Gearhouse has bought the entire first production run of Hitachi’s newly announced SK-UHD4000 Ultra HD camera, with plans to offer them for use on the Asian Football Championships in Australia in January.
The 50 cameras will go to equip two UHD OB trucks, in the US and Australia, with the remaining 20, or so, cameras being held in the UK for use by OB companies looking to upgrade their HD trucks who want to migrate to UHD, but not yet.
“We think this camera is a great way of managing the transition to 4K,” said Adrian Young, commercial director, Gravity Media, parent company of Gearhouse Broadcast.
Gearhouse has been working closely with Hitachi for two years, and hopes to get the first delivery of the camera by the end of December so it can offer them to Asian broadcasters for the football.
“The beauty of their 4K camera is that it operates, to all intents and purposes, like their HD cameras, so it needs no adaption,” said Young. “As it can be used as an HD or 4K camera, it gives us great flexibility.” Because the camera uses 2/3-inch sensors, it can be used with Gearhouse’s existing stock of Canon lenses.
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