STUMP CAM ACROSS THE LINE
29 August 2014
The latest version of the legendary Cricket Stump Cam is on track for its global launch at IBC 2014 next month.
“Version 2 Cricket Stump Cam has been in successful use for about five seasons, delivering high-definition images from a camera integrated inside the middle stump at each end of the pitch,” says Camera Corps projects manager Paul McNeil. “Version 3 is the most compact to date, completely housed inside a regulation-gauge cricket stump. This gives users the freedom to place cameras in the mid or outer stumps.”
Each camera can be configured with a choice of 50, 100 or 128° lenses to allow tight, wide or super-wide shots. The Version 3 system consists of four cameras (two for each wicket). A classic arrangement is to position one camera with a tight-angle lens facing forward to capture images of the bowler and the oncoming ball. The second camera, fitted with a superwide lens, is then ideally placed to televise the wicket keeper. All four feeds are multiplexed onto single-mode fibre.
“Version 3 Cricket Stump Cam was trialled very successfully throughout the summer 2014 cricket season by a major UK-based satellite broadcaster. It is designed to withstand direct strikes from cricket balls. Top bowlers can accelerate a ball to speeds of more than 90 miles per hour. A fast bowl coming in from one of the run-outs can reach 100 miles per hour. Our cameras received direct strikes from fast bowlers about 20 times during the summer. The only corrective action needed was, on rare occasions, to reset a couple of connectors.”
Version 3 Cricket Stump Camera comes with a Camera Corps Universal RCP panel, which allows full remote control of blacks, shutter speed, colour and gain. It can be seen at the Vitec Videocom stand at IBC in Amsterdam.
Source: media release
Camera Corps: www.cameracorps.co.uk
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