Using the camera and the wireless microphone Howard Goldbaum 9/17/2012

The information in this tutorial was extracted from the camera’s owner manual. You will be better prepared to use the camera if you take the time to read the manual. There should be a copy in the camera’s case when you check it out from the equipment room. There is a.pdf version of the manual on the file server. You may wish to copy this to your computer for easy reference. Note: some features mentioned in the manual do not apply to our model (HF R300).

11. START/STOP button (A44) 12. DC IN terminal (A20) 13. Grip belt (A23) 15. Lens cover switch (A24) Turn off the camcorder before connecting or disconnecting the compact power adapter. After pressing POWER to turn off the camcorder, important data is updated in the memory. Be sure to wait until the green ON/OFF (CHG) indicator goes out.

The camcorder can be powered with a battery pack or directly using the compact power adapter. Charging occurs only when the camcorder is turned off.

Before you start recording, open the lens cover. Move the lens cover switch down to to open the lens cover. To protect the lens, keep the lens cover closed when you are not recording movies and when you are not using the camcorder.

The control buttons and menu items that appear on the touch screen change dynamically depending on the operating mode and the task you are performing. Touch: to start playing back a scene in an index screen, to select a setting from the menus, or to select the subject that the camcorder will focus upon. Drag: to scroll menus, to browse through index screen pages or to adjust slider controls like the volume.

The HOME menu is where you’ll find most of the camcorder's functions and settings. After you press HOME, the appropriate menu will appear and you can select from the control buttons. The available control buttons depend on whether the camcorder is in recording or playback mode.

From the Camera Mode menu, you will be able to change whether you record movies in AUTO mode or M (MANUAL) mode. Until you are more familiar with the operation of the camera it will be best to use AUTO mode. Always record in AVCHD “recording standard” for video editing in our labs.

Press the camera/play button to switch the camcorder between camera (recording) mode and playback mode.

Open the Index Selection screen. Move the zoom lever toward W to show 15 scenes per page; move it toward T to show six scenes per page. Touch the desired scene to begin its playback. The camcorder will play back the the scene selected and continue until the end of the last scene in the index screen. Touch the screen to display the playback controls. During playback, the controls will disappear automatically after a few seconds without operation.

You can delete those scenes you are not interested in keeping. Deleting scenes allows you to free up space on the memory card. 1. Play back the scene you wish to delete. 2. When playing back a scene, pause the scene you wish to delete. 3. Touch the screen to display the playback controls. 4. Delete the scene.

You can review the last 4 seconds of the last scene recorded without switching to playback mode.

The camcorder offers 5 recording modes for recording AVCHD movies. In most cases it will be best to use the default SP mode, which will allow for 2 hours and 20 minutes of recording on a 8 GB memory card. You should check to be sure your camera is set in the SP mode, or you may not have the recording time you require.

To remove all scenes shot by those who used the camera previously, you should initialize the memory card before you begin your shooting, and again before you return the camera. Press HOME Initializing the memory will permanently erase all recordings. Lost scenes cannot be recovered. Make sure you save important recordings to your computer before initializing the memory card.

You should use headphones to check the audio while recording, and to listen to the audio during playback. You can modify the headphone volume: Press HOME You can also drag your finger along the Headphones bar. Do not connect the headphones to the AV OUT terminal if the headphone icon does not appear on the screen. The noise output in such case may be harmful to your hearing.

The WMS-Pro Wireless Microphone System consists of two separate devices: The transmitter, which stays with the person being recorded, and into which is plugged a microphone. The receiver, which plugs into the MIC jack on the camera.

Be sure that the frequency selector switch is set on the same frequency as the switch on the receiver. One of the two supplied microphones is plugged into the microphone jack of the transmitter.

Be sure that the frequency selector switch is set on the same frequency as the switch on the transmitter. The “output plug” is inserted into the MIC jack on the camcorder. You should monitor the sound as its being recorded, using a headphone plugged into the headphone jack on the camera.

A USB connection will allow you to transfer your video scenes to your computer for editing in iMovie or Final Cut. Make sure you connect the camcorder to the AC power adapter before connecting it to your computer with the USB cable. If the power adapter becomes disconnected, the connection between the camcorder and the computer will end, which may lead to the corruption of data in the computer.

After connecting the AC power supply, insert the mini-USB cable that you’ll find in your camera case. Insert the other end of the USB cable into your computer. Press to put the camcorder into playback mode.

While the camcorder is connected to the computer: Do not open the memory card slot cover and do not remove the memory card. Do not disconnect the USB cable Do not disconnect the power source. While the red ACCESS indicator is lit or flashing: Do not open the memory card slot cover. Do not disconnect the USB cable. Do not turn off the camcorder or the computer. Do not change the camcorder’s operating mode.

Your camcorder’s icon should be visible on your computer’s Desktop. Do not disconnect the USB cable until you first move the CANON icon to the Trash (or right-click) to eject it.

From Final Cut Pro’s File menu, select Log and Transfer…

You can select individual clips that you would like to transfer.

Drag the clip into the lower left of the window. Final Cut will process the clip and it will soon appear in the Browser window.

After transferring all desired clips, you can begin your editing. When placing the first clip into the Timeline, be sure to click YES if presented with this dialog.

From iMovie’s File menu, select Import from Camera…

You can choose to Import All the scenes on your camera’s memory card… Or you can choose particular scenes for iMovie to import.

If you are using iMovie on a RSJ lab computer with your own external hard drive connected, be sure to “Save to” your own drive.

The new event appears in the Event Browser window.