Hitachi Z31A Camera Setup and Operation

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Hitachi Z-31A CameraSet-up and Operation
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Tripod Parts 1
Plate

Head
Panhandle

Legs or Sticks

Dolly
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Tripod Parts 2
Plate

Mounting Plate
Head
Panhandle
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Tripod Set-Up 1

• Use lever on front of tripod plate to attach
  camera to tripod, always keeping one hand on
  camera handle to keep it from falling

Attach camera to tripod plate with this lever
(pushing red button will allow camera to be taken
back off plate)
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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
If your tripod has a claw ball, it may be used to
quickly level the camera as follows Loosen claw
ball with one hand, while the other hand firmly
holds 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

• Before walking away from camera on the tripod,
  always tighten tilt lock

• The pan lock
• lever is located
• on the back
• of the tripod
• head

Make sure to release tilt and pan locks before
attempting to move camera in either direction, or
you risk damaging tripod head!
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Tripod Operation 2

• Tighten pedestal lock to secure camera at one
  height

• Use pedestal crank to raise or lower whole camera

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Tripod Operation 3
Panhandle always points opposite lens

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

Tilt tension knob is located left side of tripod
head
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Tripod Operation 4
Expander locks

• The tripod may be extended and/or leveled by
  using knobs on lower legs (expander locks may
  have to be loosened at same time)
• On the Bogen Auto-dolly, a single pedal is used
  to unlock all three wheels on the dolly (down
  position) causing the dolly to roll, or to raise
  the wheels (up position) and drop the dolly into
  a stationary position on the floor

Tip up with toe to lock
Push down on pedal to unlock
Dolly lock- unlock pedal
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Power-Up 1

• Before power-up, make sure that the camera power
  switch, located to the left of the GAIN switch,
  is set to the OFF/down position
• This prevents the camera from receiving a harmful
  power surge as the power is brought on line
• The last step of power-up is to turn on the camera

This panel is located on lower 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 the 5 to 3-pin power cable, plug the
  battery belt into the jack on the back of the
  camera
• Align both the pin and barrel parts of the 3-pin
  connector before pushing it onto the jack. Then
  spin the barrel clockwise to lock the connector
  onto the jack.
• Make sure belt is on charge and camera is on
  standby

Power jack located on back side of camera
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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 OFF mode

• Last, switch the camera power switch from the
  OFF/down to the ON/up position
• The Power indicator light should glow green

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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 located on right side of camera next
to lens
Zoom rocker
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Power-Up 6
power select switch

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

This panel located on back of camera
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Lens Filters
Dial lens filter to appropriate setting
This panel located on the cameras left side
next to the lens

• Use 1 (3200 oK) for indoor, tungsten lighting
• Use 2 (5600 oK 1/8ND) for outdoor lighting with
  neutral density filtering to cut glare, but light
  level also will be cut
• Use 3 (5600 oK) for outdoor lighting
• Lens dial 4 is the internal lens cap, and should
  be used when the camera is put away

Lens dial
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Color Balance Preset
Color balance switch
Once the lens filter has been set for existing
lighting conditions, setting the color balance
switch to the preset/up position will give the
cameras best guess of color balance.
This panel located behind sliding door on
cameras left side
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Switch Settings forManual Color Balance
The first step to manual white balance is to set
the switches properly, without which the camera
will not accept a manual white balance

• Set Monitor Select G R Switches to middle the
  position
• Set Gain Switch to Auto/down position
• Gain in the Preset/up position will give the
  cameras best guess as to white balance

This panel located behind sliding door on
cameras left side
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Color Balance Manual

• Next zoom into something white so that it fills
  the lens, and throw the camera out of focus
• Then, hold the AUTO WHT/BLK switch up for 3
  seconds.
• Last, black balance by holding the AUTO WHT/BLK
  switch down and then releasing it.

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

• Flipping the BAR/CAM switch to BAR will cause
  SMPTE color bars to be output from the video
  out jack on the cameras back panel. Color bars
  also will appear in the viewfinder (in black and
  white)
• Flipping the switch to CAM will return the
  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 the GAIN switch into 18dB
  for max. boost, and 9dB for partial boost.
• The Gain switch also boosts video noise, and
  lowers the quality of the video signal, so make
  sure that the aperture is fully open before
  resorting to gain.

These switches located in lower left 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
  MANU-SERVO knob MANU (manual)
• The zoom then can be manually controlled using
  the zoom ring on the lens

The Zoom MANU-SERVO knob is located on the
underside of the lens
The manual zoom ring is located directly behind
the focus ring on the lens, and has a silver
lever on it for easy access
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Focus Control 1

• Use the focus control ring to bring the picture
  into or out of focus.
• As with most 3-chip professional cameras, there
  is no automatic focus on the Z-One.

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

3
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Exposure Control 1

• For manual exposure control, slide the Iris A-M
  switch to M
• When in M, pushing the iris button will
  temporarily invoke automatic exposure. Use it
  when you are unsure of the proper exposure and
  want to see the cameras best guess.

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 switch, the
  exposure ring may be used for manual exposure
  control.
• F1.6 lets in the most light, F16 lets in the
  least.
• C closes the aperture entirely

manual zoom
exposure ring
macro focus
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Macro Focus

• Activate Macro Focus by pulling up on the macro
  release knob and 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 knob will click
  back in place)

Macro focus ring
Macro release knob
Back plane focus
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Back Plane Focus

• 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)
• Unlike the macro focus knob which pulls out, the
  back plane focus knob unscrews
• The back plane focus controls the way the lens
  maintains focus through its zoom range

Macro focus ring
Macro release knob
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
Macro release knob
Back plane focus
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Back Panel Jacks
This panel located on the back of the camera
Video cable with bnc connector

• Use CAM OUT for color video output, by
  connecting a bnc cable from this jack to the
  input of the video deck
• MON OUT gives a black and white video signal
• GL IN (for genlock in) is used for synching the
  camera in a studio situation

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Multi-Pin Cable

• 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.
• The Power Select switch must be set to VTR in
  order to get power from the video deck

power select switch
multi-pin cable connector
This panel located on the back of the camera
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The End