Amount of light allowed to fall on the camera's CCD. Usually expressed as an F-number and controlled by the camera iris, shutter speed and neutral density filter.
Exterior Any shot taken out of doors.
Eye Line The direction a person looks, or is looked at, when in shot. The direction an actor should look off-screen to match a reverse angle or a P.O.V. shot. It is best to give the actor an actual thing or spot to look at rather than a blank spot on an empty wall or an empty space in mid air.

F.
F-Number The ratio of a lens's focal length and iris diameter or aperture.
Fade A transition from a shot to black where the image gradually becomes darker is a Fade Out; or from black where the image gradually becomes brighter is a Fade In. Fades are done at the lab in the printing phase, but prepared by the negative cutter, who cuts in an overlap of black into the A&B rolls. Labs will only do fades in fixed amounts, such as 24 frames, 48 frames, etc.
Field Electronic scan lasting I /50,h sec on alternate lines of the screen; two interlaced fields make up a frame.
Filler light Any large area of light or reflected light used to fill out shadows and so reduce contrast.
Film Plane The film plane is the plane of depth from the lens of the film, behind the gate, in the camera. It is also the point from where the distances on the focusing ring should be measured from, and is indicated on the outside of the camera with a little symbol that looks like the planet Saturn turned on its side.
Filters Any glass or plastic attachments added to the lens to modify, distort or colour the light entering the camera.
Fine cut Final stage in the editing process.
Firewire Digital output protocol from a DV camera, more correctly known as IEEE 1394.
Fluid Head The Head is the upper part of a tripod that turns and tilts, on which the camera is mounted. If it does this on a bed of oil, it is called ‘fluid’ and will be extremely smooth. If the oil passes through a variable sized valve, it will give a variable resistance to the movement of the head.
Focal Length Simply put, how wide or narrow a view the lens will provide, smaller numbers being wider and larger numbers being narrower. Specification of a lens that defines the angle of view/magnification/telescopy.
Focus Adjustment of the lens to ensure the image is sharp.
Follow Focus A shot where focus is changed while shooting to correspond with the moment of the subject (or the camera).
Foot Candle Measurement of light. One foot-candle is the light of one candle, one foot away. Many light meters will use foot-candles as a starting number, which then must be converted into an f-stop based on the sensitivity of the film you are using. (Because of the great variety of different film speeds, it is sometimes ambiguous to talk too much about foot-candles, since a given number of foot-candles will not yield the same f-stop from one film speed to another.).
F-stop The scale used to measure the size of the opening of the iris on a lens. Opening the iris wider lets in more light, and closing it down, smaller, lets in less light. F-stops can be a little confusing, because the larger the number, the smaller the opening of the iris, and conversely the smaller the number, the larger the opening. The typical f-stop scale is 1.4 - 2 - 2.8 - 4 - 5.6 - 8 - 11 - 16 - 22. .

G.
Gain A measurement of amplification of any electronically record signal, be it sound, light or anything else. So the term is applied to many different things. It is measured in Decibels or dB
Generation Stages in copying videotape. The master tape is first generation; a copy of the master is 2nd generation, etc.; digital copies are known as 'clones' since multi-generation copies don't degrade.
Grading Adjusting the light and colour in post production to obtain the best possible quality and colour balance of the image.
Guest The interviewee.
Gun Microphone A highly directional microphone - usually about 200mm in length .

H.
Halation Halation is the effect that occurs when the bright areas of an image appear to bleed softly around the edges of dark areas. This is caused by light going through the emulsion layer, bouncing off the base of the film and exposing the adjacent emulsion. Some film is manufactured with a black anti-halation coating on the base side.
Hand Microphone Hand-held microphone for doing vox-pop type interviews, usually a cardioid microphone.
Hard Light Light (normally from a small source) throwing distinct shadows .
Head Electromagnetic device for laying down a video signal on magnetic tape (recording) and reading the signal off the tape (playback).
Head clog Should very small particles of dirt get lodged onto the head; the video signal will be interrupted causing a dropout on the video picture (see dropout).
Head Room The space between the top of a subject’s head and the top of the frame. Headroom must be carefully apportioned so that there is not too much or too little, especially if shooting for transfer to video or for blow-up, where the frame will be cropped in a little on the top and sides.
High Angle Shot Shot taken with camera above the subject and pointing down.
Highlight Brightest part of a picture.

I.
Infinity As far as the camera lens focussing is concerned, any distance more than approx. 10 metres away.
Insert Shot A close-up of some detail in the scene. (like a cutaway without the “-away” aspect.).
Interior Any indoor scene.
Interlace Video technique of scanning alternate lines of a picture to eliminate flicker between frames (see field) .
Interviewee Person being interviewed.
Iris Like the iris of the eye, a valve within a lens to control the amount of light that passes through. Opening the iris permits more light to pass through the lens and closing the iris less. The degree to which the iris is open or closed is measured in F-Stops, and on some lenses supplemented by TStops. It controls the amount of light coming into the camera; see aperture.

J.
Jump Cut A cut (in editing) which violates continuity of time, place or action.

K.
Key Light Main source of light illuminating a scene.

L.
LANC Local Area Network Control - a fancy name for remote control of the camera from some editing systems.
LCD Liquid Crystal Display; it is type of display used in the PD 100 & 150 camera viewfinder; made up of little dots that glow in the same way as the display of many laptop PCs; not as sharp or bright as a tube display.
Lens Flare It is caused when light strikes the lens and either causes the entire image to be fogged in appearance, or for a little row of polygons (the silhouette of the iris) to appear from the light hitting the surfaces of the many elements in the lens. It is solved by flagging the lens.
Limiter Electronic device to stop audio levels becoming too loud and causing distortion, see also attenuator.
Line Up Engineering check of equipment before recording or transmission.
Linear editing Video editing system in which selected sound and pictures from one tape are recorded onto another. The scope for changing edit decisions is limited to the shot that has just been edited, since changing the duration of earlier shots makes it necessary to recreate all subsequent edits.
Lip Sync Another way of saying Sync Sound.
Location Anywhere that you shoot material outside the studio.
Location Sound This is the sync sound, or any other sort of wild track or room tone that was recorded at the shoot.
Lock (tripod) On a tripod, brakes are provided to lock the position the camera is pointing at.
Long Lens A lens with a focal length greater than 25mm in 16mm, or 50mm in 35mm, which, like binoculars, will provide a view that magnifies a small area.
Long Shot (LS) Shot taken with a camera at a distance from the subject showing the whole height of the person or the whole scene.
Luminance The black and white portion of the video signal.

M.
Macro Enlargement or close up facility available on some camera zoom lenses.
Master Shot A single shot, usually a wide shot, that incorporates the whole scene from beginning to end. Typically a master shot will be filmed first, and then all the close-ups and other shots afterwards.
M&E M&E stands for Music and Effects. After a mix a big production will have an M&E track made, which is used when the film is dubbed into other languages so that all the Music and Effects do not also have to be redone. An M&E track is only essential if you plan on dubbing your film into a different language.
Medium Close Up (MCU) Commonly used 'talking distance' shot for interviews cutting off just below the armpits.
Menu The Sony PD 100/150 has set-up options to alter the picture quality and some of the camera modes.
Microphone Device for turning sound waves into an electrical signal.
Mid Shot (MS) Shot cutting off below the elbows.
Mix This is the process of combining all your soundtracks into one, with all the sounds blended together at their correct volumes, together with any equalization, filtering, and effecting of the sound to give you the desired end result.
Mixed Light Mixture of light sources e.g. daylight and artificial light.

N.
Narrow Angle Lens Long focal length lens used to magnify distant objects also known as telephoto lens, tight lens or long lens.
Neutral Density (ND) Filter or gel that reduces the amount of light without altering its colour.
Non Linear Editing Digital editing system that stores all shots and edit decisions on a very fast computer hard disk and can replay cut sequences in any order from its memory; this gives the user freedom to change shot or sequence order whenever and wherever they decide, since all changes are to a list, not to a physical entity.
Nose Room When a subject is in profile, nose room is the space between their face and the edge of the frame, similar to Head Room. In a profile shot, nose room is considered “good” when a little extra room in front of the person’s face, rather than behind their head. The general rule is that the space around the subject should be apportioned to 2/3rds in front of the subject’s head, and 1/3rd behind.

0.
Off Line Editing using lower quality equipment in order to produce an EDL for the on line edit.
On Line Final assembly of programme using broadcast quality equipment.
Omni Directional. A microphone sensitive to sound in all directions.
Optical Barrier Imaginary barrier, the crossing of which would result in crossing the line.
Outtakes The footage from your tapes that is not used in your edited version. Very small bits, a few frames or as little as one frame, are known as Trims.
Overexposure Filming a scene with more light than the CCD can easily tolerate. The image will be too light and there will be less depth of field than if the lens had been set correctly. If compensated for in printing, the image will appear contrasty.
Over-modulate Modulate means to adjust. Sound is well modulated if it is not too quiet or too loud. If it is too loud it is over-modulated and your equipment will not be able to reproduce it authentically. It will all sound scrunched up.

P.
Pan A horizontal camera move on an axis, from right to left or left to right. In a pan, the camera is turning on an axis rather than across space, as in a dolly shot. Not to be confused with Tilt, technically it is not correct to say “pan up” or “pan down,” when you really mean tilt.
Pan Horizontal swing of the camera (best on a tripod).
Phono The small coaxial (domestic) connectors to get analogue sound and pictures out of a camera.
Pixels The individual elements that make up the image.
Photo Mode A special stills picture taking mode on the PD 100 & 150 cameras which gives a much sharper freeze frame.
P.O.V. Shot Point of View Shot. A shot from the perspective of one of the characters, as if the audience were seeing the scene from their eyes. It is often important to get a Reaction Shot to establish that any given shot really is a P.O.V.
Producer In overall charge of a programme, especially organisation and finance.
Pumping Background sound going up and down in level in sympathy with the foreground sound; caused by inappropriate use of an automatic limiter or compressor.

R.
Radio Microphone A tiny transmitter linking a microphone to a receiver at the camera.
Rough Cut The edited film, between the stages of being an assembly and a fine cut.
Rushes In the days of film it was the workprint, when it is just back from the lab, unedited, called the rushes because of the rush to see that everything came out all right. Also known as Dailies, in honour of the minority of labs that will have it later that day. Nowadays, in the days of digital filmmaking it is the recording tape taken out of the camera immediately after shooting and before the editing stage.

S.
SCART Multi-pin domestic connector found on the back of domestic TV and video equipment.
Scene A scene is really just a single shot. But often scene is used to mean several shots, which is more to do with the word’s origin in theatre. It is sometimes clearer to say “sequence” for several shots, so as not to confuse the filmic and theatrical meanings of the
Shooting Ratio Ratio of material shot (rushes) to material shown in final edit.
Shutter Electronic or mechanical device between the lens and camera used to interrupt the light in a regular way.
Shutter speed The rate of light interruption made by the shutter. The faster the shutter, the more that motion blur is reduced but light exposure in the camera is also reduced and vice versa.
Slow motion Apparent slowing down of action in a scene; achieved in video by repeating frames more than once; true slow motion requires more frames per second to be recorded.
Soft Light Large area of light or reflected light casting a soft and indistinct shadow.
Soft Cut An edit or cut that is softened by a very rapid mix or cross-fade lasting at most 12 frames of half a second.
Split Track Recording microphones onto individual tracks so they can be mixed later.
Steadicam It is an electronic device in the camera that will remove very small vibrations in the image. It does use a lot of power. It is essential when filming in moving vehicles. It has to be activated in the internal camera menu.
Stops Aperture setting on the camera lens expressed in F-numbers .
Sync Synchronisation of sound and pictures exactly in time with each other; sometimes the term is used to describe the sound and vision of a person talking in shot. See also Wildtrack.
Sync Sound Sync sound is sound recorded while shooting picture. Usually it involves footage of people speaking, and is thus sometimes called lip sync. It must be recorded with either crystal or cable sync to line up and not drift out of sync.

T.
Take Multiple versions of the same shot are called takes.
Telephoto Lens Long focal length lens used to magnify distant objects.
Time Code System of uniquely identifying every picture frame in a recording in hours, minutes, seconds and frames.
Time Lapse Time lapse is when single frame shooting is used to dramatically speed up the action over the course of a long period of time. Typically it is a process where a single frame is shot after a consistent pause. It could be one frame every ten seconds, or one frame every hour, and such.
Track Moving the camera (normally on a camera mount with wheels or rails) towards or away from the subject or one channel of a sound recording system.
Tracking Shot A tracking shot is one where the camera is placed on a dolly and is moved while filming. Also known as a dolly shot.
Trims Trims are outtakes of a few frames.
Tungsten A metal that melts at a very high temperature; used to make light bulb filaments. Produces a warm orange/yellow light. The colour temperature of artificial light which is 3,200K on the colour temperature scale. Quartz Lights use a tungsten filament, which burns at 3,200K, and gives us this term. .
Two Shot shot with two people in the frame .

V.
Viewfinder Focus Adjusting the cameras viewfinder to ensure it is correctly in focus for the individual camera operator.
Vox Pop Technique of asking a succession of subjects the same questions .

W.
White Balance See colour balance.
Wide Angle Adapter A lens that fixes to the front of the camera lens to give a wider angle of view, but can degrade the image and may limit the amount of usable zoom range.
Wide Angle Lens A high quality lens with wide angle of view which replaces the normal lens on a camera.
Wide Lens A lens with a focal length smaller than 25mm in 16mm, or 50mm in 35mm, which, like looking into the wrong end of a pair of binoculars, provides an extended view of a large area.
Wild Not sync. A wild motor is one that runs close to 24 frames per second, but not close enough for sync sound. Also applies in a few other cases, such as, if you are filming a rear screen projection scene and the projector and camera are not Interlocked they can be said to be running wild.
Wild Sound Non-sync sound, recorded without the camera running, usually recorded to supplement the sync takes.
Wild Track Sound recorded on location independently from picture and therefore not in sync.
Wipe This either means one shot wiping sideways over another shot, which is done in the edit or something or someone passing rapidly in front of the camera and obscuring what you are filming, which makes a very useful Edit Point.
A Wrap or “It’s a Wrap!” What to say when you are done shooting, either for the day, at that particular set, or on the entire film. Usually if it’s not the final shoot you would say you are just going to “wrap for the day.”.

X.
XLR Professional connector that is almost unbreakable; commonly used for microphones. It can lock the plug in so that it cannot be yanked out. It is much better than the miniplugs that you get on cheap cameras where the plug can twist in the socket and create a crackling on the soundtrack.

Z.
Zoom Lens A lens with variable focal length. A zoom lens will have a third ring, besides ones controlling focus and iris, which will allow you to change the focal length within a range of wide to long.
Zoom To change the focal length of a lens from wide to long and therefore to in closer or to pull back from and object optically, without moving the camera.
Zoom Ramping Property whereby lenses become less efficient at passing light when fully zoomed in.
Zoom Tracking The ability of a zoom lens to maintain focus on a fixed point whether zoomed in or out; domestic type camcorder lenses may not zoom track very well.