Entertainment Technology News

The Camera Corps Vault Track ready for action at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships 2009 in progress at the 02 Arena.

SIS LIVE, one of Europe's largest outside broadcast (OB) facilities and satellite uplink suppliers, chose Camera Corps' Vault Track motorised camera support system to capture the vaulting events at this year's Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in London. Held at the 02 arena, October 13-18, the event attracted contestants from 73 countries.

"Camera Corps introduced the latest version of its Vault Track which allows the camera to travel alongside the gymnasts during their approach and to capture the actual vault in close-up," comments Camera Corps' Design Engineer Mitchel Randall. "The new version combines higher control resolution than its predecessor together with ultra-quiet operation. The redesigned Vault Track also incorporates an underslung camera support and control mechanism so that only the camera itself is visible above the track. We installed a 30 metre length of track on an 800 mm high support parallel to the 25 metre approach and 5 metre vaulting section. A new drive mechanism in the camera head provides 90 degrees of vertical adjustment in camera angle at horizontal tracking speeds of up to 10 metres per second with full control of acceleration and deceleration. The camera deployed at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships was a 1080i Hitachi DK-H32 with a Fuji 4 x 7.5 HD zoom lens."

"We have provided vault tracking and poolside tracking for almost every major international sports event over the past nine years," adds Camera Corps' founder and Managing Director Laurie Frost. "Based on our standard 300 mm gauge track, Vault Track is designed to allow fast setup and dismantling. The entire tracking system can be operational within 4 hours of delivery and packed away within 3 hours."

Vault Track incorporates a low-noise synchronous motor and drive technology with a 12 kHz pulse-width modulation feed for precise speed control. Fully programmable S-Curve acceleration and deceleration profiling allows snatch-free take-off, stop and speed synchronisation. Live velocity adjustment enables the camera to track at the same speed as the live action. Full TCP/IP connectivity allows programming, live diagnostics and monitoring of single or multiple systems using standard Ethernet technology. Two or more tracks can be digitally synchronised. The control rack is occupies a compact 3 U.

Resources:

Camera Corps: www.cameracorps.co.uk

SIS LIVE: www.sislive.tv