Sky Sports’ coverage of the Super League Grand Final from Old Trafford last weekend used a new rig in the form of a 3D flown railcam system from Aerial Camera Systems, writes Adrian Pennington.
In previous years, ACS has provided a 100m flown system for Sky Sport’s 2D coverage of the Grand Final using a HD Cineflex V14 stabilised camera mount to provide a dynamic view of the action. This year, Sky Sports upped the challenge by requesting ACS provide the same view but in 3D.
After further development and testing, ACS supplied a specially configured 3D gyro mount, comprising of a STAB-C Compact stabilised head mounted with an ET Pulsar rig in a side-by-side configuration and fitted with two Sony HDCP1 cameras and Canon HJ22 lenses.
An ACS Telecast Copperhead fibre transmission system fitted to the railcam camera buggy allowed all signals and control data to be routed back to the OB via a single SMPTE cable.
The railcam operator and stabilised mount operator were positioned within the stand with a clear view of the pitch and the railcam itself, while full control from the convergence position in ACS’ dedicated 3D OB unit was carried out using a Sony MPE-200 3D processor to aid mechanical and optical alignment. Capable of moving at speeds up to eight metres per second, the track and mount played a significant part in Sky Sports’ 3D coverage, it also featured heavily in the simultaneous 2D coverage of the event with an HD feed taken from the ‘left eye’ of the rig.
ACS has made a significant investment in the development and delivery of 3D specialist camera systems and has provided facilities for the 3D coverage of horseracing, rugby, Premiership football and live music events.
