Ahead of Super Bowl LVIII at Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, Nevada, just outside Las Vegas, PetaPixel chatted with Mike Francis, CBS Sports' Vice President of Engineering and Technology, about the camera technology that underpins not just the broadcast on CBS and Paramount+, but the cameras that help the refs make the correct calls.
Thanks to significantly better camera technology, sports broadcasts have radically transformed in the past decade. However, even as the cameras improve, they remain primarily in the same locations. That is about to change.
The Pixellot Show S3 is a new fully automated video camera that captures 12K video via an array of three cameras to shoot and deliver footage of an entire sporting event without any human intervention.
TNT used a drone during an NBA game last night between the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers, prompting an angry reaction from basketball fans.
Blackmagic Design has unveiled a powerful new video camera, the Blackmagic Studio Camera 6K Pro. The new model features an EF lens mount, a larger 6K image sensor, built-in neutral density (ND) filters, and live streaming functionality via Ethernet or mobile data.
Earlier this month, NVIDIA released a new beta software that uses artificial intelligence to fake eye contact. While designed for video calls and live streaming, a VFX specialist applied the effect to movie scenes and the result is... unsettling.
NVIDIA Broadcast, the company's tool for live streaming and video conferencing, can now digitally alter a subject's eyes in real-time to make it seem as though they are looking directly into the camera.
Nathan Eidse is TSN's on-ice cameraman in Halifax who normally stays out of the spotlight thanks to his fully white outfit. But despite trying to blend in, Eidse has become a crowd favorite.
A television reporter for an NBC news affiliate was struck by a car while on a live broadcast. The scene unfolded in real-time and despite the interruption, she finished her segment.
For-A has announced a new dual-sensor 2/3-inch 4K camera that allows for up to 1,000 frames per second with "no sacrifice on brightness" of the image that comes with traditional single-sensor cameras using broadcast lenses.
Canon has announced the DP-V1830 reference display, an 18.4-inch 4K HDR professional monitor that it promises features improved black levels, a wide color gamut, and better viewing angles than its predecessor.
The 2021 US Open golf championship kicks off today, and if you pay attention to the broadcast, you may notice a neat new camera technology that has been deployed. This year, the sixth hole at Torrey Pines features an array of 88 cameras to capture the players' swings in Matrix-style "bullet time."
CBS Sports is wrapping up preparations for the production of Super Bowl LV, and the newly-announced Sony A1 looks to be a last-minute addition into the equation.
During the Seattle-Washington NFL game this past weekend, keen-eyed viewers spotted a Sony mirrorless camera being used by the FOX broadcast team for some unusual-looking on-field shots that featured a shallow depth of field and creamy bokeh.
AI cameras have come a long way when it comes to object recognition and tracking, but sometimes the "intelligence" can fail in humorous ways. At a recent professional soccer match in Scotland, the AI broadcast camera tasked with tracking the soccer ball kept getting distracted by the sideline referee's bald head.
The latest release of the popular FiLMiC Pro video app for both iOS and Android comes with a much-requested feature: the ability to output a clean HDMI signal. With this update, iOS and Android users can easily turn their phone into a "broadcast" camera for livestreaming or even use it as a webcam.
As photo/video production crews and their high-end equipment are locked down in the COVID-19 pandemic, companies are getting creative with getting the shots they need. Supermodel Naomi Campbell recently shot her own portrait for a magazine cover with an iPhone, and now it has come to light that American Idol has gone that same route.
A few months ago, I was hired as an on-court, fixed broadcast camera operator for an Association of Tennis Professionals event as an independent contractor. While we were not broadcast live on a network, we were broadcasting throughout the stadium and event village as well as being taped for the network.
You'd have to look long and hard to find a more absurd camera comparison than this. After putting together a very useful video that explains why broadcast TV cameras are so huge and expensive, YouTuber Zebra Zone pit this $250,000 setup against its most obvious rival... the iPhone 11 Pro.
In recent years, small form-factor cameras—both DSLR and mirrorless—have gotten very good at capturing extremely high-quality video. So how come the broadcast equipment in use today is still so massive and expensive? YouTuber Zebra Zone recently answered this question in an interesting breakdown video.
For certain sports, telephoto lenses are crucial for allowing viewers to see the action from a distance. But for one major football game this weekend, ESPN was forced to broadcast parts of the game with a wide-angle view. Frustration, mocking, and hilarity ensued.
What do you get if you mount a giant $60,000 broadcast lens to a tiny mirrorless camera? That's what YouTube user SirJonnyCargo recently set out to find out. He used a Fotodiox lens adapter to mount his Panasonic GH4 onto a Fujinon XA55 lens. The results were actually very impressive.
Footage shot with smartphones has become much more common in the world of journalism today, where quick turnaround times are just as important as getting the shot. Knowing this, one CNN cameraman wanted to see if it was possible for a smartphone (namely the iPhone 6) to keep up with a much larger, traditional broadcast camera.
Check out this photo of a gigantic Canon 9.3-930mm broadcast lens mounted to a tiny Panasonic GH2 mirrorless camera. The size difference is so great that it might be more accurate to say that the camera is mounted to the lens.
While we're on the subject of Google Glass, check out this interesting use case by hockey player Joseph Lallouz. He decided to wear his Glass during a hockey match in order to capture what the sport looks and feels like from a participant's point of view.
Nikon published a news post recently boasting that its D4 and D800 DSLRs had "become the first DSLR cameras to pass the very elaborate European Broadcasting Union (EBU) test, commonly referred to as the BBC Test."
German broadcaster Deutsche Welle produced this interesting segment on photographer …