PTZ Camera Tips for (rookie) church Video Operator

[blindbuttkicker]

Hi all,

Not sure if this has posted before as I tried to search it but Search wasn't giving me much to go on. This is a thread related to the following question with the following situation currently and what is in development. I am very good and have an excellent ear for Audio, as I run the Behringer SX3282 for Sunday mornings doing Live Mix for the contemporary worship service as well as handle audio recording, but this is my first time being a camera Op, so its a new thing for me and I'd appreciate some tips, pointers, general know how, etc. So I'm now doing double duty, Audio/Camera.

My friend from MN who does AV for her mega church gave me some pointers such as basic centering, aiming, and I looked up some stuff about the "three by three" rule that I am trying to wrap my head around. So any tips or anything to help me hit the ground running, but safely.

This camera is also not live yet, for now it feeds to a playback monitor on the Sound Deck at my station at an angle from me so I can turn my eyes a little and view it without looking too much away from the audio desk, as I'm visually impaired, so I can view what's going on at the stage, pulpit, band, choir, front, etc. and make proper adjustments or corrections. (This will be transitioned to a possibly Live Cam situation after we get some purchasing money for a Scaler/Switcher to flip between laptop/camera/dvd/bluray player and send all output to the projector up front instead of the dog and pony show we currently do (black out, change input, redo screen, go back to live projector screen, takes a bout a minute or so sometimes.)

(how will this be done also so I can still have output view on my monitor while it is active on the screen, is this done through the switcher as an aux output or something like a splitter cable or is this independent if reconnected to the scaler/switcher in the future) Thanks guys and sorry for such a long post

 

[ruinexplorer]

This really depends on what kind of mixer you purchase. Some will have an output for the live and preview monitors. That way, the operator can see what is going on, even if he can't actually see the display. Some will have a multi-view output like this one (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/867332-REG/Datavideo_se600_SE_600_8_Input_A_V_Switcher.html).

 

[blindbuttkicker]

Thanks ruinexplorer. any tips on operations or anything, getting the shots, etc.

 

[ruinexplorer]

I hope that you have the controller for your PTZ that has programmable "cue" buttons. You should be able to program the main places that you need the camera to be along with the speed that you want it to get there. A church that I used to work for would have a volunteer run the camera most of the time, but there were plenty of instances where I would run sound/camera and a little bit of architectural lighting changes. I would not have been able to do that without programming the camera to make specific shots (alter, choir, ambo, and just in front of the alter). We had one priest who would wander while giving the homily, so I would actively man the camera at that point. When you have someone who does wander a bit, it is best not to get too close of a shot so that you can react to their movements. It is a lot easier to follow movement up close with a traditional camera.

Get a volutneer to wander around to different points and practice, practice, practice. You will never be perfect, but you will do a much better job the more often you get to play with it.

 

[museav]

What camera and pan/tilt (or integrated camera/pan/tilt) and controller are involved? Different devices may allow different levels and granularity of control while different cameras and lenses may affect the shots available. Without knowing what may be possible or practical it is a bit difficult to offer specific comments.

As far as switching between sources, that all depends on what you are trying to do an achieve and the equipment available. It is pretty common to 'loop' a camera through a monitor for camera monitoring and control before that signal then goes on to the video mixer/switcher but that is with production monitors with appropriate loop-through connectivity. Otherwise an appropriate Distribution Amplifiier or DA may be required so the signal can be properly split to both the monitor and switcher/mixer.