Camera Corps has successfully completed a long series of major sports TV contracts, including the trackside, underwater and divecam systems and support at the 2009 FINA World Swimming Championships in Rome in July and early August.
Host broadcaster RAI and Italian production company Frame chose Camera Corps to provide broadcast services for the fourth time. The Rome event included swimming, diving, water polo and synchronized swimming, all televised in 1080i HD.
The Camera Corps team covering the Rome championships totaled 26 people including camera operators, track operators, CCU operators and support engineers.
Diving was captured with a gravity-powered, vertical-tracking camera used to follow the 10m descents, plus four Hitachi HV-HD-30 cameras housed inside Camera Corps underwater heads. A Polecam rig with FishFace underwater housing was used to provide additional video from various positions.
For synchronized swimming, Camera Corps installed and operated a poolside track, four underwater pan/tilt heads and a Halibut underwater track. Water polo matches were televised using a Camera Corps poolside track, two Goalcam robotic housings with Toshiba IK-HD1 cameras and a second Halibut underwater track.
Feeds from each of the pools were linked back to Camera Corps’ technical area from which signals were forwarded to RAI’s central control room.
