Sony’s PMW-300 camcorder has been used to shoot all of Sky Sports’ live polo coverage in the UK this summer. Production company Blue Tuna chose seven PMW-300s to shoot three tournaments, including the British Open Polo Championships and the Dukes Polo Tournament, as well as the Bulgari Gold Cup tournament at the Santa Maria Polo Club in Sotogrande, Spain. The footage was then broadcast via Sky Sports in the UK and ESPN in South America.
The PMW-300 was well suited to the requirements of fast-paced multi-camera OB production. Three 1/2-inch Exmor Full-HD CMOS sensors provided high light sensitivity and low image noise, and Sony’s 3Dimensional Noise Reducer technology (3DNR) also reduced noise between frames.
“Having used the PMW-300 before, I knew we would be able to achieve outstanding image quality during every shoot,” said Jon Howarth, managing director of Blue Tuna. “By using a Fujinon ACM-21 lens adapter, we were able to use the same range of lenses we would use with any HD system camera, and most importantly, achieve the same high image quality.”
“One of the other reasons we opted for PMW-300s was the fact that they record internally using ISO recording. This meant that unlike an OB production using HD system cameras, we had full recordings for each of the different camera angles, as well as the central recording of the final mixed output. This gave us far greater flexibility when it came to mixing the recorded version of the footage, as we could draw on multiple camera angles after the shoot had finished.”
As well as the PMW-300s, the director also used a Sony PVM-2541A 25-inch TRIMASTER EL OLED monitor and two 17-inch PVM-1741A OLED monitors for production monitoring throughout each of the shoots. These were chosen due to their superb black performance and deep colour reproduction.
