What the Big Boys shoot with

Adam Gold · June 29th, 2009, 10:51 AM

I'd like to see that as well, Charles.

Paul R Johnson · June 29th, 2009, 02:53 PM

The outside broadcast boys deserve credit they never get. I've done a few OBs, when they were short and somebody recommended me - but most of my work is indoors. What really impressed me is the way these chaps can do golf and cricket (and I guess this applies to baseball too) and follow the tiny balls in the air. Even with the superb Vinten heads, the skill to do that is impressive. Next time you are out and about try to follow a ball like they do. I know nothing about baseball - it looks like our childrens rounders - but in cricket and baseball, somebody launches a ball at somebody else with a bat, and it goes ...... anywhere! predicting which way it will go and not letting it drop out of shot is amazing.

They do have things like shot boxes, so they can always repeat a zoom setting by pressing a button, but keeping that tiny moving ball in shot is really, really difficult. Although I'm used to box type lenses, I'm rubbish at it. I do do some sport fairly regularly, but I usually end up on the touchline at football matches (soccer) with a conventional size camera, and that tends to spend most time on wide angles, rather than being up in the stands with a big lens. The big problem is that nobody has time nowadays to give you time to practice, so they tend to look at my name, and assign me work they know I can do, not what I might be able to do.
I really want to be the bloke on the big cherry picker at the golf!

Glen Elliott · June 29th, 2009, 05:37 PM

Wow- I would kill for that zoom range!

Liam Hall · July 4th, 2009, 11:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Hurd

Those are Digital Cinema camera systems. Not what we're talking about here.

Chris, I realise my earlier post could have been worded better and I apologise if it looked like a put-down, that wasn't my intention.

My point is, they are all cameras that have chips larger than 2/3rds and there'll be a whole bunch more of them this time next year.

As for them being Digital Cinema camera systems, yes that's their prime usage, but the camera doesn't know what it's shooting and I think over the coming couple of years we will all get used to seeing web-movies, TV shows and pretty much everything else shot on cameras with sensors larger than 2/3rds" and yes, that will mean a lot of missed focus and over use of shallow DOF.

Technology has always been used for applications outside of its targeted use, who'd have guessed you'd see a time slice on live golf? But that's what they did. And didn't they used to shoot the NFL on 35mm?

Anyhow apologies if I came across as rude:)

Robert Martens · July 4th, 2009, 06:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jack Zhang

You see these everywhere nowadays. SNL, The Tonight Show, Sporting events, and maybe the Olympics.

Don't forget the one featured a couple of months back on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, during this installment of Lick It for Ten. I don't imagine it was worth quite two hundred thousand dollars after that.

Thanks for the link, Garrett, I hadn't seen this video before; "hard" cameras, he says? I'd always wondered what those things were called. It was fascinating to get some detail on the features and operation of such fancy schmancy equipment.

Charles, that makes me one more to add to the list of people who want to see you put together a similar fly-on-the-wall bit.

Robert M Wright · July 4th, 2009, 10:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Liam Hall

...And didn't they used to shoot the NFL on 35mm?

I think they shot on 16mm film when NFL films first got started (and for years after).

June 29th, 2009, 10:51 AM	#16
Adam Gold Inner Circle Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Woodinville, WA USA Posts: 3,467	I'd like to see that as well, Charles. Last edited by Adam Gold; June 29th, 2009 at 05:45 PM.

June 29th, 2009, 05:37 PM	#18
Glen Elliott Wrangler Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Philadelphia, PA Posts: 2,898	Wow- I would kill for that zoom range! __________________ Glen Elliott Cord 3 Films

June 29th, 2009, 02:53 PM	#17
Paul R Johnson Inner Circle Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Lowestoft - UK Posts: 4,045	The outside broadcast boys deserve credit they never get. I've done a few OBs, when they were short and somebody recommended me - but most of my work is indoors. What really impressed me is the way these chaps can do golf and cricket (and I guess this applies to baseball too) and follow the tiny balls in the air. Even with the superb Vinten heads, the skill to do that is impressive. Next time you are out and about try to follow a ball like they do. I know nothing about baseball - it looks like our childrens rounders - but in cricket and baseball, somebody launches a ball at somebody else with a bat, and it goes ...... anywhere! predicting which way it will go and not letting it drop out of shot is amazing. They do have things like shot boxes, so they can always repeat a zoom setting by pressing a button, but keeping that tiny moving ball in shot is really, really difficult. Although I'm used to box type lenses, I'm rubbish at it. I do do some sport fairly regularly, but I usually end up on the touchline at football matches (soccer) with a conventional size camera, and that tends to spend most time on wide angles, rather than being up in the stands with a big lens. The big problem is that nobody has time nowadays to give you time to practice, so they tend to look at my name, and assign me work they know I can do, not what I might be able to do. I really want to be the bloke on the big cherry picker at the golf!