Need some advice quick...
 

Hi Guys,

I am new to the site but have been reading for a while now. I just received my new A1 just in time for my daughters Christmas play at her school. With what came in the box, what is the best setup to use in a little school auditorium? I know the light probably won't be that great but what about the audio? Should I be using the shotgun mic that came with it or would it be better without? And any settings you can recommend would be great. Unfortunately, I am not going to have too much time to experiment before the play on Tuesday.
Any suggestions would be great.

Thanks.........JD

Definetely turn BLACK STRETCH to ON. Take a white sheet of computer paper and use it for setting your WHITE BALANCE (just point the camcorder at it, making sure it covers the entire window and press ONE PUSH WHITE BAL.; make sure that you do this from the location you will be filming from). Definetely use your shotgun mic. It'll make your audio hundreds of time better. Make sure you have enough juice. I recommend a pair of NP-QM71D batteries. Finally, I would tweak your exposure to make sure that you don't get much noise. I usually set it between 3-4 notches from the right. Oh, and if the subjects will constantly be under the spotlight, there's a PROGRAM AE mode called SPOTLIGHT that can be used for better results. You can use the ZEBRA feature to make sure that your subjects aren't overexposed. A caucasian skin tone is slightly above 70 IRE, which you can attain by setting your ZEBRA to 70 and setting your EXPOSURE to a little before the stripes begin to disappear.