Television Production Textbook Chapter 6 Summary: What the Camera Can Do



Main Themes:


  • The Importance of User Skill: The document opens by stressing that it's not just the camera, but the user's knowledge that makes incredible images. “While cameras with lots of features are nice, it is not the camera that creates incredible images—it is what you do with the camera that is important.”

  • Diverse Camera Types & Applications: The chapter explores a wide array of camera options, each tailored to specific production needs and budgets.

  • The Impact of Lenses: A large portion is dedicated to understanding lenses, including focal lengths, angles, and their effects on perspective and depth of field.

  • Importance of Camera Support & Stabilization: It covers different mounting and stabilization techniques, emphasizing the need for stable and smooth shots.

  • Camera Adjustments: The importance of understanding camera adjustments, such as exposure, focus, and white balance, is stressed as crucial for capturing the best possible image.

  • Emerging Technologies: The chapter also touches on new technologies, including the use of phone cameras in professional productions and the rise of DSLRs as a cost-effective option.


Key Concepts and Ideas:

  1. Camera Types & Selection:


  • Convertible Camera: The document defines a convertible camera as a versatile unit beginning as a camera “head” with customizable attachments.

  • Consumer vs. Pro Cameras: It distinguishes between consumer, prosumer/industrial, and professional cameras, noting that quality differences have blurred, with lower-end cameras sometimes being used in professional productions.

  • Phone Cameras:Pros: Portability, discretion, less intimidating for subjects, variable frame rates, and optical image stabilization. They are "not as obvious as large video cameras" and thus people can be "less self-conscious being filmed by a phone." High quality sensors allow for "professional" video with some manufacturers producing add-on lenses for more flexibility.

  • Cons: Limited depth of field, which can be a "big part of the film."

  • EFP (Electronic Field Production) Camcorders: Used for non-news productions, commercials, and multi-camera setups.

  • ENG (Electronic News Gathering) Camcorders: Typically used for news with built-in microphones and lights.

  • Studio Cameras: Often large and mounted on dollies/pedestals with large viewfinders and remote controls for focus and zoom. They are used in studio settings and multi-camera productions, sometimes even sports events.

  • POV (Point-of-View) Cameras: Small, versatile, and often robotic cameras that provide unique angles not seen by the human eye. They are relatively low cost, making them popular with consumers and professionals. GoPro is noted as a leading manufacturer, aiming "to help people capture meaningful experiences in an engaging immersive manner."

  • DSLR Cameras:

  • Pros: Cost-effective, shallow depth of field, lightweight, low profile, and good low- light performance.

  • Cons: Limited recording time, inferior audio capabilities, instability due to small size, lack of timecode, and potential image quality issues like aliasing. They may look "amateurish" compared to professional cameras and they lack many video controls compared to "prosumer or professional video cameras."


  1. Key Camera Features and Terminology:


  • Depth of Field: The distance between the nearest and farthest objects in focus.

  • Focal Length: The distance between the optical center of the lens and the image sensor, measured in millimeters.

  • Dolly Shot: Moving the camera towards or away from a subject.

  • Focus Puller: The person responsible for maintaining focus when using a follow- focus device.

  • Viewfinder: Enables framing, composing and focus assessment of shots with "a safe area line around the viewfinder’s edges to remind the camera operator how important information and titles near picture edges can be lost."

  • White Balance: Calibrating the camera so white light is reproduced accurately. This is often done by aiming the camera at a white object and pushing the white balance button.

  • Black Level: The intensity of black in the video image; if set wrong, picture detail will be poor in dimly lit areas.

  • Lens Aperture (Iris): The opening in the lens that controls light exposure; affects both image brightness and depth of field.

  • Gamma: Adjusts the tone and contrast in an image.

  • Video Gain/ISO: Amplifies the video signal to enable low light recording, but can introduce video noise.


  1. Lens Types and Their Effects:


  • Telephoto (Narrow-Angle) Lenses: Long focal length; make subjects appear closer and can compress depth, making a "large oil tanker look a few yards long." They are more difficult to handle due to shaky images. It is difficult to "handhold a camera with a long telephoto lens and get steady shots."

  • Wide-Angle Lenses: Short focal length; capture a larger scene, exaggerate perspective, and cause subjects to appear farther away. These lenses can make it look as if people "are moving much more quickly than normal."

  • Medium Angle ("Normal") Lenses: Mimic human vision with minimal distortion.

  • Zoom Lenses: Offer adjustable focal lengths, providing flexibility. A zoom lens "gives the impression that the camera is nearer or farther from the subject, at the same time modifying the apparent perspective."

  • Prime Lenses: Fixed focal length lenses; valued for their high optical quality and low-light performance. Prime lenses are used when "the highest optical quality is necessary."


  1. Lens Controls & Adjustments


  • Focus: Adjusts the distance at which the image is sharpest. There are several ways to focus, including a focus ring and autofocus features.

  • F-Stop: Adjusts the variable iris diaphragm inside the lens system, impacting both brightness and depth of field.

  • Zoom: Alters the focal length to adjust the angle of view, with a rocker switch often controlling the zoom in or out.

  • Autofocus: Can be useful, but can also be fooled by foreground objects, leading to misfocused shots.

  • Back Focus Flange: Needs to be adjusted when the zoom is not in focus when zooming in or out on the same subject.


  1. Lens Care: Camera lenses are "very sensitive tools" and liquid, dust, or grit can   "wreck the lens or degrade its performance."


  1. Lens Filters:


  • Neutral-Density (ND) Filters: Reduce light intensity without affecting color. These can be internal or attached to the front of a lens.

  • Color Temperature Filters: Correct for changes in light color. Some cameras have internal corrective filters.

  • Star Filters: Create star effects on bright light points.

  • Diffusion Disks: Soften the image and create glowing highlights.

  • UV (Haze) Filters: Reduce haze from ultraviolet light, also protect the lens.

  • Polarizing Filters: Reduce reflections and flares from smooth surfaces.

  • Graduated Filters: Have a gray or tinted top section to reduce bright skies while leaving foregrounds unaffected.


  1. Camera Support:


  • Handheld: Requires practice and can be fatiguing, but can provide a sense of immediacy. Image stabilization is crucial with handheld shots.

  • Tripods: Offer stability, have adjustable legs, and can be used with dollies for smooth movement.

  • Pedestals: Wheeled mounts for studio cameras, with hydraulic columns to adjust the height.

  • Gorillapods: Flexible tripods for mounting cameras in many unique positions.

  • Beanbags: Adaptable camera supports for uneven surfaces.

  • Monopods: Lightweight supports for quick transitions.

  • Body Braces/Shoulder Mounts: Distribute the camera's weight to increase stability.

  • Handheld Stabilizers: Advanced tools (like Steadicams) for capturing smooth moving shots.

  • Jib Arms: Enable the camera to reach and move in wide arcs, while also being easily transported.

  • Camera Dollies: Support smooth camera movements for “dolly in,” “dolly out,” and “tracking” shots, and work on smooth floors or tracks.

  • Pan-and-Tilt Heads: Enable smooth camera movements.


  1. Working Practices:


  • Trial and Error: Moving the camera around to potential positions, and changing the lens settings until the desired result is achieved.

  • Director's Viewfinder: Checking shots through a handheld viewfinder, and setting the camera's lens to the corresponding focal length.

  • Computer Calculators: Tools for calculating lens angles and depth of field.

  • Experience: Knowledge gained from repeated work in similar situations.