Setting up your DSLR
Why not just use auto settings?
Set your camera
to manual (M)
The basics…
Unless you are choosing unconventional settings
to get a special feel for your project you should set
your camera at:
• 1920 x 1080
• 25fps/24fps
• PAL format
Do not shoot in 4K for your college projects.
ISO is a measure of sensitivity to light.
Low ISO (less than 400) High ISO (more than 800)
gives the best image produces lower-quality
quality but needs plenty images but means you can
of light to film. film in less light.
Find the ISO settings on your camera and change to 400.
White balance allows you to control the colour of
the image.
Different light-sources create different coloured
light which can make your footage look too yellow
or too blue.
By choosing a white-balance option you can control
the look of your footage.
• Auto – don’t use this one
• Incandescent – old-fashioned lightbulbs
• Fluorescent – tubes
• Direct sunlight – outdoors on a sunny day
• Flash – colour neutral for still photography
• Cloudy – this is the best one to use for most filming outdoors
• Shade – for still photography
• Chose colour temperature - advanced Set your camera
• White balance preset – advanced to Cloudy.
Shutter speed is used to control the amount of
light reaching the sensor of the camera.
It makes a big difference to still photography but
has less effect on video images.
For best results your shutter-speed should be a
multiple of your frame rate (FPS).
For 25 FPS you can use shutter speeds of:
• 1/25th of a second Darker conditions
• 1/50th of a second
• 1/100th of a second
• 1/250th of a second
• 1/500th of a second
• 1/1000th of a second Brighter conditions
Now set your camera for 1/25th of a second
Aperture is used to control the amount of light passing
through the lens.
This makes your footage lighter or darker but also changes
the depth-of-field (how much of the scene is in focus).
f:1.4 f:16
Apertures are measured in f:stops.
Small numbers (f:4) let in lots of light
and give a smaller depth-of-field.
Big numbers (f:16) let in a small
amount of light and give a
bigger depth-of-field.
Adjust your aperture now to get a correct
exposure.
You may need to go into the still camera settings to
do this.
Focus allows you
to direct your
audience to one
part of the scene.
Autofocus is unreliable and unpredictable. Manual focus is harder to
manage at first but will give you more consistent results once you get the
hang of it.
You can make life easier by using autofocus to get the frame sharp - and
then switching the camera to manual before you start filming.
Pull-focus allows you to move your audience’s attention from one
part of the scene to another.
Practise focusing on one point in the scene and moving the focus smoothly
and precisely to a second point.
Once you have mastered that, try moving the ‘pull’ in the other direction.
Task one: Task two:
Take a photo of your partner Take a photo of your partner using the
using each one of the white biggest aperture setting (smallest f:
balance settings on your number) and then take a photo using the
camera: smallest aperture (the biggest f: number)
• Incandescent
• Fluorescent
• Direct sunlight Task three:
• Flash
• Cloudy Take a photo of your partner using the
• Shade lens on its widest setting (18mm) and on
the narrowest setting (55mm). Try to
frame the person the same way in both
shots.
Task four:
Video a pull-focus.
Set the lens to 55mm and the aperture to
its widest setting (f5.6) before you begin
filming.
You may need to adjust your shutter
speed and ISO to get the correct exposure.
