New slomo PoV with Polecam + Pico

High-speed cameras are small enough now to be usable on a hand-holdable jib arm, such as the lightweight Polecam, for use in places and ways they couldn’t have been previously.

The LMC Antelope Pico Point-of-View camera is particularly suitable for live sports production, and has been used for the German Bundesliga and Winter sports – a Pico was used on a white Polecam (to disappear into the background) at the start gates at the Alpine Skiing World Championship in Schladming. Polecam’s Founder, Steffan Hewitt (pictured above at BVE), also recently used the Pico in China, to cover the Rory McIlroy/Tiger Woods Duel at the Jinsha Lake Golf Club in Hengzhou.

“We had a full-size Polecam, with the Pico, and a Telecast Fiber PoV system – because the distance between the holes and the truck was kilometres, so we had to use fibre,” he explained.

The camera was primarily used above the players as they tee’d off, for slow-motion shots showing how their swings differed, for replay analysis. Because the system was so light, Hewitt, who was on his own, was able to just jump in a golf buggy between holes.

The Pico, which can deliver up to 340 frames per second from its 2/3-inch sensor, “worked great. It looked really good,” said Hewitt. “It’s the only really small high-speed camera that I know of.”

As it was on the Polecam, he could drop it right to the level of the green, where it was possible to see all the undulations that aren’t evident at normal camera height.

The current version of the Pico works with a pair of cables, but the next one will just require a single coax cable between the camera head and the CCU. “This will allow us to have much greater distances between the two, and use a longer Polecam,” he explained.

It will also be able to do live broadcast HD as well as slo-mo at the same time, so you can continue shooting HD while the high-speed shots are being cached for replay (which the current version can’t do), making it a much more practical proposition. “The new Pico will genuinely be live friendly.”

Given these developments, which should emerge at NAB in April, “I’m really excited about doing the high-speed stuff,” he added.

The slightly larger Phantom Miro slo-mo camera, from Vision Research, can also work on the Polecam (Vision Research were showing just such a package at BVE - pictured above), but it can’t be used as a direct feed for live production, although it does go up to 1,500fps.

Using the Polecam, operators can position the camera in places it wouldn’t normally be easy to go, such as over water, into a bird’s nest or in dangerous areas, to get close to the action.

One Polecam, being used with a Pico to cover a Bundesliga match, got closer to the action than it should have. During the warm up, the operator was rehearsing a shot above the goal, when one of the players used it for target practice, hitting it straight at the camera in beautiful slow motion.

“It completely bent the head in half. It cost £2,500 to completely rebuild the head, mainly with new parts,” said Hewitt.

By David Fox

Antelope slows down skiing + golf

LMC LiveMotionConcept supplied multiple Antelope UltraSlowMotion systems plus various analysis tools for the Austrian broadcaster ORF for the Alpine Skiing World Championships in Schladming. It also supplied a wireless slo-mo system for the recent Ladies Masters European golf.

In Austria, it supplied the host broadcaster with two mobile production vehicles, one of which had two Antelope MkIIs UltraSlowMotion systems and one Pico PoV UltraSlowMotion on board.

The MkIIs systems were moved between the men’s and women’s slopes every day with the help of helicopters. During the event they recorded at up to 2,500 frames per second. Thanks to the new enhanced detail function, which is implemented in the latest version of the MkIIs CCU, it was possible to show even little details of the action during each skier’s run.

The Antelope Pico (pictured above) was mounted in the middle of the main grandstand to record crowd reaction at up to 340fps. This was the first time at a major FIS skiing event that this sort of emotional replay was shot at high speed.

A brand new version of the Pico will be available just before NAB. It’s based on an improved 2K high-speed chip and supplies live video output in all HD formats plus a de-flickered replay channel with up to 340fps.

LMC also supplied a special Antelope replay feed, which was delivered to the “ORF House” in Schladming using Riedel Communications’ MediorNet real-time fibre network. A huge LED Cinemascope display was used to show this impressive replay feed to spectators at the championships throughout the day.

The second LMC vehicle was in charge of the analytical content for the world feed and ORF’s national programme.

LMC supplied a Dartfish system to record the clean world feed, plus feeds of three isolated analysis cameras, to produce analysis clips as either Simulcam (where the races of two individual competitors are composited together to compare them side by side) or Stromotion (where a skier’s progress is seen as a sequence of stills composited together). The isolated camera feeds were pre-cut on a LGZ Replay System.

The finished analysis sequences were clipped on an EVS XT2HD system and played out both into the national ORF outside broadcast truck and into the two international OB trucks for the women’s and the men’s world feed signals.

LMC also installed a Paint Touchscreen in the ORF studio. Its switchable input gave the studio experts an opportunity to graphically enhance their in-depth analysis and actively step in and show where a split of a second might make a difference.

Ladies Masters on AIR

LMC also recently deployed an Antelope AIR for the second time at the Ladies European Tour golf finals in Dubai. The Omega Ladies Masters is the grand finale of the busy LET season.

LMC's CEO Felix Marggraff, who is also the Ladies European Tour TV director, used the Antelope AIR not just as a live replay camera but also to record graphic backgrounds or even to shoot features with the players.

“The Antelope AIR is a great camera to show not just technical aspects but also the beauty of the sports” said Dirk Glittenberg, CEO of U.COM Media, the production company in charge of all LET media coverage.

The Antelope AIR is the wireless version of the MkIIs and fully remote-controllable. Both HD-SDI video and full telemetry are received and operated from the TV compound. The camera operator has full freedom on the golf course and can concentrate on the images.

“It’s great that our cameraman does not have to fiddle around with triggering, shading or any other technical stuff,” said Marggraff, who has directed the live and highlight coverage for LET since 2009.

The Antelope AIR includes all the functions of the MkIIs, such as enhanced detail, multi matrix, de-flickering and intuitive remote and operating controllers.

The World Feed Live Production of the 2013 season will start at the South African Woman’s Open on 19April.

Related posts: Fan riot destroys 1st Antelope camera, Tiny HD camera blends in and World first ultra-slowmo PoV camera

By David Fox

World first ultra-slowmo PoV camera

The compact new LMC Antelope Pico is claimed to be the world’s first high-speed point-of-view camera to record at up to 330 frames per second in full HD.

Launched at NAB, it can provide a permanent HD-SDI live video output as well as a replay channel that can deliver from 25-330fps in HD1080i (and up to 660fps in extended/double image mode).

At 330fps it can deliver a 30 second replay using 32GB of memory. Its output modes cover 1080i 50/59.94/60 and 1080p 23.98 to 1080p 60 at 4:2:2, and it will also have a 23.98p to 30p 4:2:2 / 4:4:4 RAW and 2K option.

The small camera head measures 29x29x50mm, which should allow it to fit into spaces where no slomo camera has gone before, making it useful for covering goalmouth action, inside cars, or on board yachts.

It uses a 2K 2/3-inch global shutter CMOS sensor, takes 12-24v power and comes with 3D synchronisation. It takes C-mount lenses, with PL and B4 mount adaptors available.

The sensor has reasonable light sensitivity, at over 600 ISO, with 9.5 stops dynamic range. There will also be a high-dynamic range option. Features include: on-board de-flickering; image flip/flop (horizontal/vertical); and dynamic replay.

Both software-based and RS232 serial controls are available. LMC has designed special remote control and operational control panels to integrate the Pico into a professional broadcast environment that will allow production companies to use one RCP and one OCP for up to four cameras. Wireless and fibre systems will also be available.

Related posts: Fan riot destroys 1st Antelope camera, Tiny HD camera blends in and Antelope slows down skiing + golf

By David Fox

Fan riot destroys 1st Antelope camera

The first of LMC's all-new Antelope MkII cameras was destroyed when some 500 fans staged a pitch invasion at the Frankfurt Arena, knocking down the system including an expensive 100x lens and the tripod.

The high-speed camera (serial number 001) got a shot of its assailant as he grabbed it, and he was identified by the police and arrested the same night. It happened following a Frankfurt vs Cologne match, and LMC's Head of Technology, Christian Schreiber, was operating the new camera. "It was pure chaos," he said. "He simply knocked it over… My heart missed a beat. As a developer it's cruel to see something like that."

The Antellope MkII has only just gone on air, following its introduction at NAB. The Ultramotion system is based on the Phantom 641 chip and was used first for Formula 1 coverage in Spain. According to another of its developers, Nikolai Bonstedt, the control system makes the system unique. "Both the RCP and the OCP are absolutely stunning when it comes to the variety of functions, the reaction time and the precision of the operating," he claimed.

The MkII can record at up to 5,350 frames per second in HD and its ENG-style housing allows handheld operations, particularly useful for events such as boxing or athletics, as it can be easily relocated during the production. It can be used with any B4-mount lens, although LMC recommends Canon's J100x for close-up shots or its J22x for handheld use.

Related posts: World first ultra-slowmo PoV camera and Antelope slows down skiing + golf

By David Fox

Tiny HD camera blends in

LMC (LiveMotionConcept) has introduced what it claims is "the smallest HD CCD camera on the market" – the new Camaeleon.

It uses a 2/3-inch CCD interline transfer progressive scan sensor, and measures just 44x44x53mm, which means it "can be installed at locations where no other camera has gone before."

It is claimed to be extremely light sensitive, offering native HD 1080p pictures (25 or 30p – 8-bit or 10-bit YUV 4:2:2 via HD-SDI). It also boasts 64dB dynamic range, 14-bit signal processing, exposure times of up to 1/100,000 sec, and consumes about 5W of power. It is remote controllable, via RS485 and RS232.

LMC also supplies a box that converts all of the Camaeleon's signals to fibre-optics, houses an integrated HD monitor plus an intelligent battery system and which can optionally transmit all signals via a wireless connection to the OB truck.

Camaeleon should be available in the next few weeks and will be usable with different housings that can adapt to the environment (using a variety of colours and shapes - such as that pictured left), including waterproof and underwater housings for applications like diving, rowing or sailing. Camaeleon can also be used for 3D on a mini-rig. It takes C-mount lenses, or can optionally be fitted with PL or B4 mounts.

LMC's Antelope UltraSlowMotion system was used last week at the Barclays ATP World tour tennis finals, in London. ATP Media apparently chose the system due to its high light sensitivity and its De-Flickering technology.

By David Fox