CX700 / CX560 Operation
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Tips for Shooting Video with the CX700 / CX560
Zoom.
Zoom shots can be used for good effect, such as ranging telephoto to wide
to highlight critter camouflage. Smooth, steady zoom is generally best for such
shots, and is achieved by setting your camera zoom slider to do so. In the camera
menu are four settings: Variable and Speeds 1 through 3. Variable will, as the
name suggests, zoom slow to fast depending on how far you move the zoom slider,
and is difficult to control for that smooth, steady zoom. Speed 2 or 3 is
recommended, and provides a constant zoom rate regardless of the zoom slider
position.
Manual Focus.
The CX700 / CX560 housing allows direct access to the Manual
Dial and Manual Button on the camera. These buttons can have a variety of
functions assigned to them, but a common and useful function underwater is
manual focus. With this setting you can prevent the camera from auto ‘hunting’ or
‘seeking’ to find focus.
A common technique is allowing the camera to auto focus on your subject (or on
something about the same distance from you as your subject), then switch to
manual focus. This ‘freezes’ the focus at that distance – no hunting or seeking.
The GP32A wide angle port further provides a large depth of field (DOF), so most
everything in front of your camera will be in focus, too.
Image Stabilization.
The Sony CX700 and CX560 cameras have built-in image
stabilization functions. These are useful underwater for steady, even shots, so you
should have image stabilization turned on.
One note, however: this technology can be quite forgiving to shaky hands, but does
so at the expense of playing ‘catch up’ to your subject. That is, if you move the
camera left to right you may notice the image ‘catches up’ and keeps moving even
though you’ve stopped moving the camera.
This technology can also have an adverse effect in the form of vignetting. With the
GP32A port in particular, you may see momentary black corners with sharp
movement of the camera. To avoid this, set the CX700 / CX560 cameras with
image stabilization mode off.
