S270U Manual Operation Question.

[Sara Jourhmane]

Please bear with this junior member.

My question is if the camera is in Manual Mode, but Iris, Shutter Speed and Gain are individually in Auto mode, how will the camera behave?

( I want to use Iris and shutter in Auto while keeping Gain at 0-Db, Is this possible ?)

Thanks

Sara

[Don Bloom]

Sonys are set up to be manual or auto period. Go into the menu and find the "auto shutter" and turn it OFF this locks the shutter to whatever speed you set it to. Gain is set by the switch on the side of the camera, generally I've always set it to 0, 6 and 12 although I might change the settings depending on the needs. Iris is controlled from the iris ring OR setting it thru the little button on top of the handle of the lens using the pinky finger. Now you have total control of the camera. If any of the settings are set to auto then that overrides everything else. IOWs, if the shutter is set to auto but the iris is set to say f/4 and gain to say 6 and the lighting changes the shutter will adjust to whatever to keep the exposure. Great in theory but it can be problematic. For example if the lighting values drop and the shutter drops from say 1/60th to 1/15th and theres some fast motion then you'll get strobing.
I've always set the shutter at 1/60th, gain for whatever is needed and adjusted the iris using the button on top of the lens handle. To lock the iris, set it and leave the button alone but I generally let the camera figure it out and simply let my little finge do the work.
For me using this method allowed me to set iris, change gain if needed, focus and zoom pretty much all at the same time.
HTHs

[Sara Jourhmane]

Understood.

Thank you so much.

[Zach Love]

It might be different for the S270, but on my Z7 I know each one - gain; shutter; iris - have their own controls for manual & iris.

I always shoot manual, so can't say for sure how they react, but there have been times where I've accidentally turned on auto - gain; shutter; iris - only one of the settings & the other two were still on manual.

My guess is that if you have auto shutter & auto iris on, but gain on manual, the gain should stay at 0db.

Though I personally don't think you should close down your shutter beyond 1/120, nor open it up faster than your frame (field) rate (1/60 for interlaced NTSC; 1/24 1/30 for progressive 24p / 30p). Even more I wouldn't change my shutter mid-shot, as it would change the way the movement is being captured.


My recommendation if you don't want go full manual, is to set iris to auto & leave shutter & gain on manual.