After Effects Camera Controls

The After Effect's camera can be an unwieldy beast unless a few less than self evident rules are followed. Firstly turn Auto Orient off. Layer > Transform > Auto-Orient. If you don't the camera has a mind of it's own. Secondly to really gain control you'll need to use null objects to control various parameters of the camera. To get the most out of the camera you'll need to build a fully blown camera rig. I've had one source for this knowledge that I found myself referring to again today. Camera Control, Basic 3D camera control tricks in Adobe After Effects By Trish and Chris Meyer Part 1 and Part 2 is an excellent resource at dv.com.