Why this matters

Good exposure is the foundation of image quality. Too little light forces the camera to add electronic gain (noise); too much light blows out highlights and reduces contrast. Use the controls below to balance lighting, shutter, iris and digital processing so the picture looks natural on every output.

Environment Settings

  •  Lighting:  Add more light where possible; never film directly into fixtures to avoid glare and false focus issues (  Doc 3  ).
  •  Zoom:  Avoid full zoom—lens extension reduces light reaching the sensor and makes focusing harder (  Doc 3  ).
  •  Placement:  Mount on a stable, vibration-free platform and position as close to the subject as practical (  Doc 3  ).

1 – Pick the right Exposure Mode

 OSD menu:   CAMERA ▶ EXPOSURE ▶ Mode 
 Web GUI:   VIDEO tab ▶ Camera Settings ▶ Exposure Mode 

  •  AUTO  – The camera opens the iris fully and continually adjusts shutter and gain. Best for rooms with windows or moving light effects.
  •  AAE (Aperture Automatic Exposure)  –  You  lock the iris; the camera chooses shutter and gain. Ideal for studios or fixed lighting.
  •  SAE (Shutter Automatic Exposure)  – You lock the shutter time; the camera adjusts iris and gain. Use when you must freeze motion or meet anti‑flicker rates.
  •  MANUAL  – You set iris, shutter and gain yourself. Maximum control, but requires skill.

Dynamic vs Fixed lighting

  •  Dynamic light  (spaces with windows): leave the camera in AUTO, or use AAE/SAE only if you can monitor continuously.
  •  Fixed light  (studios): switch to AAE, close the iris slightly and keep exposure steady for sharper focus and less gain.

2 – Set the Iris for depth‑of‑field

The  iris  is the adjustable opening inside the camera’s lens—much like the pupil in your eye. By widening or narrowing this opening (expressed as f‑numbers such as f/1.8 or f/4.0), the iris controls how much light reaches the sensor:

  •  Wide iris (small f‑number):  lets in more light, brightens the image, but reduces depth‑of‑field.

  •  Narrow iris (large f‑number):  lets in less light, darkens the image, but increases depth‑of‑field and overall sharpness.

Depth of field is the range in front of the camera that appears acceptably sharp, from the nearest point in focus to the farthest. Changing the iris is one of the three core ways—alongside shutter speed and gain—to adjust exposure.

The higher the F-number, the narrower the aperture:

In AAE mode close the iris to  F3.4 – F4.0  . A smaller aperture

  • gives a deeper depth‑of‑field so foreground and background stay sharp,
  • reduces lens aberrations for a crisper image,
  • but needs more light or gain.

F‑stop scale

AAE iris GUI

3 – Choose a Shutter that fits the frame‑rate

See Objective 1 for safe shutter limits. Within that range:

  • Use the  180‑degree shutter  (½ frame) for natural blur: 1/100 s at 50 fps or 1/120 s at 60 fps.
  • Slow shutters (1/50 s, 1/30 s) brighten dark halls but smear motion.
  • Fast shutters (1/250 s – 1/1000 s) freeze sports but darken the image; add light or gain.

Shutter speed effect

4 – Keep electronic Gain under control

 OSD:   EXPOSURE ▶ G.Limit  – sets the ceiling for automatic gain.
A reasonable range is  6 – 12 dB  ; higher values brighten shadows but inject noise.

5 – Improve contrast with Dynamic Range Compression (DRC)

 OSD:   EXPOSURE ▶ DRC 
DRC compresses extreme highlights and lifts shadows:

  • Level  Low  reveals shadow detail without greying the picture.
  • Higher levels can flatten contrast; increase only until faces are readable.

6 – Handle back‑light with BLC

If the speaker stands in front of a bright window, enable Back‑Light Compensation:

 GUI:   VIDEO tab ▶ Camera Settings ▶ BLC 

  • BLC is available only in AUTO exposure mode.
  • Toggle BLC on the remote with  BLC ON/OFF  for quick A/B comparison.

7 – Synchronise shutter and mains frequency (Anti‑Flicker)

Within any exposure mode except MANUAL and SAE you can simply set  Flicker  to 50 Hz or 60 Hz and let the camera pick compatible shutter speeds. If you  must  use a manual shutter:

  • 50 Hz lighting ➝ lock shutter to  1/100 s  .
  • 60 Hz lighting ➝ lock shutter to  1/60 s  .

Quick checklist

  • Start in  AAE mode  , iris = F3.4 – F4.0.
  • Set  180‑degree shutter  (1/100 s or 1/120 s) and  Flicker = 50/60 Hz  .
  • Raise  G.Limit  only if picture is still dark.
  • Add  Low  DRC; turn on BLC for windows behind the subject.

Digital Image Processing Details

  •  DRC (Dynamic Range Compression):  Compresses extremes of brightness and darkness.
     MENU ▶ CAMERA ▶ EXPOSURE ▶ DRC 
  •  Gain Limit (G.Limit):  Caps automatic gain to avoid noise (6–12 dB recommended).
     MENU ▶ CAMERA ▶ EXPOSURE ▶ G.Limit 
  •  Brightness, Contrast, Gamma, EV:  Digital controls adjust overall brightness, contrast scale, sensor response and exposure compensation.
     MENU ▶ CAMERA ▶ EXPOSURE ▶ Brightness / Contrast / Gamma / EV 

Back-Light Compensation (BLC) Details

  •  OSD Menu:   MENU ▶ CAMERA ▶ EXPOSURE ▶ BLC 
  •  Web GUI:   VIDEO tab ▶ Camera Settings ▶ BLC 
  •  IR remote:  Press  BLC ON/OFF  for quick A/B comparison
  •  Note:  BLC, DRC & G.Limit are visible only on CM40/CM7x HDMI/SDI outputs and the USB output of CM41/CM44 (  Doc 7  ).


Exposure

Navigate to the Exposure tab and set the Gain Limit (G.Limit). The higher the Gain Limit, the lighter the picture will be.

Color

Navigate to the Color tab and set the WB Mode to Auto.

Image

Navigate to the  Image tab and set the sharpness. The higher the number, the sharper the picture will become.


Exposure

  • Navigate to the Exposure tab.
  • Choose one of the following options under Mode:
    •  SAE  : Do you have fast moving persons or objects before the camera? Choose this mode to set the shutter speed.
    •  AAE  : Do you need more depth of field, because the distance between the camera and filmed object is large? Choose this mode to set the Iris (F-stop).
    •  Bright  : Do you have challenging light conditions? Choose this mode to set the artificial brightness.
    •  Manual  : Do you have a fast moving person or object on large distance? Choose Manual to set the shutter speed and the Iris (F-stop).


    • Exposure

      If you click in the field after the option ‘mode’, you will see that you have the following Exposure options: Auto, Manual, SAE, AAE and Bright. These options are outlined below.

      Auto Exposure Mode

      In Automatic exposure mode, the camera determines the iris and shutter settings. See the settings below:

      EV (Exposure Value): ON/OFF and Level

      If the light conditions require this, you can create a quick adjustment to your current exposure settings without actually changing the fundamental values like iris and shutter. When enabling this setting and using the EV level, you can make the picture lighter. Take note that this setting is artificial.


      Take care to not ‘overdo’ the settings or the picture will become washed out bright or too dark.

      BLC (Back Light Compensation): ON/OFF

      Compensation for having to film against bright light directly into the lens. Enabling the BLC (Backlight Compensation) will make the filmed object slightly more visible, but it may cause overexposure in the background. See the pictures below:


      Figure 24: Camera Settings > Auto Expo (BLC OFF) Figure 25: Camera Settings > Auto Expo (BLC ON)


      Flicker

      This setting handles the flickering of artificial lighting in its operating space. Under certain artifical lighting conditions it is possible that you experience flickering in the picture. Depending on these lighting conditions you can reduce the flickering by using 50hz, 60hz, or set this feature to OFF. See for more  Anti-flickering  on the website.

      G.Limit

      Gain limit is the maximum level of artificial brightness and contrast that the camera can automatically add to the image. This setting will make a significant difference to the overall picture.

      Be careful not to set the Gain Limit too high, because this setting add noise to the picture in dark areas and produce a washed out, greyish picture.

      Be careful not to set the Gain Limit too high, because this setting add noise to the picture in dark areas and produce a washed out, greyish picture.

      DRC

      Dynamic Range Compression has a similar effect on the picture as the above mentioned gain limit. The DRC works by compressing the natural dynamic range of the image by taking out the darkest and lightest parts. This can be a particular helpful setting when the light conditions are challenging. The differences should be clearly visible in dark parts of the image, as they will become lighter/more grey as the level of DRC increases. Like the Gain Limit the DRC will add more noise to the picture.


      Manual Exposure Mode


      Figure 26: WebGUI > VIDEO > Camera Settings > Manual Exposure Mode

      In Manual exposure mode, you can manually set the shutter, Iris and DRC options.

      Shutter

      The shutter setting determines the amount of time per second that the sensor is exposed. The range of the shutter speed setting is 1/25th of a second (40 milliseconds) to 1/10000th of a second (0.1 milliseconds). If you shoot a video with a shutter time of 1/25th of a second, you can imagine that the video becomes blurry and overexposed. The faster the shutter is set to open and close, the sharper your filmed object will be. However, the amount of light that falls onto the sensor is also diminished. A higher shutter setting comes in handy when you have regularly a fast moving person or object before the camera. Otherwise keep the shutter as low as possible.


      If you are inexperienced or if the light conditions change a lot, it’s best practice to keep the camera on the automatic exposure setting.

      Iris

      The Iris is a part of a lens that regulates the amount of light that passes through the lens and onto the sensor, by altering the diameter of the hole through which the light enters. The diameter of the hole is measured in F-stop value. A higher value results in less light, while a lower setting results in more light. This setting affects the length of the depth of field. The higher F-stop you use, the deeper your depth of field. Reason: the smaller the aperture, the more focused the light beams will be, resulting in a more focused image. This implies that the light beams are highly "concentrated," causing the camera to focus at a point further away (making the camera in the picture

      sharp). However, the object located in front (i.e., the IR remote control) is not within the focus range, resulting in an out-of-focus image.

      A higher F-stop value comes in handy when the filmed person or object is in great distance from the camera (and zooming in is not possible). At the other side the lower F-stop values are useful when the filmed person or object is close to the camera.


      Figure 27: Exposure > Manual with Iris F2.0 (left) and Iris F6.8 (right)


      DRC

      Dynamic Range Compression has a similar effect on the picture as the above mentioned gain limit. The DRC works by compressing the natural dynamic range of the image by taking out the darkest and lightest parts. This can be a particular helpful setting when the light conditions are challenging. The differences should be clearly visible in dark parts of the image, as they will become lighter/more grey as the level of DRC increases. Like the Gain Limit the DRC will add more noise to the picture.

      SAE Mode (Shutter Auto Exposure)

      The shutter speed is user-adjustable in this mode. The camera automatically decides the best Iris F-stop value for an optimal exposure setting. This setting will come with a cost. The higher the shutter speed, the more sharp the picture become, but also the more dark the picture will be.

      The shutter speed is the amount of time that each frame of the sensor has been exposed to light.

      The shutter speed is the amount of time that each frame of the sensor has been exposed to light.

      To compensate poor lighting conditions, it is possible to adjust the  Gain  and  DRC (Dynamic Range   Compression)  . The DRC works by compressing the natural dynamic range of the image, taking out the darkest and lightest parts. This can be a particular helpful setting when the light conditions are challenging. The differences should be clearly visible in dark parts, as they will become lighter / more grey as the DRC increases.


      Figure 28: Exposure > Shutter speed at 1/60 (left) and 1/500 (right)


      AAE Mode (Aperture Auto Exposure)

      In this mode you can set the Iris F-stop value (aperture). The higher the F-stop value, the deeper the depth of field will become in the picture. The camera will automatically set the shutter speed based on the Iris F-stop set by

      the user. As the camera determines the preferable shutter speed, it is possible to turn the anti flicker setting to the required 50Hz or 60Hz to eliminate the effects of a shutter functioning at 1/50th of a second, for example. Like, with the shutter speed in SAE mode, there is a cost. The higher the F-stop value, the more dark the picture become. To compensate this you can set both the Gain Limit and the DRC.


      Figure 29: Exposure > AAE with Iris F2.0 (left) and Iris F6.8 (right)


      Bright Mode

      This mode is to try and create a decent image when the light conditions are exceptionally poor.


      Figure 30: WebGUI > VIDEO > Camera Settings > Bright Exposure Mode

      In this mode, you should keep the Bright level, Gain limit and DRC as low as possible to avoid too much noise in the picture. If the level of noise in the image becomes unacceptable, you can use noise reduction to smooth the picture over.