Panasonic 456 manual Batteries, Powering / Standby, Recording, Zoom Controls, Focus Controls

PANASONIC 456 SVHS CAMERA GUIDELINES

Batteries

Batteries, like tapes, can only fit in one way.

The E---F indicates how much battery power you have left. When running low, a clear square will flash.

Powering / Standby

At the top of the camera, the red "power" light will appear when on. If a camera is not recording for an approximate five minute span, the camera turns itself off to save power. This is called Standby Mode.

The cameras have to have their main power switch turned back on.

Recording

The camera has two record buttons, one by the grip for the thumb, and one by the zoom control- for your left hand in case you're recording on a tripod. You know you're recording when the counter display numbers in the viewfinder start changing.

The record button starts and stops recording. Press once to record, then again to stop.

Start recording at least five seconds before the footage you want actually starts. Let it roll at least five seconds after your shot/footage is finally done. This is important for editing later, because (1) the camcorder takes a few seconds to get rolling, and (2) the camcorder tape rewinds back a few seconds when you stop recording (and you don't want to record over the end).

Zoom Controls

Some camcorders have a manual zoom, but all have the T-W (Tight-Wide) control by the hand grip.

Focus Controls

The cameras have an Auto function for focusing. To get manual focus with a camera, you must do two things: (1) put the camera on manual mode, and (2) hit the MF button located under the viewfinder. A "MF" will light up in the viewfinder indicating you have manual focus.

How do you use manual focus? There are two methods:

(1): zoom all the way in on your subject, focus, and them pull out. This keeps the subject in focus as long as the subject doesn't move forward or backward or the camera doesn't move forward or backward.

(2)Another method is to put the camera on auto focus, make sure the subject is in the focus box in the viewfinder, then switch the camcorder to manual mode.

Manual focus is recommended so that if an object or person moves in front of your subject, the camcorder won't focus on it instead, subsequently blurring your picture.

White Balance

Although not obvious to the human eye, light comes in different colors. Indoor lighting has a reddish-ish hue, and has a low temperature. Outdoor lighting (the sun) is blue-ish and gives off a high temperature. Our eyes adjust so well to these different colored light sources that we hardly notice it A camera, however, has a much tougher time; it can only distinguish one color of light at a time and reproduce colors correctly.

You have both manual and auto white balance options. On the camcorders, there's only one Auto switch, which controls focus and white balance. On auto, the camera does a decent job of distinguishing indoor from outdoor lighting, but tricky lighting situations can cause the camera to change its color balance, making the picture very blue or red.

For a precise white balance, go to Manual. Flip from Auto to Manual and hit the WB button located under the viewfinder (while zoomed in close on something white) to white balance. A flashing light will show up in the upper left of the viewfinder as you do this. It will stop flashing when balanced.

SVHS Tapes

Keep the camcorders in the "SVHS" mode (The switch is at the top of the camera- near the power).

If you put a vhs tape into the camcorder while in "SVHS" mode, the camcorder records in vhs by default.

Recording Audio

The camera has an on-board microphone for recording audio. With the setting on Wide, the microphone is omni- directional, picking up the sounds around and near the camera. With the setting on Tele, the microphone becomes directional, picking up primarily what the camera is aimed at. With the Zoom setting, the microphone’s sensitivity is tied in to the Zoom control; the more you zoom in, the more directional the mic becomes.