[Debconf-video] Some video grievances from LAC2008 for which workarounds are needed.
All in all, we rocked. This is what sucked:
The crowd cam (camera pointing towards the audience) needs to be
more than eye-height to see all the faces in the audience if the
auditorium floor is flat. At least a meter higher up.
Fat fingers WILL find the camera's controls and change them in
randomly complex ways. This will happen when those who are
least familiar with the camera are present to get them back in
a sane state.
Cameras tend to lack features you need and have other features
you REALLY DON'T want to use during the conference. These
unwanted features will be enabled by the fat fingers mentioned
above.
Example: Recording to memory card instead of tape.
Mid-range cameras are probably the worst in this respect.
Even artificial lighting that you believe is under your control
may vary, for some unforseen reason. So "set and forget" is
_per day_, not really per conference.
Example: On Saturday, the exposure of the Speaker cam had to be
adjusted up by more than one stop. Reason unknown.
White balance and colour matching with anything lesser than
pro cameras with remote CCUs is a bitch. You may get it right
the first day, but the settings will likely get lost, or the
colour of the light will drift, or both.
The LCD screens on consumer video cameras tend to display a
misleadingly bright picture. Don't trust them for exposure
settings.
--
Herman Robak
fussy nitpicker
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