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Sharp*s QC-30 is a low-price ($600), lightwteight (three-pound) color viiico camera with a through-thedens (iTL) optical view-fmiier, a !:2 manuał zoom łens, and a pistol grip.

The shoulder hrace on this JVC CX-6SU color video camera— shown herc with a VF-f'-30lJ electronić view>finder attachment— folds up under the camera body when not in use.

ELECTRONIC

VIEWFINDER

SHOULDER

BRACE

FORWARD

PISTOL

GRIP

In act i oh, a brace rests on the operator s shoulder. bringing the view-finder eyepiece into posilion and distributing the camera 's weight for bet ter stabi lity. Norę forward posil ion of pistol grip.

side to right-side mounting. for example; it can even be rotated so that vou can shcx>t from the hip and still see what you are recording. In other words. it can be attached at any point along the a\is of the camera. Mounting it forward along the side. for instance. enables the body of the camera to be shifted back toward your shoulder and facilitates the use of a shouldcr brace. Some sophisticated elec-tronic viewfinders incorporate such monitoring devices as LEDs or smali nieters. enabling you to check battery power. color balance. etc., without tak-ing your eye off the scene you’re shoot-ing. Of course. sophistication has ns price. But if you plan to do a greal deal of shooting. I doubt you'll be satisfied for very long with anything but the elec-tronic—i.e.. expensive—viewer.

The Lens

The most basie choice here is between a fixed and a zoom lens. A lixed lens isjust that: Its focal length is set and cannot be adjusted. Tochange the framingof a pic-ture. you or the subject musi move toward or away from each other. I.ong-distance telephoto shots are impossible. as are macro shots (except with special auxiliarv lens attachments or a sepurate macro lens). Cameras with single focal -length lenses are usually the least expen-sive. but the price you pay in loss of ver-sati li ty is a heavy one. Some fixed lenses are even permanently atttached to the camera, which means that you can t use accessory lenses or upgrade later.

The most popular lens is the zoom. which can be changed by simply un-screw ingone C-mount lens and screwing in another. Zooms are characterized by a rano—common ones being 1 4 and 1:6— that indicates the degree of change in focal length possible between a w ide angle and a telephoto. Ty pica I ranges are 12 to 72mm. 14 to 84mm. and 16 to 64mm

“Zooming” is accomplished either manually or uuiomatically The manuał zoom uses a knurled ring that’s easy to grasp and control. and often there’s a de-tachable lcver for extra ease of oper-ation. The automatic varietv usualls has

a    J

a two-position rocker switch mounted near or on the pistol grip. Holding the sw itch to one side moves the lens toward telephoto. and holding it to the other moves it toward wide anizle. The exact focal length selected (in millimeters) is

indicated by a reference cursor that in-

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tcrsccts the zoom ring.

The same cursor is used to mark the focusand f/stop rings. Most homo video cameras are focused manually by turn-ing the ring until the scene appears shai p in the viewfinder. Automatic models use sensing circuits to keep the primary subject in focus. In situalions w here the lens (Contmued on page 54)

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