What are the differances between Studio and Cinema cameras?

[James Malamatinas]

I was lucky enough to get tickets for the Olympics this week and whilst I was somewhat distracted by the Women's Beach Volleyball athletes I did have time to look around and survey how they were broadcasting the event.

 

They had two main Studio/Broadcast cameras which were supported by numerous handheld cameras and it made me wonder - what are the major differences between these cameras and a digital cinema cameras such as the Alexa, Epic or F65 - both the Studio and handheld models they use for broadcast? I obvious understand that there use is very different but I have now idea how this has been translated into the design.

 

Also, who are the major manufacturers of these cameras and lenses? Through some quick research I've found Sony appear to be quite widespread, but who else?

 

Thanks in advance for any responses.

 

P.S. on a side note does anyone have any insight, or links to resources that describe the kind of pipeline footage from these cameras goes through before hitting our TV screens.

[Brian Drysdale]

The OB cameras are 2/3" broadcast cameras, Sony, Grass Valley and Ikegami manufacture them. The current crop of HD OB cameras are modular, so that the same cameras can be used for tripod and handheld. The major difference is that the cinema cameras you mention use larger, Super35 single sensors. The cameras used on the OBs have Camera Control Units, which allow the vision engineers to adjust each camera remotely, so that they can be matched during a live event. The cinema cameras are intended tended to be used for shooting pre recorded material and to be to be graded in post.

 

Canon and Fujinon are the main manufacturers of broadcast lenses.

 

Here's a link to one of the companies I expect are doing the Olympics http://www.sislive.tv/outside-broadcasts.php

Edited August 5, 2012 by Brian Drysdale

[Keith Walters]

The other major difference is that with Digital Cinematography cameras, there's no particular need for full-quality "live" output, so the "latency" (that is, the lag between when action occurs and when it appears on the screen) can be quite long. This can vary from a fraction of a second with the Alexa or Genesis, to several hours with Red cameras.

They usually provide some sort of real-time monitoring output, but this is never intended to be the end product.

It's often not appreciated that one of the many reasons broadcasters prefer 3-chip cameras is that a full-quality image is available in virtually real time.

Other reasons are excellent colour fidelity without intensive "guesswork" by the processing computer, absence of aliasing, much lower susceptibility to Infrared Contamination and the fact that dust settling on a dichroic prism face will be completely out of focus and so virtually invisible to the imaging system. (Unlike a single-chip sensor where dust is a major issue).

It's not surprising that there are still plenty of 20th century Sony F900s getting regular work.l

[James Malamatinas]

Thank you both for the detailed replies. I've been a bit to busy to follow up on some of the links and information you refer to but I will do as soon as I get a chance, I've had to work with these types of cameras yet but would like to find out more in case that changes! I want to find out if the cameras have special 'golf ball tracking' features installed too - I have no idea how they track the balls from the tee shots when you watch the golf!!!

[Brian Drysdale]

I want to find out if the cameras have special 'golf ball tracking' features installed too - I have no idea how they track the balls from the tee shots when you watch the golf!!!

 

It's called the camera operator.

[James Malamatinas]

Haha I know, I just always find it impressive that they can spot and keep track of it, I can't even do it with my eyes when I play the sport!

[Phil Connolly]

I want to find out if the cameras have special 'golf ball tracking' features installed too - I have no idea how they track the balls from the tee shots when you watch the golf!!!

 

I'd heard and I'm not sure if its true - that operators monitor in negative, so the white golf ball becomes black in the view finder making it easier to see.

[John Holland]

Yes that is true Phil. Its really the only way to do it.

[Stuart Brereton]

I'd heard and I'm not sure if its true - that operators monitor in negative, so the white golf ball becomes black in the view finder making it easier to see.

 

I don't think they monitor in negative, I believe they monitor only the green channel of the signal.