YOUR CAMERA IN MANUAL

You can operate your Sony NX3 camera in two modes…

AUTOMATIC WITH MANUAL FOCUS

FULL MANUAL

You switch between the two using the slider at the side of the camera.

Once you are in Full Manual mode you have control over…

FOCUS
EXPOSURE
WHITE BALANCE
SHUTTER SPEED
GAIN
ND FILTER

Remember, your screen is now very important. You MUST check the information in the screen regularly to make sure everything is how you want it to be. You can normally tell if you are in Automatic mode because there will either be no camera information in the screen, or the information will have a letter A (for Automatic) in front of it.

FOCUS is probably the most important thing to get right — especially with an interview shot. The contributor’s face must be in focus. Zoom into the eyes. Use PUSH AUTO if you want. If you want everything to be in focus — in a wide shot, for example, spin the focus wheel to the left until you get the mountain peak symbol.
EXPOSURE is important too, and remember if you want to know what the camera thinks the exposure for a shot is, just “pop” the IRIS button — hit it twice — to find out.
A manual WHITE BALANCE is only needed indoors. Otherwise use the sunshine preset.
SHUTTER SPEED is always 50. GAIN is always 0dB unless you’re filming in a very dark indoor space.
Make sure you’re using the ND FILTER if you are filming outdoors and it’s sunny. Remember to switch it back off when you go indoors.

Here’s a downloadable handout on all of this: