Camera Tour Part 1

Episode 6 – Camera Tour Part 1 

I really try and avoid jargon. Too often I slip into the trap and hear myself sounding self-important as I toss acronyms and slang into conversation. For instance, why say LCD screen when screen will do just fine? Calling it liquid crystal or plasma isn’t going to directly affect my shooting. And numbers get displayed on a screen… for me the screen is not a display. What is the point here? Well in this episode I am starting a jargon-free tour of the common video camera.

Many of you are very familiar with your camera, so the material in today’s episode may seem obvious. For example, if you have been shooting for a while you certainly know where to find the on/off switch. But there is a huge population of folks out there that are really intimidated by all the knobs, buttons and glass on a camera. I watch my wife try and shoot with anything beyond our Flip and her anxiety ratchets up appreciatively. This video blog episode, and the next, are not really geared for the power user, although I hope everyone finds something new. They are geared for those who leave their camera in the closet or under the bed, unused and unloved. The users who have hours of unseen footage in a box. Those of you who can’t figure out why your footage is not what you expected.

My goal here is to create an invitation to those who are intimidated by the technology, the complication and the impenetrable mystique of creating personal media. My hope is to open the door to those who begin a task like editing a home movie and quit because they don’t know where to start. So in the spirit of beginning at the beginning, we start with where to find the power switch.

 

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