Hitachi FP21 Camera Setup and Operation

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Hitachi FP-21 CameraSet-up and Operation
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Tripod Parts 1
Plate

Panhandle
Head

Legs or Sticks

Dolly
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Tripod Parts 2
Mounting Screw
Plate

Mounting Plate
Head
Panhandle
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Tripod Set-Up 1
When attaching camera to tripod always keep one
hand on handle

• Screw front of camera onto tripod plate, always
  keeping one hand on camera handle to keep it from
  falling

Attach camera to tripod plate with this screw
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Tripod Set-Up 2
Your handle hand never leaves the camera until
you are sure the camera is securely mounted on
the tripod.

• To verify that camera is securely attached to
  tripod plate, pull straight up on camera with
  your handle hand
• If camera will not come off of tripod plate when
  pulling up on it firmly, it is safe to let go of
  camera

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Tripod Set-Up 3
To level camera on tripod, use claw ball knob to
loosen claw ball with one hand firmly holding
camera by its top handle
Claw ball
Claw ball knob

• Rotate camera on claw ball until it is level
• Once level, retighten camera on tripod using claw
  ball knob

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Tripod Operation 1
Tilt lock lever, located on right side of tripod

• Before walking away from camera on tripod, always
  tighten tilt lock
• Use pedestal crank to raise or lower whole camera
• Tighten pedestal lock to secure camera at one
  height

Pedestal Lock
Pedestal Crank
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Tripod Operation 2
Panhandle always points opposite lens

• Use panhandle, and not camera itself, to control
  camera movement
• Use tilt tension lever to set desired level of
  tilt resistance

Tilt tension lever, pulls out and rotates to
clear other knobs
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Tripod Operation 3
Knobs on lower tripod legs allow legs to further
extend

• Tripod may be extended and/or leveled by using
  knobs on lower legs (expander locks may have to
  be loosened at same time)
• Dolly can be locked by using levers on each wheel

Expander lock
Levers on each wheel lock dolly
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Power-Up 1

• Make sure OPE/Standby switch is in Standby/down
  position before power-up

This panel is located on the top left of the
cameras left side.
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Power-Up 2

• Buckle battery belt around legs of tripod with
  the switch and jack facing up

Power jack
Power switch
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Power-Up 3

• Using 5 to 4-pin power cable, plug battery belt
  into jack on back right side of camera
• Make sure belt is on charge and camera is on
  standby

Power jack located on lower left of cameras
right side
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Power-Up 4

• Switch the charge-operate lever on the battery
  belt to operate, making sure that the camera is
  still in standby mode
• Last, switch camera from standby to operate

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Power-Up 5

• Verify that camera has power by pressing zoom
  rocker (if camera has power, lens will move)

Zoom rocker
Zoom rocker located on right side of camera next
to lens
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Power-Up 6
This panel located on back of camera

• If camera still does not power-up with a good
  battery belt, flip the internal/external power
  switch on back to the up/power position. This
  switch may have accidentally been switched to the
  ext position, which requires the multi-pin
  cable.

internal/ external power
multi-pin cable
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Switch Settings forManual Color Balance

• Set Monitor Select R G Switches to middle
  position
• Set Gain Switch to Auto/down position
• Gain set to Preset will give cameras best
  guess of white balance

This panel located on back right of cameras
right side
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Color Balance 1

• Set filter to appropriate setting.
• Use 3200 oK for indoor, tungsten lighting
• Use 5600 for outdoor lighting
• Use 5600 ND to cut glare, but light level also
  will be cut.

This panel located on the cameras left side
next to the lens
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Color Balance 2

• Once Monitor Select and Gain Preset/Auto switches
  are set, zoom in to something white, throw camera
  out of focus, and hold Auto Wht switch in up
  position for three seconds.
• Once auto white complete, hold switch in Auto
  Blk/down position for three seconds to set black
  levels.
• Repeat process if color rendering not acceptable.

These switches located at bottom left of cameras
left side
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Proper Use of White Card
NOTE It is very important when manual white
balancing using a white card, that the card be
held by the talent under the exact lighting
conditions to be used during the shoot. So, only
white balance AFTER all portable lights have been
set-up and turned on, and have the talent hold
the white card near, or in front of, their face
(the most important part of the scene). Common
mistakes are to white balance before the lights
have been set-up, or to hold the white card in
front of the camera lens, rather than in front of
the talents face.
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Color Bars

• Depressing Cam/Bar button will cause SMPTE
  color bars to be output from cam out jack on
  back of camera. Color bars also will appear in
  the viewfinder (in black and white)
• Depressing the button again will return camera to
  normal operation.

These switches located at bottom left of cameras
left side
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Gain Up

• In low-light situations, to electronically boost
  the video signal, put Gain switch into 9dB for
  partial boost, and 18dB for maximum boost.
• The Gain switch also boosts video noise, and
  lowers the quality of the video signal.

These switches located in upper right of cameras
left side
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Zoom Control 1

• Use the zoom rocker to change the optics of the
  lens from W (wide-angle) to T (telephoto)
• Pushing the W side of the rocker will widen the
  lens angle, taking in more of the scene but
  making the subject appear smaller
• Pushing the T side of the rocker will narrow the
  lens angle, taking in less of the scene but
  making the subject appear larger

The zoom rocker is located on the right side of
the camera next to the lens
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Zoom Control 2

• To put the lens into manual zoom, turn the Zoom
  S-M knob from S (servo) to M (manual)
• The zoom then can be manually controlled using
  the zoom ring on the lens

The Zoom S-M knob is located on the underside
of the lens
The manual zoom ring is located directly behind
the focus ring on the lens
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Focus Control 1

• Use the focus control ring to bring the picture
  into or out of focus.
• There is no automatic focus on the FP-21.

The focus control ring is the largest grippable
ring on the front of the lens
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Focus Control 2
Remember that the steps for focusing on a subject
are as follows
1

• Zoom in ALL-THE-WAY
• to the main subject

2

• Pick a detail on the subject
• (such as the eyes or hair),
• and use the focus ring
• to bring it into focus
• Zoom back out to desired
• shot

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Exposure Control 1

• For manual exposure control, slide A-M-R switch
  to M.
• When in M, pushing iris button will invoke
  automatic exposure

A-M-R switch
IRIS button
These switches located on cameras right side
next to lens
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Exposure Control 2

• Once M has been selected with A-M-R switch,
  the exposure ring may be used for manual exposure
  control.
• F1.6 lets in the most light, F16 lets in the
  least.

manual zoom
exposure ring
macro focus
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Exposure Control 3

• For help with setting exposure, flip the level
  switch to the on position.
• Two exposure lines will appear in the viewfinder,
  a straight target exposure line and a crooked
  actual exposure line.
• Turn the exposure ring to move the actual
  exposure line closer to the target exposure line,
  indicating a better exposure.

These switches located on cameras left side next
to viewfinder
Straight line shows target exposure
Crooked line shows actual exposure
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Macro Focus

• Activate Macro Focus by rotating macro focus ring
  counter-clockwise.
• Once lens is in macro focus, the zoom rocker is
  used for fine focus (not the focus ring)
• Lens MUST be taken back out of macro focus to
  resume normal operation

Macro Focus ring
Back-plane focus knob
NOTE When macro focusing do not mistakenly undo
the back plane focus, by unscrewing the back
plane focus knob.
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Back Plane Focus 1

• If the lens will not focus normally even after
  taking it out of macro focus, the back plane
  focus probably is out of adjustment (which may
  have happened by mistake when macro focusing)
• The back plane focus controls the way the lens
  maintains focus through its zoom range

Macro focus ring
Back plane focus
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Back Plane Focus 2
There are 4 steps for resetting the back plane
focus

• Zoom in all the way to a subject and focus on a
  detail
• Zoom out all the way and loosen the back plane
  focus knob by unscrewing it
• Focus on the same detail from the zoom out
  position by moving the back plane focus ring
• Retighten the back-plane focus knob in order to
  keep the back-plane setting

Macro focus ring
Back-plane focus knob
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Color Balance 3

• To verify that color balance has been performed,
  flip W BAL switch to on.
• W indicator light in viewfinder will glow green
  after manual color balance.

These switches located on cameras left side next
to viewfinder
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Back Panel Jacks

• Use Cam Out for color video output, by
  connecting a bnc cable from this jack to the
  input of the video deck.
• Mon Out (for monitor out) is a second color
  output of the video signal, and may be used for
  plugging the camera directly into the monitor.

This panel located on back of camera
camera out
monitor out
Video cable with bnc connector
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Multi-Pin Cable
This panel located on back of camera

• The multi-pin cable connects directly to the
  portable video deck, and allows the camera to
  communicate with the deck for power, video signal
  and pause/record control.
• Internal/external power must be set to external
  to get power from the deck.

internal/ external power
multi-pin cable
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The End