Projects
SMALL AND PERFECTLY FORMED How the Q-Ball, based on Sony’s miniature HD block camera, is giving audiences a unique perspective
Camera Corps “Q-Ball” HD robotic camera has proved to be one of the more unusual camera innovations of 2010, finding niches in the jungle heat of ITV1’s recent reality series I’m A Celebrity and the summer’s 2010 season of BBC Proms in London. The reason for the Q-Ball’s success is its ability
to generate cost-effective daylight and infra-red- illuminated night shots with full control over pan, tilt and zoom. A full dual-mode HD/SD robotic colour camera with 10:1 zoom optics, the Q-Ball is built around Sony’s FCB-H11 miniature high definition block camera weighing just 120g. Housed in a robust 115 mm diameter sphere machined from solid aluminium, the camera captures images through its 1/3 inch CMOS sensor. Camera Corps technical director Jim Daniels explains: “The Sony block camera the H11 was chosen for integration into the Q-Ball
because it is currently the smallest high quality HD camera with built in zoom. Switchable to all common SD and HD video formats, we used a large number of its H10 predecessor very successfully at the 2008 Beijing Olympics as the CCD block within our minizoom. Now the H11 delivers the added benefit of infra-red capability.” Proms director Simon Broughton is a fan. “The
idea is to bring more drama and access to the broadcasts. The Q-Ball helped us do this by enabling us
to explore the characters in the orchestra.
During the intervals we conducted interviews with performers, who we were later able to pick out in the performance itself with a Q-Ball shot. We also used it to looking down the length of the piano to get audiences closer to the pianist. It brings viewers closer to the action.”
Winter 2011 theproducer 29
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