MFPS - Field - Camera Control Unit (CCU) workstation

The front and back lids of Rack 100, the Engineer’s rack, convert into tables. You will use one of those lid/tables to set up the CCU on.

Once the table is set up, place the CCU case on it, correct side facing up, before opening up the case.

Unlatch and remove the back cover.

Set it someplace safe, out of the way, and preferably where it will not get dirty.

Uncoil the cable snake that is stored in the back lid and run it to Rack 100, the Engineer’s rack.

Run the power cable to a power source. This could be Rack 100, or a stinger that has been set out for you.

This would be a good time to make sure the cameras are patched in correctly to the back of Rack 100. The snake bags are not assigned to cameras, they are letter coded. So Bag A may before camera 3. Make sure that camera 1, 2 and 3 are actually plugged into the proper camera inputs on the rack. The CCU will always control the proper camera, but if the camera is patched into the rack incorrectly, you will not see the image you are working with.

Next, unlatch and lift open the hinged lid on the front.

Lift the lid all the way up so that when you begin to lower it the hinges catch and hold the lid open.

Finally for the set up you need to get the Intercom pack and headphones.

Use an XLR cable from the back of of the CCU to the belt pack.

Connect the headphones to the belt pack.

Once set up, it should look something like this.

Now it’s time to set up the Blackmagic Camera Control Panel.

The Blackmagic Camera Control Panel has 4 controllers built into it. Each one is the same as the next. And each controller can be set up to control a different camera.

At the top of the left most channel there is a screen. If it does not look similar to this (PHOTO) then press the HOME button in the upper left.

Use the knob in the lower left to select which camera that controller will operate.

NOTE: Each camera should be set up with it’s own ID in the Setup menu on the camera. Which they probably are, but if they are not you will need to troubleshoot that.

You will typically set up the left most controller to CAM 1, the second controller to CAM 2, and the third controller to CAM 3.

Controller 4 will usually be set to CAM 6. The typically setup of this field unit will have the CAM 6 input be your Quad Split on the heads up monitor in the CCU case.

Use the knob that is second from the left to select the model of camera it will be communicating with.

NOTE: The Blackmagic Camera Control Panel will only communicate with Blackmagic cameras. So if you have any Sony cameras to expand the kit this will not control them.

This section will cover Black balance, White balance, and exposure controls which all happens on the section of the panel that is more flat.

The ‘handle’ will control the Iris and Pedestal

The Iris determines how much light is entering the lens. Moving the handle up and down lets in more or less light.

You will see the Fstop setting to the left change.

The lower the Fstop the less depth of field you have. The higher the Fstop the more depth of field you have.

NOTE: The lenses currently packaged with this kit only open up to a setting of F4. While the readout to the left will register higher you will not gain any more light with Fstops larger than F4. For a brighter image you will need to use gain controls that are covered a little bit later in this section.

The Joystick range and sensitivity can be adjusted by the two small potentiometers to the right of the joystick. So if you are working on a shoot that is outdoor and partly cloudy, you can set the range so that the joystuck goes from a stopped down setting all the way down for sunny conditions and all the way up for cloudy skys without accidentally going all the way to closed when stopping down for bright sun. This is helpful to understand because later the joystick will need to close the Iris all the way for black level and white balancing, but you may not want to leave it that way for outdoor shoots.

The Pedestal determines the low end sensitivity of the sensor. Turning the base of the knob clockwise and counter-clockwise will determine the level of the darker portions of the image.

As you adjust the pedestal you will see the readout for the Master Black level change.

Next will be to balance each camera’s image so that all your cameras match.

The first thing will be the black balance.

For the camera you are want to adjust press the Preview button that is at the center bottom of the controller for that camera. This will bring the image for that camera up on the screen and also the Waveform and Vectorscope.

Set up your white card in the lit area that you will be filming. Point the camera at it and zoom in until the entire image area is filled by the white card.

You have 2 options.

Auto White Balance or Manual White Balance.

Auto WB works very well when you don’t know the color temperature of the lighting you are working with.

Auto WB by pointing the camera at the white card then hold the WB button until the readout to the right displays AUTO

Note that after the White balance is AUTO corrected, the color temperature will appear in the camera’s prompter, but the CCU will still hold an old value from when it had the white point manually set before. Also, different cameras might not match with the Auto white balance set. I recommend seeing what the camera are set at when you AUTO. Decide on an average temperature they seem to be around, then manually adjust them to all match.

To manually set the WB you will be using the Vectorscope. You will adjust the W/B color temperature as close to the center point as possible.

Generally the color temp of Tungsten lights is 3200º Kelvin while the color temp of Daylight is 5600º Kelvin. But lighting conditions can have a significant variability.

Press the same WB button, but before it goes to AUTO you can use the up/down arrows to the right of the readout to manually adjust the color temp.

Start by pulling the iris knob all the way down to completely close the iris on the camera.

The display to the left will read CLS for closed. If it doesn’t Close all they way, the sensitivity control will need to be adjusted by the small potentiometers to the right of the knob.

Now adjust the Pedestal control until the glowing flat line on the Waveform monitor lines up with the Setup Line, it’s that conveniently dashed line you see on the lower portion of the waveform.

Now adjust the color using the Vectorscope using the Red Green Blue knobs just above the Iris knob.

Start them off by putting them in their default position with the white line indicators pointing straight up. You should be able to feel the knobs land in a knotch.

The objective is to use very small adjustment to land the ‘dot’ dead center of the vectorscope.

Do this for all 3 cameras.

If you are manually color matching your cameras you will next want to balance the white levels.

Bring the camera Iris open to the desired Fstop.

Probably need to ask the producer and engineer should be. This will be based on available light and desired depth of field.

Point the camera at the white card and frame it up so that the entire image is the white card.

Using the a combination of Master Gain and Gain controls bring the white level up to 100

Then adjust the color of the white using Red Green and Blue knobs just above the ones you had used to adjust the color of black.

Using the Vectorscope again land the dot in the center.

Whether you choose to do Auto or Manual camera matching, once you have done all 3 cameras they should all match one another when switching from one camera to another.

Press Down on the 4th joystick knob

to return to the Quad View to check that all the images match. (This is programmed into our individual board.)

Now hit the “Panel Active” button for each camera control. The button will change from white to red so that the CCU cannot accidentally be nudged and change a setting.

Here is the Blackmagic CCU user manual if you have more detailed questions: https://usermanual.com/support/blackmagicdesign/web-manual/atem-mini/using-atem-camera-control-panel