Sony cameras on Element Technica 3D rigs will be used to provide the Golf Channel’s 3D coverage of the Sony Open golf tournament from Waialae Country Club in Oahu, Hawaii this weekend.
Sony HDC-P1 cameras with HDFA-200 3G camera adapters will be in six Element Technica rigs, to cover four holes in 3D, marking one of the first uses of Element Technica’s Pulsar 3D rigs on a remote sports event production.
Sony’s new MPE-200 multi-image processor with the MPES-3D01 Stereo Image Processing Software will also be used to control the rigs, maintain camera alignment and provide correction for errors introduced in the camera chain, including image geometry and color matching. Sony’s MVS-8000G switcher with special 3D software and HDCAM SR decks will be used during the production and for pre-production of scenics for inclusion during the event. Sony 3D LUMA displays will be used for all evaluation monitoring. Sony’s MPE-200 processor will also be tested with Sony’s new MPES-2D3D 2D-to-3D conversion software.
Golf Channel 3D coverage will provide views from green 2 and the third and fourth holes, and green 16 and the 17th and 18th holes. Pulsars are designed for mid-sized cameras, such as the Sony P1s which are being used for this Golf Channel 3D coverage. The lighter weight Pulsar rigs, along with Canon 22X zoom lenses and Sony’s HDFA-200 2 Channel HD Camera Fiber Adapter, which feeds signals from both P1s on a single fiber optic cable as well as providing the camera operator intercom and monitoring functions, made slimming the 3D camera systems possible.
“We’ve now cut them down to the 40 pound range,” said Michael Rintoul, ET Senior Integration Specialist. “It’s all the same equipment, made them a lot more mobile, and it made them a lot more flexible in the way they can be used.” The Pulsars, in beam-splitter configuration, are being used for mounting on a pair of lightweight jibs and a Steadicam, and set up for the hand-held operator.
Two of ET’s large camera Quasar 3D rigs are mounted with Fujinon 42X lenses in side-by-side configuration, secured on heavy-duty Vinten Vector heads on Spider cranes that can be driven into position and raised to the desired elevation.
The 3D convergence operator for each 3D camera position incorporates ET’s Technica Hand Controller, which is fed through the Sony MPE-200 stereo image processor to control I/O (interocular, or distance between the two cameras in the stereo pair, which determines the intensity of the stereo image) and convergence (the toe in of the camera pair, which determines which part of the stereo image appears in front of the screen, at the screen, and behind the screen). The convergence workstations were built into fly-packs by VER for shipment to Hawaii for the production.
All Sony cameras are also being used for the 2D broadcast as well. NEP’s SS9 unit will be on-site for the event.