LONDON, SEPTEMBER 12, 2013—Camera Corps, a Vitec Group Company, is pleased to report a highly successful summer of sport both in its role as a broadcast production service provider and as manufacturer of robotic camera systems. From the Extreme Sports X-Games in Germany, Spain and Brazil, to high-level car racing and the stunning win by Englishman Andy Murray at Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships, Q-Ball robotic camerasystems were on the scene, unobtrusively delivering all the shots no other camera could get as part of televising the competitive action to the viewing audience.
During April, May and June, Camera Corps provided Q-Ball systems along with a wide range of support equipment for the X-Games series shot in Europe and South America by NEP Visions for ESPN. “The entire Camera Corps team and Q-Ball offering was great,” comments David O'Carroll, Technical Projects Manager, NEP Visions. “From our earliest conversations the personnel and the Q-Ball provided the experience, flexibility and shots necessary to help us achieve the best possible coverage for ESPN.”
Camera Corps was also active at a total of three X Games extreme-sports events in Brazil, Germany and Spain. Camera Corps technicians attended each X-Games event working with O'Carroll and his colleagues to capture dynamic close-up images of the action as well as long-range wide-angle views. The Q-Ball heads were operated as com-cams, providing images of the announcers as they described the action. Because of the compact size and excellent HD-quality images, Q-Ball delivered all the detail necessary for an HD broadcast while allowing the announcers’ personalities to naturally come through, as a large, broadcast camera with operator can be distracting. All cameras were controlled using Camera Corps PTZF joysticks, which provide the tactile feedback essential for covering fast-moving live content. Other Camera Corps equipment used at each event included Camera Corps VHR pan/tilt heads, point-of-view cameras and long-range optical fiber links.
“Everything worked well at all three X-Game venues, including outdoor cameras operating under protective rain-covers and the Q-Ball systems,” adds Camera Corps’ Senior Technician David Sisson “The resultant footage showed some of the most exciting events ever captured during outside broadcast productions and really was nothing short of extreme. This is what Q-Ball offers - the shots no other cameras can achieve - that production and viewers want every time.”
Commenting on the motor racing and tennis event parts of the successful summer of sports for Camera Corps, Shaun Glanville, Business Development Director, Camera Corps, said, “One of the high points of our year to date was seeing a number of Camera Corps Q-Balls achieving global publicity when the winners of a major motor racing event celebrated their UK-leg triumph this past June. The Q-Balls were so close to the action that they were showered with champagne on the winners’ podium. Images of this event and of two Q-Balls looking no bigger than a microphone were broadcast live around the world and published throughout the international press. Earlier in June, Q-Ball captured close-up high definition images of Andy Murray at the climax of his success in the 2013 Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships. This was a moment England had been waiting for since Fred Perry's win in 1936.”
“We have provided Q-Ball cameras and support services to Wimbledon for over 10 years,” adds Neil Ashworth, Equipment Manager, Camera Corps. “These have been used in a variety of roles, giving television directors the opportunity to capture close-up images of the games in progress and of the commentators, as well as cutaways to long-range ‘beauty’ shots from cameras mounted high overhead. Our recently-introduced single-mode optical and simply SMPTE dual-mode electro-optical camera links were used at Wimbledon wherever we needed to deliver live high-definition video over long distances.”
Camera Corps full line of products, including its best-selling Q-Ball robotic system, is available globally for both sale and rental. For more information regarding rentals in the Americas, please contact sister Vitec company Bexel at 1 (800) 225-6185 / www.bexel.comor Camera Corps direct at www.cameracorps.co.uk.
About Camera Corps Ltd.
Camera Corps Ltd. is a leading innovator of specialty remote cameras, tracking systems and camera support systems. A Vitec Group Company, Camera Corps is recognized for the development and manufacture of bespoke camera systems. Today, the company’s solutions are employed worldwide by leading broadcasters and producers looking to capture sports, entertainment and reality TV performances from unique and often previously unattainable angles.
The Camera Corps equipment fleet encompasses HotShots, MiniShots and array of remote specialist cameras and lenses, remote underwater systems, cranes, platforms and dollies, Equipment of Camera Corps' own design includes the iconic Q-Ball, Q-Ball Preset and RF Q-Ball, as well as bespoke builds such as Pop-Up Ice-Cam. Baseball Base Cam, Archery Cam, Underwater Remote Cam, Slalom Pole Cam, Helmet Cam and Body Cam
For more information, visit http://www.cameracorps.co.uk.
About Bexel
Bexel is the pre-eminent worldwide provider of broadcast services including video and audio equipment rentals, fiber services, new audio sales, used equipment sales, and repairs/maintenance. Bexel provides brilliantly designed and flawlessly executed systems and solutions to all customers - including producers of the biggest and most important televised events in the world. For more information, visit www.bexel.com, and follow Bexel on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/BexelBroadcast) and Twitter (@Bexel).
About Vitec Videocom
Vitec Videocom brings together some of the most respected, most innovative and most sought-after brands in the industry: Anton/Bauer, Autoscript, Camera Corps, Litepanels, OConnor, Petrol Bags, Sachtler, Vinten and Vinten Radamec. It acts as an endorsing brand for these market-leading broadcast, film and pro video products, encouraging multi-brand system sales and simplifying the way that customers worldwide do business.
Vitec Videocom is an operating division within the Vitec Group, an international business serving customers in the broadcast, photographic and military aerospace and government markets. Vitec is based on strong, well known, premium brands on which its customers rely on worldwide.
Vitec Videocom – advancing the quality and science of media production.
