NFL - Large Sensor End Zone Cam... Your Thoughts?

Sure but you see crowds any time you're not looking at a high-angle shot. It doesn't have to be a close-up of face paint. And in basketball in particular, the home crowd always does a distracting shimmy to try to throw the visiting free thrower off his mark

I wouldn't say that a visible crowd is mission critical. But find me a fan who prefers seeing the stands empty
 
Crowds try to distract in every major physical sport (not in golf, bowling, etc)...during field goal attempts, psyching out hitters at the plate, banging on the penalty box glass...it's all great stuff and I don't think any person on earth is ever going to prefer an empty stadium, but the main point in my opinion was that the NFL didn't do this to cover up the stands.

I mean it's been 3 months...people know the stands are empty, lol.

And the irony of it all is that this thread is referring to the Cowboys/Eagles game, which is actually allowed to have the most people in its Arlington stadium in the NFL.
 
De-emphasize is a good way to put it.

With 30 stadiums, it's easier with some than others.
 
Are there any other team sports (Soccer/Football outside of America, Rugby, etc.) that are using large sensor mirrorless on gimbals?

I just did a live stream from home plate at Oracle Park for the Giants two weeks ago, it was an awards ceremony, and while we weren't shooting toward the stands,
the stadium had hundreds, if not thousands of cutouts of fans and I know from working with the players earlier this year that the
fan clapping/screaming noises they were piping into the stadium during the games received mixed reviews from the Giants players
we interviewed.
 
NorBro said:
You watch a few minutes and then hit the forums to write about it. lol
Click to expand...

I try not to watch Joe Buck at all. I disliked his father also.

As to PD's questions - the cutouts are the norm now in soccer (except in Russia because Vlad declared that they have solved Covid, so they have actual attendance ... not sure if Vlad himself has ever been confused for a cutout).

And the small sensor vest/arm based cameras are fairly popular along the sidelines/goal lines. Big events - Euros and the WC - also have had the overhead cable cams much like the NFL but they really have not become all that popular in a coverage of movement. They are used for the free kicks off a stationary position. Soccer stadiums also have cameras on jibs behind the goal.

Unlike the US sports, the majority of the Euro stadiums have the seats very close to the pitch (as it's known in England), so the most you see is a bunch of stills cams on tripods behind the goals, with the photogs and their long zooms in the corners.

In Germany, there are also mics on stands behind the net. And those pick up a lot. When the matches went fan free, one could hear a lot of f-bombs from the players. Oddly enough, f-bombs don't need an English-to-German translation.
 
Last edited:
It would work very well for soccer after goals if the operator happens to be on the correct side of the field the scoring player may run to (or maybe there could be a bunch of operators with gimbals in the future).

Doesn't really work well for basketball or hockey.

Baseball - my least favorite sport - is the first sport I have ever seen a gimbal used after a home run, but I don't think the footage was part of the official broadcast (I'm thinking it was for website/news content).

It's also the first sport I remember having very shallow depth-of-field on television back in 2010-ish and amazing slow-motion (because of the nature of throwing a ball in a zone and swinging the bat at a ball).

Gimbals with mirrorless' would be perfect after home runs and end of innings where they already use steadicams with what appear to look like smaller network box cameras.
 
NorBro said:
People who watch and love sports don't care about the visual aspect of seeing empty stands.
Click to expand...

ahalpert said:
You're saying you respond positively to crowd noise but you have no response to images of full stands undulating with colorful exuberant fans?

I dont watch sports but every time I see a clip from these games, i have an instinctual, "wait, is this just a practice?" Because the stands are empty. Obviously, I'd get used to it, but nevertheless
Click to expand...

Football has been largely okay. Basketball absolutely, positively SUCKS with no fans. It's almost impossible to shoot basketball, because of the proximity of the fans to the court and players, to NOT see that they are playing in empty arenas with an incredibly weird set-up. I only ever really cared about the NBA when I was shooting it and making money off of it(used to LOVE shooting it on the floor), but there is ZERO reason to watch the NBA or college on TV, now, for me. Every game I have seen so far feels like a high school scrimmage.
 
Run&Gun said:
Football has been largely okay. Basketball absolutely, positively SUCKS with no fans. It's almost impossible to shoot basketball, because of the proximity of the fans to the court and players, to NOT see that they are playing in empty arenas with an incredibly weird set-up. I only ever really cared about the NBA when I was shooting it and making money off of it(used to LOVE shooting it on the floor), but there is ZERO reason to watch the NBA or college on TV, now, for me. Every game I have seen so far feels like a high school scrimmage.
Click to expand...

Basketball hasn't changed much for me...you only see a little bit of the fan section (which is usually darker) in the entire broadcast and because it's mostly the same angle the entire game, it's very easy to forget about. With the PA announcer still doing his/her job (this is huge) and the fake crowd noise and regular TV announcers, I feel like it hasn't skipped a beat although I'm sure it's a much difference experience being there filming it.

Lakers:TB.jpg
 
I'm late to the party. Judging by the picture it was filmed with Sony A7sIII 24-70mm G master on a Ronin S in 720p. ND filter to shoot wide open to insure it had a special shallow dof look. Honestly I think it looks pretty bad quality wise compared to their normal broadcast cameras. The dof is annoying because almost everything is out of focus.

I've never liked the NBA there are too many games. You have a fair idea who the top teams are. Like baseball you could cut the regular season games in half.
 
Last edited:
It's an a7RIV already confirmed by the network...a7SIII has a big red ring record button you'd see in the photo from that angle if you were judging by the picture. 1080p.
 
The Youtube video was 720p. I assumed they would post it at it's native resolution. At 1080p under bright conditions it probably doesn't matter whether s3 or r4. Either way I stand by my opinion it doesn't look very good.
 
The 720p clip is from a random account with 970 subscribers...it's a ripped clip (and who knows how it was handled).

If you don't like it in general, it's all good - but $100m Hollywood movies can look like mush on YouTube too.
 
NorBro said:
It would work very well for soccer after goals if the operator happens to be on the correct side of the field the scoring player may run to (or maybe there could be a bunch of operators with gimbals in the future)...
Click to expand...

The players know where the camera is! It's like in that WC 1994 Greece-Argentina match at Foxboro where Charles P. worked - Maradona scores, then runs toward the camera and sticks his mug into it. I believe this only became possible in 1994. Prior to that cameras were further away from the field/pitch.

As to baseball - Shane Hurlbut was the cinematographer on "Mr. 3000" (2004) where he showcased his mega super-slomo pitch off a film camera (I think it was shot at 1,200 fps). And I was watching Hulbut's bragging about that shot, thinking, "A retired player, making a comeback doesn't see a pitch like this. Things are too fast for him. They slow down for those who are used to the speed of the game. Any game".

PS. The reason the NFL clip is in 720 60p is because that's the NFL signal. The EPL highlights are on YouTube off NBC in 1080p but satellite does have live 4K broadcasts.
 
haha, that's true about the players...you'd think most of them by now would run towards the cameras but some get so caught up in the moment that they don't always find one.
 
Autofocus has been so kind to me for people sticking their face in my camera at weddings. When they do it, they come and go so quickly. I was literally never able to nail it before Sony face af

It still annoys me. But hey, maybe it will make the edit. Some of my wedding film studios like zany wacky stuff. And at least it's authentic right
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top