KitPlus | Articles

Why do poorly composed 3D stereoscopic images give headac...

The brain is used to being able to “fuse” the two separate views of the world seen from each eye into a 3D perceived scene. However we have a closed-loop system and the eye muscles constantly pull convergence and focus depending on the region of interest. When presented with two separate image streams originating from the left and right camera syst...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 June 2010

3D Diaries Part 1

Believe it!Welcome to 3D Diaries, TV-Bay’s own monthly column dedicated to 3D. Each month will feature an aspect of the 3D chain from scene to screen – all areas are affected in some way or another, so there’s plenty to talk about! But this would be meaningless if you are not a 3D believer, so this month I’ve shown why 3D is now here to stay. At NA...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 June 2010

With Polecam to the Antarctic

Whale Wars is a documentary-style reality television series that airs on Animal Planet, and follows the activities of the eco-activist group, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. Last year, I was aboard Sea Shepherd’s flagship, “Steve Irwin” as Director of Photography and, along with a 5-man camera team, documented the “war” between the Japanese whal...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 May 2010

Ask the experts on cable

Digital, server-based systems in production, post-production, news gathering and playout bring increased efficiencies and productivity. Nonlinear editing and news gathering allow users to access the same material across a data network. Digits are here and are now dictating the form of cables and connectors, from camera through to playout. What qual...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 May 2010

POV cameras explained

John Chambers is Managing Director of Drivedata (UK) Ltd, which specialises in minicam solutions for broadcast, military and extreme-sports applications. Minicams, also referred to as POV cameras, are becoming increasingly popular as they get smaller, cheaper and easier to use. The POV camera is now a firm favourite in reality TV, sports coverage a...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 March 2010

Note Perfect

Live music events are big business. Major artists can expect millions of pounds to be poured into full scale productions where the ticket prices are as high as audience expectations. As the artist takes to the stage the atmosphere is electric and for the poised camera operator the pressure is high. He needs to acquire the best shots, capture the im...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 March 2010

Stereoscopic production and transmission

If ever there was a technology that has taken it’s time to mature, it is that of stereoscopic (3D) production and transmission. It is well documented that the mechanics behind the technology has been around almost since the inception of the moving picture itself and in fact stereoscopic stills technology was developed in the 1840’s. Until now, the...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 March 2010

Accessorising DLSR video

Some DSLR stills camera manufacturers now include HD video capabilities within their top-of-the-range products. This raises the prospect of lower cost stills cameras shooting good quality HD video. While this is true in certain circumstances there is much more that needs to be included with these cameras to make them consistently produce their best...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 March 2010

AVCHD and NXCAM

I’ll be honest – up until recently I had not been a big fan of AVCHD. It promised great things but, having hired out consumer AVCHD cameras for the last few years, we knew there were still a few hurdles for it jump over. For corporate customers, to just ‘plug and play’ in terms of simple playback was impossible – some form of software was always re...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 March 2010

Looking back, and forward to the next decade of media pro...

The year 2000 doesn’t seem that long ago – and what’s for certain is that as you get older ten years is a very short space of time. A decade is a long time in technology though. In 1999 most people didn’t have a mobile phone and weren’t even on the internet at home, painfully slow dial-up was the only option for most. A decade on, the internet is a...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 March 2010

A day in the like of a location manager

One of the most dramatic moments I have witnessed whilst filming a series called Dempsey and Makepeace was in Limehouse Basin, not looking at all like it does today. It had a swing bridge, where you could cause the most enormous traffic jam if you kept it open long enough and get mentioned on the local traffic news, which we did manage quite succes...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 February 2010

Im a celebrity get me out of here

Gearhouse Broadcast was awarded the contract to supply broadcast equipment and some crew for Granada Productions “I Celebrity Get Me Out of Here” in 2008. Since that time we have been involved in two UK shows and one German show in Australia plus a USA show in Costa Rica. Planning for these shows is an all year round exercise as the UK show is Dece...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 February 2010

Location test equipment

What to look for…. SizeRuggedFast switch on timeLight weightMultiple applications from one unitDaylight readable displayLong Battery lifeSound monitoring as well as videoMountings (when you need both hands!)A number of years ago Hamlet gave itself the impossible task of developing the world’s first 3G, HD and SD capable, video and audio measurement...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 February 2010

Robotic cameras on location

Television is such a natural extension of the human senses that I doubt if more than one viewer in a thousand gives much thought to the effort put into modern programme production. Much of the original push for creative freedom came from outside broadcast crews, initially using turret-mounted optics and later zoom lenses to obtain close-ups of dist...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 February 2010

Film Affect

As shooting on film for TV applications is increasingly being replaced with HD, there is a growing tendency for people to wish to apply film tools and methods to origination when using the electronic medium. However, unless aiming for a specific look that cannot be achieved any other way, it can prove more time consuming and costly to work this way...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 January 2010