BBC News Rebrand - This Monday

The latest HDC-1500 High Definition cameras being used in TC1 and TC8 are roughly the same form factor (i.e. the camera head and lens is roughly the same size) as lenses and cameras used on lightweight cameras in the early 80s - like the Sony BVP330/BVP7/BVP70 etc.

People have to stop confusing the camera (the bit with the CCD/tubes in it), the lens - which will be the same size for most broadcast cameras as almost all lightweight studio cameras are based on 2/3" sensors which dictate the lens size, the pedestals (i.e. the mounting the camera is placed on) and the autocue/script hood on the front.

Believe me - I do know a bit about this kind of thing. I was around on shoots from the mid 70s until now.

Full-size cameras were big and unwieldy - and are now rarely used in studios or on location these days. (The BBC haven't used full studio cameras since the first generation of CCD cameras were adopted in the early 90s - and didn't buy any 16:9 full-size cameras AFAIK)

Lightweight cameras capable of running with big box lenses in cradles on peds, or being run handheld on a shoulder with a small lens, are standard - and the form factor of an early 80s Sony BVP330 with a triax back and a current BVPD30 with a triax back or an HDC1500 HD model with a fibre back isn't hugely different...

The cameras used by Al Jazeera English are HD LDKs (LDK 6000s or very similar) The cameras used by BBC News 24/World are SD LDK100s (or similar).

They are IDENTICAL in size give or take a few cm.

Don't confuse the camera mountings - most of News 24 and World's cameras are mounted on decent Vinten studio pedestals, whilst AJEs are on something closer to a lightweight ped (much poorer to use manually - but not much of an issue) - with the camera.

News 24 and AJE cameras are near identical in size...

Appearances can be misleading then.

The cameras used by BBC News 24 and AJE are the same make and roughly the same size - they are SD and HD LDKs respectively. AJE may have fibre rather than triax backs - but the camera heads are near identical in size.

What IS different is the mountings the cameras are on - i.e. the peds. News 24/World mainly use full size studio peds - which are higher quality, easier to move accurately etc. - whilst AJE use light-weight peds which are cheaper and a bit smaller, but not as easy to move.

Yep - but your miniDV doesn't have a decent lens, decent remote control via triax for remote iris, colour balance, filter wheel etc., an autocue hood, a decent ped, Radamec remote pan/tilt/zoom etc... Neither does it have talkback, reverse vision, a decent viewfinder etc.

Going off on a tangent all of my own...

Why didn't or haven't BBC News ever done any modifications to N8 in the years its been in use (the only thing that I think have changed have been the chairs and Laptop PC's the presenters use). Also, why on earth have they never done anything about that creaking chugging camera on the ceiling that they use on the top of the hour that sounds like its got a screw loose or something and about to take off?

Err - they've made major changes since it started broadcasting in 1998. It has had three major sets (with the middle one being tweaked at least once) - and had a major re-build of the newsroom and the gallery in 2003 when it decamped to a temporary studio for 6 weeks or so to get the current look in. (The gallery gained a second vision mixer and much enhanced graphics kit as part of that) It has gained extra cameras and has gone from plasmas and CRTs to projectors for in-vision screens.

So it isn't fair to suggest that nothing has changed since the gallery and newsroom set were first used.

The current News 24 set-up will have been on-air for 10 years in November - and had a major overhaul 5 years ago.



Money.

It is a very cheap semi-industrial solution - not a full rail-cam as would be used on an entertainment programme. It was introduced about 5 years ago - prior to this there was a previous version that was never used on-air. Newsnight also had a similar, though quieter, system for their previous look - but although it was quieter, it wasn't as smooth moving on-shot.

Reason - cost. News 24 - and news programmes in general - run on much smaller studio budgets than other TV shows.

That and I think its perfectly ok for what it is, only used for a few seconds each hour. Not something I'd ever spend money on replacing. Also a skilled soundman will cut the noise it makes by keeping the mics down as long as necessary rather than fading up whilst the "tractor cam" is still moving.

Tricky, though, as the "mix and cue" happens while the cam is still tracking.

Yep - and it is particularly noticable overnights when you have a quietly spoken presenter and a very quiet newsroom.

(On a previous set you could usually hear the printer next to the presenter printing their scripts at the top of the hour for the same reasons...)

more on the Online rebrand (as I've posted in the media websites section)............

The BBC's Journalism division has unveiled plans for a new look for its BBC News and BBC Sport websites, with the first phase of the revamp launching next week.

The new look will include higher profile promotion of the new embedded video service, extra emphasis around breaking news and live events, wider page designs and more ambitious use of pictures.

A second stage launching later on in the year will deliver further improvements to design and functionality.

more ...

Looks like you were right about the website for the week beginning 31st March

It's for reasons like that that I love the set being in the same place as the newsroom, nay, in the newsroom. Random things in the background, like cameramen bringing equipment across, people working at their computers, the general ambience of it all - it's going to be very different in N6.